Mobile Home Sales in Whitesville, SC

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A blessed Easter, spent blessing the North Charleston community.

The organization, Uplift Charleston, gave out thousands of items of food, clothing, and hygiene items to those in need Easter Sunday afternoon.

“And I think that when I ask myself, what would Jesus do, he would be out here doing this," said founder and director of Uplift Charleston, Aaron Comstock.

Comstock founded Uplift Charleston over five years ago. Since then, the organization has grown to doing blessing like these every month.

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“We are almost like the alternative to the good will, because you know that when you give out the clothes, you know that they are going straight to the folks in the community who need it," Comstock said.

Community members, families and even high schoolers donated their time Sunday afternoon to give what they could.

“It might be small with the clothes and the food and everything, but we are having at least a minor effect," said Sean Khamnei, with Community Uplift Charleston and Academic Magnet High School.

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Melanie Spell got involved with Uplift Charleston after seeing the poverty in Downtown every day on her way to work.

“It was very perplexing that the people were still there, and that no one was helping them," Spell said.

Now, she knows many of the people Uplift helps by name.

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“Someone said thank God for you, and for your help and what you have done. I have cried with people, i have cried with people," Spell said.

Spell said there are many ways to get involved. The first step is merely taking action.

“By collecting things at your job, I do it at my job, I collect safety boots from our construction crew, and I bring them out here, and people are so happy for them, because they want to work- but they do not have the gear to work with," Spell said.

To get involved, visit UpliftCharleston.com.

On the morning of April 21, a convoy of buses carrying students from 14 Berkeley County schools rolled into the Moncks Corner Recreation Complex. Complete with an Honor Guard and a ceremonial torch lighting, the One Berkeley United event had finally come to fruition.

One Berkeley United started as an idea that included about half a dozen schools. But as word spread, the grassroots effort flourished, fed by things the pandemic created a hunger for — normalcy, community and inclusion.

The event, held for Berkeley County School District’s students with disabilities, had to be pushed back a couple of weeks due to weather. But on April 21, an abundance of outdoor activities took place under perfect skies and a subtle breeze, a fitting scene for an affair held to celebrate children who spread the most sunshine.

The site offered wide open spaces for the kids. The day allowed them to be together in large fields filled with painted cubes, each offering a different activity, from things like parachute exercises and bowling to small obstacle courses. Students who participated in the activities received medals at the end.

Megan Sanders, a Berkeley County parent with a child in the special needs program, said it was great to hold accessible activities for kids.

“I think these kids make everyone else happy and I think they deserve a spotlight and a day that completely includes things that are adapted for them,” Sanders said.

It was also a special moment for the school administrator who first got the ball rolling on the plan.

“It really gives you chills to see the kids coming. That is special,” said Natalie Lockliear, principal at Fox Bank Elementary. “It was all just a process until they started getting off those buses. That’s when it really became real.”

The event took a lot of planning. Administrators began to meet about One Berkeley United back in July. Other school districts have held similar events for students in the special education programs, and Berkeley County is now big enough to hold one of its own.

“Today is a day of activities for our students with special needs,” Lockliear said. “We have games planned and we have small groups, and it’s an opportunity for them to mingle with other kids within our district.”

Hundreds of students participated in the day, which took the combined planning efforts of the county, BCSD, the town of Moncks Corner and an army of volunteers.

“It started off with like eight schools and it blossomed into all this,” said district superintendent Deon Jackson. “It was just a real organic grassroots effort as far as this program is concerned, and you look around and here we are. This is fantastic.”

The event was one that the parents of the district’s special needs students had been waiting for: a day for their kids to be reminded that they belong and they matter.

“It makes me feel really good. A lot of kids don’t get to experience a lot of inclusion like this, so it’s good to get them out here and get the community involved,” said Sanders.

In total, 300 elementary school children participated in One Berkeley United. And like sunshine, it was their time to shine at an event organizers hope to continue into the future — a future they hope includes more unity between students.

The school district is holding a similar event for high schools and middle schools. It will take place at Cane Bay High School on April 28.

