The Palmetto Project sees healthy families, engaged young people, and vibrant schools as the cornerstones of effective communities.
Our initiatives provide thousands of vulnerable families with connections to social service agencies, support services, food, and even Christmas presents.
Families Helping Families
Holiday Assistance
Since 1990, Palmetto Project has provided the magic of the holiday season to thousands of Midlands families with children, senior citizens, and adults with disabilities in need in partnership with WIS News 10. Our incredible community of donors has made the Christmas season merry & bright for more than 75,000 total families in the Midlands.
Help us continue this special tradition for the next 35 years.
Back-to-School
Beginning in 2024, we extended our FHF of the Midlands (FHFM) model beyond the holiday season to ensure that hundreds of Midlands children in need could start the school year with the supplies to succeed.
Because of all of YOU, our first annual summer back-to-school supply drive in partnership with WIS News 10 provided 500 students with the supplies they needed to succeed. In 2025, we exceeded our goal to provide 1,000 backpacks to Midlands children in need in seven (7) districts. Because of all of YOU, we provided 1,100.
Holiday Assistance
Starting in 2025, FHF of the Lowcountry (FHFL) will provide holiday assistance to more than 300 elementary, middle, and high school children from Charleston County School District and their families experiencing homelessness.
Help us make this new tradition of FHFL a success — and help make the holidays merry & bright for local children and families in need!
Back-to-School
In 2024, Palmetto Project expanded our original FHFM holiday assistance model to ensure hundreds of children in need could start the school year with the supplies to succeed.
In 2025, we launched Familes Helping Families of the Lowcountry (FHFL) with our Back-to-School Supply Drive with Midland Park Primary School!
In partnership with our wonderful Lowcountry community, we provided backpacks & school supplies for Pre-K and K5 children in need!
My First Books of South Carolina
Nearly one-third of South Carolina children arrive in kindergarten without the literacy skills to master the material they need to move on to first grade. Through our partnership with Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library, we are working to provide every South Carolina child under age five a free, developmentally-appropriate book each month. BEGIN WITH BOOKS, our affiliated program in Charleston County, is one of the most successful examples of how this program can change children’s lives.
Begin With Books
Begin With Books is changing thousands of lives in Charleston County SC by mailing books to babies and toddlers via Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Families who receive our books in the mail each month read with their children more often and spend more time reading and talking about books together. These improved family reading habits strengthen a baby’s pre-literacy skills and reduce the word gap that exists between children from low- and higher-income families, sending children to school excited about reading and ready to learn.