In 1922, Scott’s Run Settlement House (SRSH) was chartered to serve a massive influx of immigrants relocating to Osage for mining jobs. Over the next 100 years, the mission expanded, focusing on food insecurity — not just in the Osage area, but across Monongalia County.
Today, the facility serves clients spread across western, central and eastern areas of the county with heavy concentrations in the Westover, downtown Morgantown and the Suncrest and Brookhaven areas. Some of the clientele goes beyond the county borders to Marion and Preston counties.
Since 1926, the settlement house has been serving thousands of clients from the current location at 41 Lady Bug Lane in Osage. However, like the group, the building is nearly a century old and can no longer meet the growth of the organization.
The lack of parking has become problematic as mass pickup days have created hazardous traffic conditions throughout the community while trying to serve 10times the number of families, SRSH cites as one major concern.
Another issue is limited ADA compliance that presents challenging conditions navigating the building for clients and volunteers.
In general, the overall deterioration of the structure, including immediate needs to replace the HVAC system, resurfacing of the parking lot and restructuring the curb, will only continue to worsen over the coming years.
“We have been fortunate to be affiliated with the West Virginia United Methodist Conference and to receive its support throughout the years, including use of our current building” said Jessica Bright, board of directors’ president.
“As the board considered how to best serve the full Mon County community for what we hope is another 100 years, it was a blessing to be offered a rare opportunity of a far newer, more modern building and a small fund to help retrofit it to its new mission.”
The new SRSH base of operations will soon be on the eastern side of the county at 750 Fairchance Road in the former Cheat Lake United Methodist Church building.
When the Cheat Lake UMC acknowledged it must close, members desired to leave a legacy of their ministry as a United Methodist Church and began exploring possibilities with Scott’s Run Settlement House.
After serving the community for over 60 years, they prayed the church building would continue to be used in some capacity for the greater good. Those prayers were answered with SRSH moving into the building.
The food pantry will begin the process of packing up and moving to the Fairchance Road location May 25 and organizers hope to have the move completed by June 9, with services resuming June 10.
During the move, the food pantry will be closed to the public. However, resources will be posted and available with other area agencies available to serve those with urgent needs during that time. Current clients will be scheduled for immediately before or after the move to minimize the risk of anyone missing out on regular services.
Following the move, the Mountain Line Transit Authority has confirmed that, upon request, the Eastern Circulator line will be able to extend from the Mon-Fayette Industrial Park stop to the SRSH Fairchance Road location.
With the move, Scott’s Run seeks to continue to serve the full client base and be positioned to support additional needs across the county.
However some local residents, like Paulette Shine of Pursglove, are not as confident the services for the western part of the county will continue and also have concerns about losing the history involved with the settlement house – one that Shine believes is meant to serve the western part of the county, where she said the need is greater.
“How can you move the Scott’s Run Settlement House? Its rightful place in history is in Scott’s Run – and its place in Mon County and its place in West Virginia and nationally. Eleanor Roosevelt was here. We have a lot of history from the turn of the century,” Shine said. “Our community has really been dependent on them and I’m sorry that we are dependent, but that’s the way it goes when you have a poorer population.”
Shine also thought the idea of taking a bus from the Pursglove area to Cheat Lake was not an adequate solution.
“I’m not going to take 40 pounds of groceries on a bus ride that would take five hours. People would have to change buses several times to get to Cheat Lake and back,” she said. “Them even responding to us by saying, ‘take a bus’ is ludicrous.”
In response to concerns about the move, SRSH Executive Director Michael Richard said current services, including food pantry, senior feeding program, student weekend backpack feeding program, hygiene and baby pantries will not change in their scope or reach.
However, Richard said people struggle in every zip code, town, city and area in Monongalia County, which is reflected by the diversity of the clients served. Despite what some may believe, approximately 89% of the thousands of people currently served in Monongalia County by SRSH are located to the east of the Scott’s Run area.
SRSH provided The Dominion Post a breakdown of clients by area of the county. They are: 1,332 in the eastern areas of the county, including Brookhaven, Dellslow and Cheat Lake; 1,326 in the central areas, including Morgantown city limits and WVU; 1,399 in the west areas of Westover, Granville and Star City; 460 in the far west areas, including Cassville, Blacksville, Pursglove, Osage, Wadestown, Fairview, Maidsville and Core.
“We fully understand the continued need for support for the western part of the county as well,” Richard said. “That is why SRSH is still offering food pick-up appointments at the Osage location once a week, exclusively for those that live in the Scott’s Run area and western communities. We will also continue free produce giveaways twice a week at the Osage location.
“SRSH is working with volunteers, churches and other community members to help with transportation issues for those that cannot make the trip to the new location,” he said. “SRSH is committed to continued support for the west and far west parts of the county and anyone that is passionate about helping to serve their community and neighborhood is encouraged to reach out to volunteer.”
Additionally, Richard said the new Fairchance Road location was an unsolicited, no cost, gift to SRSH by the recently closed Cheat Lake United Methodist Church meant to be transformational in securing a location for the next 100 years.
“The new location offers ADA compliance, greatly expanded and safer parking, room to grow and a lift for both person accessibility and cargo. Also, Scott’s Run Settlement House will fully own the new building, compared to the current Osage building, which is owned by the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church,” he said.
“This move allows SRSH to save tremendous resources and dollars that can instead be spent completely for food purchases and other program areas to provide services to anyone that needs them in Monongalia County.
“SRSH was started by a small group that wanted to help those in need. This new opportunity allows SRSH to continue to serve all of Monongalia County today and into the future.”
If you would like to provide feedback or have questions about the relocation, a form is available at srsh.org. If you need assistance or would like to learn how you can help, reach out by phone to 304-599-5020 or on the website.
