Longtime Greenville radio personality Rhonda Rawlings newest role is an answer to prayer.
Rawlings is the first neighborhood engagement director at Village Launch, a program of Mill Community Ministries (MCM).
“It was something (Dan Weidenbenner, executive director of MCM) created after I told him what I wanted to do,” Rawlings said. “To me, that was a direct answer to prayer.
Village Launch is one of the social enterprises that makeup MCM. The focus of Village Launch is to equip under-resourced youth and adult entrepreneurs with training, personal development and no-interest loans, its website said.
Village Launch is based in West Greenville. Neighborhoods in West Greenville, like many in and near the city, are changing and transforming, Weidenbenner said.
TravelAwaits
May.11.2021
Greenville, South Carolina, is a sweet Southern secret that is no longer a secret. In 2020, was named the “#1 Friendliest City in the U.S.” by
Conde Nast Traveler, and the accolades keep rolling in.
Located in South Carolina’s Upcountry, less than an hour from the North Carolina state line, Greenville has become a hot destination for both tourists and people wanting to relocate. Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport offers direct flights to seventeen U.S. destinations. This, along with its proximity to I85, ensures easy access to a fun-packed family vacation or weekend getaway in Greenville.
Why is Greenville such an irresistible draw? Perhaps it’s her combination of Southern charm and smooth sophistication. Or maybe it’s because spending time in Greenville is a sure-fire antidote to boredom, dreariness, and negativity. Here is a small sample of the city’s best attractions and activities.
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Working from home comes with its own challenges, but nothing is quite like having to live at your workplace.
Especially with two grandchildren in tow.
But when Pam Meyers moved to Greenville from North Carolina in pursuit of her job at Motel 6, in light of escalating rent prices and credit barriers, the best living option for her granddaughters, ages 11 and 16, and herself was to take up residence at her workplace.
“Rent was ridiculous,” Meyers said. “One bedroom: $1,200. I was like, OK, I’ll stay at the hotel.”
Then she stumbled onto the Home Again Program, Greenville Housing Fund and United Housing Connection’s joint venture to help families with school-aged children living in Upstate hotels bridge the gap to self-sufficiency at a long-term rental home. Meyers sent all necessary documentation as fast as she could to her case manager, Barbara Hunter-Geer, who helped her secure a much more spacious townhome with the aid of Reedy Realty.
I ssis Massaro moved around a lot with her family when she was a child.
But through the moves, the one thing that was consistent in her life was the YMCA Judson Community Center.
A nontraditional branch of the YMCA of Greenville, the Judson facility is located next to Hollis Academy. The center is the only accredited afterschool program in Greenville, according to its website, and offers pre-school, after-school, and summer day camp programs.
Staffers like Stephanie Knobel, executive director, are there to mentor and encourage.
According to Massaro, now 29 and a mother, Knobel and (Corey McDowell) “did a really, really awesome job” supporting whoever came through the YMCA, making them believe in themselves and creating opportunities to where they could do things.