News
50 Stories for 50 Years: Tammi Hart
“I said a prayer, packed up, and moved to Greenville,” Tammi Hart says after explaining that she and her children were in “a bad situation” when living in Ninety Six, SC, where she could not find a job. She moved her family to Greenville on April 19, 2006, somewhat knowing the city after attending church here.…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Robert Norwood
Robert Norwood’s life did not turn out how he thought it would. He was raised in Tennessee and North Carolina where he had a wonderful childhood. From the beginning of his childhood, his first love was aviation, and he committed himself to a career where he could work with various types of flying and successfully…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Laura Stout
Laura Stout, the current Missions Coordinator for First Baptist Church (FBC) Greenville, “grew up valuing community service” in Greenville. She volunteered at FBC when young and later involved in the Volunteer Service Corps at Wake Forest University, demonstrating her love of “being exposed to other people and ideas.” Her desire to help others led her…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Charles Paris
Sometimes you meet someone who embodies the words “resilience” – who seems to have had been dealt more than their fair share of bad cards but still manages to find their way to live a meaningful life. Charles Paris, a participant in United Ministries’ Employment Readiness (ER) program, is such a person. Charles felt like…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Gary Barnhart
Gary Barnhart, a volunteer at United Ministries of three years, recently tutored a woman working towards getting her GED. This woman was nicer than imaginable and came to the Adult Education program to study “day after day after day.” The woman was also homeless during this time. After seeing how many barriers she had due…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Tony Knight
“All I needed was to get another chance,” Tony Knight, one of United Ministries’ (UM) GED graduates, says about passing the GED exam. Tony had dropped out of school in 9th grade after finding little encouragement to stay in the school system. He says, “I didn’t think I needed it. I was young and I…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Linda Satterfield
Linda Satterfield, a volunteer of 20 years at United Ministries’ (UM) Emergency Assistance program, keeps coming back to help year after year because she feels the “commitment to the community and individuals who need to be served.” She also stresses that she thoroughly enjoys the tasks she embraces here, from packing groceries to interviewing participants…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Fred Lewis
Fred Lewis “came to a crossroads around 17 years old [when he decided] to not finish high school.” He felt unsupported by the people he was surrounded by and simply wanted to stop depending on other people, so he stopped attending school and went into the workforce. Over a decade later, his mindset on education…
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50 Stories for 50 Years: Dawn Dowden
Many in the Greenville community may know Dawn Dowden as the faithful Chief Operating Officer of Homes of Hope. Fewer know of the moving journey that helped lead her to the successful position that she’s in today. Twelve years ago, Dawn and her family experienced a costly health crisis that led to homelessness for her…
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