Whenever Robin Bowers talks about the impact and influence of Mission Lexington across the county, she uses the pronoun, “we.” After all, when it comes to helping the people in the county who need support during challenging times, it’s her team at Mission Lexington that pull it together helping and loving their neighbors.
Bowers has been executive director of the organization for 12 years and decided that it’s time to step down and let someone else take the wheel.
“I love it enough to let it go,” Bowers said. She said she is excited for the new director to “take it to the next level.”
“I’ve grown it here. She will take it further,” Bowers said, alluding to the new director, Amy Reeves. Reeves is the current Director of Community Relations but will become the new director this month.
Bowers believes in raising up leaders which is what has happened at Mission Lexington. Bowers has seen people grow, move on and even leave the organization as their skills developed.
“I love watching people succeed,” Bowers said. “My motto is to grow leaders to grow leaders.”
For 12 years, she and her team have served many people across the county. In fact, Bowers says they serve about 7,000 people a year on average. Each number represents a help, so one family could be 10 helps, she explained.
It definitely takes a team effort. Bowers points back to her team and while they do work hard as the social services industry is known for, they also play hard and pray hard. As a faith-based organization, prayer is important and play is just as important.
The purpose of Mission Lexington is to “glorify God by providing the basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter and resources to Lexington County residents in times of crisis,” according to their purpose statement on their website.
The nonprofit has been at 216 Harmon St. in Lexington for 15 years but they’ve been in existence for 46 years. They were started by a group of churches to serve people with limited resources and urgent needs. They continue to assist all people with food, clothing and shelter along with other resources and guidance as necessary.
These days, Bowers has helped grow the organization as they have a thrift store, food pantry, mobile food pantry in addition to their donation center, social services and administration offices.
The organization has also grown from seven to 30 employees, Bowers said. This doesn’t include the numerous volunteers necessary to help the organization with day-to-day operations.
Every week, there are about 250 volunteers who help out, according to Bowers. This includes volunteers who have served for years to the Babcock Center volunteers who assist wherever needed.
Relationships are important to Mission Lexington and to Bowers helping make the organization thrive. Bowers says she’s been in Lexington since 1990 so she is familiar with Lexington and its people.
She says if she needs to make a call to someone on behalf of a client or the organization, she is confident because of the positive relationships developed.
Mission Lexington continues to serve as a beacon of hope in the community because the county is growing. She also points to a “tough economy,” the 2015 flood and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as circumstances where people have needed supplies and resources to get them through.
The rural parts of Lexington County also get attention from the nonprofit, which is where the mobile food pantry helps serve, Bowers said, mentioning Pine Ridge, Swansea, Pelion, the TriCity, Gilbert and Batesburg-Leesville. She mentions that there’s a lot of poverty in the county that people may not realize.
“We get down to the nitty-gritty of the problem. We meet the person where they are and figure out the best solution for their situation,” Bowers said, adding they’re a crises ministry and want to be able to help people but they don’t want the clients to keep coming back. Stability is important to her team.
“Our reputation evolved because of the care we give. We don’t enable people. We give what they need, not just a check,” she said.
Just recently, Bowers was recognized for her service at Mission Lexington with the Mike Till Award given by the Lexington Chamber & Visitors Center.
The award was given at the Lexington Chamber annual awards and meeting Aug. 29 and is given to someone who “best exemplifies Mike’s character of humility, friendliness, perseverance and civic engagement,” according to the Lexington Chamber.
It’s given in honor of Mike Till, a former and beloved leader in the Lexington business community.