LiveWell's Origin Story

You probably know by now that LiveWell Greenville works to advance equitable access to healthy eating and active living in Greenville County. However, do you know how LiveWell came to be and what LiveWell’s initial mission was? 

Healthy Kids, Healthy Greenville was founded in 2009 as a response to a youth obesity study that was commissioned by the Piedmont Health Foundation and conducted by Furman University. The results of the study showed that Greenville County had one of the highest obesity rates in the nation. The launch of Healthy, Kids, Healthy Greenville merged all of the policy, systems, and environmental change efforts to reverse childhood obesity that were in existence in our community at that time. 

In 2011, Healthy Kids, Healthy Greenville rebranded to LiveWell Greenville and expanded its work to include adults and to focus on healthy eating and active living instead of strictly obesity issues. The YMCA served as the fiscal agent and umbrella organization for Livewell. Workgroups like LiveWell At Work and LiveWell At Worship formed, bringing together partners and community members to collaborate and develop community action plans. For a number of years, LiveWell’s eight different workgroups focused on supporting initiatives within individual schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and faith communities through resources, collaboration, and evaluation. 

Then, in 2016, LiveWell became an independent 501(c)(3). Since that time, our work has continued to respond to the needs of Greenville County. However, over the last five years, LiveWell Greenville has shifted from making changes at the organizational level (e.g., within individual schools, churches, or worksites) to focusing on community level changes, such as improving the infrastructure of the food system and advocating for local and state level policy shifts. We know that it will take efforts at every level—from individual to community—to achieve our goal of ensuring that everyone in Greenville County has equitable access to healthy foods and physical activity opportunities.   

Check out some of these photos of staff, partners, and community members who have been involved in our work over the past 12 years.

Partner Spotlight:

Pastor Martín López-Vega

Meet Pastor Martín López-Vega, a pastor for the Lutheran Church and a partner in LiveWell’s food security work. Currently, Pastor Martín works with both Messiah Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church of our Saviour. Since he moved to South Carolina in 2020 from Puerto Rico, he has been working to make connections with agencies in the community in an effort to support families needing food assistance. Through LiveWell, Pastor Martín has been able to form relationships with Loaves and Fishes, the Hispanic Alliance, and other churches who also are doing work in this area of need. 

Pastor Martín also was instrumental in starting a program called Open Table Messiah in partnership with Project Host. Project Host prepares hot meals and distributes them to community members who need food assistance. Pastor Martín and the individuals helping him with this initiative deliver the hot meals, along with resources and helpful information, to people who cannot leave their homes. 

Because Pastor Martín has taken the time to get know the families in the communities in which he serves, he understands the struggles they face. He is attempting to adapt the help offered by other pantries in town to meet these community members’ unique challenges and needs.  According to Pastor Martín, his ultimate goal is for these families to “know that hope is possible.” 

Pastor Martín, thank you for your commitment to community, love, and equity. LiveWell is proud to work alongside you. 

The Path to HEALing Plan

Between 2019 and 2022, LiveWell’s Build Trust, Build Health workgroup mapped the systems that affect the health of Hispanic/Latinx community members living along White Horse Road in Greenville County. The White Horse Road Corridor is a 12-mile stretch that was once home to working-class textile families. However, this area is now very racially segregated, and families living along this corridor experience significant social and environmental disparities, including limited access to healthy foods, lower levels of educational attainment, and high rates of poverty.  

The team of agency leaders from the Build Trust, Build Health workgroup stressed the need for the inclusion of community voices who have experienced the disparities described above, and the first iteration of the HEAL Board (LiveWell’s second resident advisory board) was born. 

Through a series of nine meetings earlier this year, HEAL Board members shared stories and experiences, gained a deeper understanding of the challenges in our region, worked with local leaders to create policy solutions, and developed leadership skills to support advocacy beyond this program. Each meeting was grounded in building trust, making sure all voices were heard, and planning with a Results-Based Accountability framework. HIIT Services provided simultaneous interpretation for both English and Spanish so that all board members could communicate with one another. HEAL Board members were compensated for their participation and had significant input regarding the direction of the group’s work. 

After identifying all of the barriers that exist along the White Horse Road Corridor related to healthy eating and active living, the HEAL Board created multiple goals and specific next steps for how LiveWell should go about tackling these issues. The HEAL Board also created a plan for improved social connectedness. All parts of the overall Path to HEALing Plan emphasize accessibility at every step along the way.  

This work completed over the past four years was made possible through grant funding from SC DHEC and support from partner agencies who committed to employees being members of the HEAL Action Circle Leadership Team. 

As LiveWell’s first HEAL Board was finishing its work over the summer, a new HEAL Board was forming. This new HEAL Board is a permanent entity comprised on 20 neighbors from across Greenville County who have experienced or are currently experiencing health disparities as a result of a lack of equitable access to healthy neighborhoods; higher education opportunities; and/or quality, high-paying employment opportunities. Members will serve up to a 2-year term. Through this board, LiveWell will ensure that the advocacy efforts and policy changes proposed by the Equity in Public Health Initiative are grounded in the experiences of community members closest to the problems we are trying to solve. 

Congratulations! Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with us.

Website Updates

Over the past few months, the LiveWell Greenville website has undergone some big updates. You can check out these changes at livewellgreenville.org.

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