According to the U.S. Census Bureau, South Carolina's poverty rate of 17 percent is ninth-highest in the nation, surpassing the national figure of 15.8 percent.

Over 23 percent of the children in the state live below the poverty line. Another reality is that one in six South Carolina families will not have enough food to feed themselves each night.As in many other towns and communities across our nation, needy families in Summerville, located just 20 minutes from Charleston, depend on food pantries, such as the one operated by the Old Fort Baptist Church. The anti-poverty charity is dependent on donations to survive.Since the church has reached out to help many families at Oakbrook Elementary School in nearby Ladson, students there decided to give back by raising money to buy essential grocery items for the church's food pantry.The student council fundraiser involved the sale of "thank-you grams." Students were encouraged to purchase a thank-you message for $1. The messages were then delivered to their classmates, teachers or anyone else in the school community who helped them at school. The thank-you grams were delivered to students in their homerooms.On Nov. 24, three days before Thanksgiving, the school received a letter written by Monica Miller, an attorney with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center in Washington, D.C.According to the American Humanist Association, a secular activist group, parents' complaints led the organization to send the letter to the school, stating that it is illegal for a public school to raise funds for a church.The association letter charged that "All of the proceeds raised from the 'thank-you grams' will go directly to the local church to aid in its mission trips to proselytize Christianity."A flier that students were given did originally state that the proceeds would go to support the missions at the Old Fort Baptist Church.Principal Monica O'Dea, however, disputed the humanists' claim, stating that the money isn't being sent to the church directly but would instead be used to purchase food that will be donated to the pantry.Pastor Eric Lethco also reported that the school has partnered with the church for years and that the money supports the food bank and not missions work. He said the association was "just taking food out of the mouths of children."Regardless, the association, which claims its mission is to protect the constitutional mandate requiring separation of church and state, threatened a possible lawsuit against the school if the outreach continued.A representative for the association said it strongly supports charity giving but that such good intentions can be pursued in other ways that do not involve religion.Sadly, this church-state dispute occurs at the time of year when people are most needy. Thankfully, there are people, even youngsters, who are willing to share their blessings to help others.An argument used by many people in this South Carolina community is that the school is not supporting a church or a doctrine, it's helping people in their neighborhoods.By JIM ZBICKtneditor@tnonline.com