The Dove Fund -- Mercy in the Moment of Need
The Dove Fund helps vulnerable families in Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties. Our goal is to bring lasting stability to households ready and able to pivot away from challenging situations. We offer help, but clients must be willing to be part of the solution. We give preference to those who are working, have school aged children, are veterans, or have a disabled family member. In 2025, we poured $40,000 directly back into the low-income community, serving about 100 people.
TYPICAL SERVICES
- preventing evictions through rent payments and landlord mediation
- preventing utility shut offs
- providing funds for deposits so families can move from motels into second chance apartments
- connecting families to a network of partner charities for special services, such as furniture donations, financial literacy classes, and job training programs
- offering guidance, encouragement, and prayer (where welcome)
Katie and her son are thriving now
KATIE'S STORY
Recently Katie Leiberick, a single mother in Summerville, was taking a walk when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver, knocked unconscious, and left for dead on the side of the road. Katie’s infant son has remained in foster care for months while she recovered from surgeries, serious wounds, and injuries. During this vulnerable time, Katie relied on the Dove Fund to help with her rent and utility bills. Now Katie is strong enough to work again and is a receptionist at a veterinarian’s office. She is on track to soon regain custody of her son.
“These people really do love you with the love of God, and you truly feel it, and it brings you peace," Katie says. "I am still in awe of the things that they helped me accomplish!”
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Gifts of any size are valued and appreciated!
Being grassroots and volunteer run, the Dove Fund has little overhead. In 2025, 98% of every dollar spent went directly to client services. We do not receive government funding. All of our donations come from private donors or local grants.
Not long after the car accident
Christina's story
Christina Grant of North Charleston started working at 15 and eventually became a manager at a fast-food restaurant. When a crippling disease struck at age 52, she was suddenly forced to stay home. During the months when she was stuck in limbo over her disability status, Christina had no income. She had spent her whole life working and making her way, and now she had fallen between the cracks.
When Christina and her teenage granddaughter were served eviction papers, Dove Fund mediated with her landlord, paid her back rent, and connected her to other support groups, keeping this family housed during the gap.
Christina with her Dove Fund friend
“Without them, I don’t know where I would be, and I thank God for them.” Christina Grant
Housing Help programs
Eviction Prevention rescues desperate people by keeping them housed through a rough patch. This prevents the displacement of children from home and school; the loss of household goods; the trauma and stigma of homelessness, while lessening the strain on local shelters and social-service systems.
Hotels to Homes provides a second chance when a family has been approved for an affordable rental but cannot pay the move-in deposit and/or first month’s rent. Dove Fund even coordinates with local furniture donation organizations to fill in the gaps for those who have lost everything to eviction. This is a big climb back to stability. We remain in touch and continue to counsel them on life skills.
What Your Support Provides
The reach of our small volunteer team serving the Charleston tricounty area in 2025:
- Assisted 51 households, new and repeat clients
- hundreds of services provided (3–4 per household), both financial and personal aid
- Eviction prevention kept 19 families securely housed (May 2025 –March 2026)
- Dove Fund spent 98 percent of its dollars on client services during 2025
Dove Fund clients and volunteers enjoy time in the park
Dove Fund walks with families who lack safety nets, where one setback can spiral into a full-blown crisis when bills stack up.
- Janine’s back surgery and prolonged illness
- Keith’s having to raise his six grandchildren
- Diana’s new baby as a single mom
- Keisha’s car breaking down on the way to work
- Alyssa's funeral expenses for her brother
Our typical client is a single working mom with several young children. We dial in our time, money, and networking prowess to help motivated clients so that they can stabilize their household and carry on with their lives.
For example, $1,500 to keep a family from being evicted has more impact than $1,500 to pay a month's rent for someone who will immediately get behind again. We help those with a viable plan for moving forward. We create client contracts with steps that will get them over the final hurdles.
At Dove Fund, we know that distressed communities are short on resources and long on hard lessons. In many poor neighborhoods, people learn that things often do not work out, and hope can be shaky. Faith in God becomes a lifeline, not just a Sunday tradition. Dove Fund meets people at this intersection of practical need and shared faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. While we accept clients regardless of their religious views, we love to bring Jesus into the room to shine his light.
Rescue from a Rundown Motel
The Dove Fund began in 2022 when two volunteers, acting from Christian compassion, walked alongside Veronica, a wheelchair‑bound mother of five who had been evicted. The family was mired in despair.
Veronica, a stroke victim, and her kids were staying in a dangerous motel on Rivers Avenue. Prostitutes, drunks, and drug users filled the neighboring rooms. Veronica kept the outside door locked and the curtains drawn. The kids were afraid to go to school and spent every day crammed into a dark room with only two beds (some slept on the floor). In earlier years, Veronica had a job cleaning schools. Now she was paralyzed from the waist down and destitute.
After hearing about Veronica’s plight from a mutual friend, the two naive “helpers” thought they could pull together an action plan by making phone calls and connecting Veronica to available indigent services. But calling crisis hotlines or wrangling to secure an appointment with a case worker felt like hitting a brick wall.
The two helpers placed themselves in the trenches—driving family members to food pantries, taking them to nonprofit agencies, and repeatedly advocating for them at the apartment complex that would eventually accept them as residents. Today, Veronica and her children remain safely housed and stable.
I am so honored to have met great people that went above and beyond for me and my kids. I highly recommend them to anyone who needs a good team of leadership. From the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate you all and God bless!!--Eddie Hall
Real smiles, real people
Dove Fund picnic
The Dove Fund means hope. A place where you can feel a warmth and security that things will be okay.
Dove Fund board members receive a grant
Dove Fund is powered by volunteers
We trust that God's ways are higher than our ways and we look to him with expectation to bring about what is best within his perfect wisdom.
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