MOVERS & SHAKERS Abigail and Josiah Spangler
By Josephine E . Moore
For roughly two decades , a husband and wife duo in Greenbrier County has worked to meet the needs of people by providing everything from food and hygiene products to a place to shower and do laundry .
This culmination of services is known as Wellspring of Greenbrier and was started by Fred and Scarlett Kellerman in 2004 .
In 2022 , the Kellermans passed the torch to another husband and wife duo , Abigail and Josiah Spangler , registered nurses and Greenbrier County natives .
Prior to 2022 , Abigail and Josiah worked as ICU nurses at CAMC in Charleston .
Having previously volunteered at Wellspring , Abigail said they felt compelled to offer their support on a more permanent basis when they learned that Fred and Scarlett , who were in their 80s , would be retiring from Wellspring .
“ We just really felt a strong call to come back and lend a hand in whatever way we were able to ,” Abigail said . “ So we still practice nursing , just in a different way . We ’ re not at the bedside , but we get to interact with our community and help people who are struggling with meeting their basic needs .”
The pair now runs Wellspring , with Abigail serving as executive director and Josiah as the director of operations .
Wellspring serves disadvantaged , unhoused and transient populations by providing them with basic needs at no cost .
While they try to serve all of Greenbrier County and surrounding areas , Wellspring has a physical location at 524 Nicholas St . in Rubert where they operate the Day Haven .
“ The Day Haven is our epicenter for all of our other programs ,” Abigail said . “ We are open to people to just come and hang out and have coffee . They can do their laundry for free . They can take showers for free . They can access all of our other programs , and even if they just need a place to sit for the day and just have a safe , non-judgmental place to be and access our other resource programs .”
The Day Haven is open Monday to Thursday from 10 a . m . to 4 p . m .
Building off the basic needs that Wellspring has provided for years , Abigail said they also started a new health care advocacy program
“ We are developing a health care advocacy program because my husband and I are both registered nurses , and we want to bring more access to basic health care , along with basic needs , to the marginalized population here in our community ,” she said . ❖
For more information about Wellspring go to https :// www . wellspringofgreenbrier . orgor call ( 304 ) 393-2095 . PHOTO BY JENNY HARNISH
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