In what promises to be a family-friendly day of history, reenactments and games, Old Santee Canal Park, the Berkeley County Museum and Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust are welcoming visitors of all ages to their Colonial Day and Fort Fair Lawn grand opening, which kicks off at 10 a.m. on Sept. 24 at 900 Stony Landing Road in Moncks Corner.

The occasion marks the grand opening of Fort Fair Lawn, situated a mile away from Old Santee Canal Park.

Fort Fair Lawn is one of only two earthen military strongholds left in the United States, recounts Berkeley County Museum Director Chelsy Proper, with the other being Star Fort at the Ninety Six Historic Site, about 60 miles south of Greenville.

The Sept. 24 event will allow spectators to see Fort Fair Lawn in its current state, along with taking in reenactments provided by performers dressed in colonial attire. Some of the on-site actors will be armed with muskets and they may even fire off a canon or two.

As for the historical significance of the site, Proper explains that Fort Fair Lawn was actually built in the late 1770s by the British as a holding area to store their military armaments.

“They had it here because it’s close to the Cooper River and they were able to get their supplies up here. Moncks Corner was strategic during the revolution because it was kind of the gateway to Charleston,

“They really wanted to capture Charleston — which they did. The fort was held by the British until (late) 1781, when the patriots came in and attacked [it] and took it over.”

From that point, American troops never utilized Fort Fair Lawn, as the structure was left to be surrounded in overgrown vegetation while it progressively sank deeper into the ground.

And though it was practically abandoned by American forces, centuries later, historian Douglas Bostick of the South Carolina Preservation Battleground Trust describes the site in glowing terms by stating: “Fort Fair Lawn is probably the most pristine, intact original American Revolutionary War fortification in South Carolina, if not the country.”

Over the next 240 years after its abandonment, many locals would go drink beers at the fort or even ride their go carts around the old fortress.

So, while much of the action and reenactment activities are taking place at the fort site on Sept. 24, those who seek a deeper understanding of what transpired in Moncks Corner and the surrounding Charleston area during the American Revolutionary War period can drop in on a lecture at Old Santee Canal Park. The historical learning sessions are scheduled to run from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m.

The subjects covered during these discussions will include a snapshot of residents who remained loyal to the British regime, as well as South Carolina’s connection to Barbados, as many Charlestonians of the time originally came from the island country in the West Indies. In fact, many plantations in South Carolina very closely resemble similar estates that were prevalent in Barbados.

In addition, the first annual Colonial Day will feature games for children in the form of scavenger hunts. Other event activities include indigo dyeing, candle making, native birds/plant talk, the fabrication of sweetgrass baskets and an information session on colonial medicine.

And those who wish to tour the Berkeley Historic Museum can enjoy an up-close and personal view of artifacts found inside Fort Fair Lawn in the form of buttons, soldier belt and shoe buckles and more.

Proper considers Colonial Day and the grand opening of Fort Fair Lawn as an exciting learning opportunity for many newcomers to the Lowcountry.

“There are so many people moving to the area that a lot of them don’t know this history. So, there has been a renewed interest just in the [American] Revolutionary War in general. I’m not sure where that renewed interest comes from, I’m just glad it’s here,” says the researcher/interpreter who hails from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky.

Additional information on the Sept. 24 affair can be found on Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center Facebook page.

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Plans for a new fire department in Cane Bay are moving forward with the announcement of a general contractor for the project.

The department secured a $3 million United States Department of Agriculture to build the station. The preliminary total cost is $3.3 million.

"The Whitesville Rural Volunteer Fire Department is excited to announce that Mashburn Construction has been selected as the General Contractor for the new fire station being built in Cane Bay. This is an important step in the progress of our

new station, primarily because before this point it was impossible to answer the question everyone wants to know the answer to—when will the new station be completed," the department states.

Mashburn Construction will be working with the Whitesville Rural Volunteer Fire Department in the following weeks to announce a formal groundbreaking ceremony.

Mashburn Construction have experience building facilities for the public safety community, including the Surfside Beach Fire Department, the Lexington County 911 Communications Center, Florence Fire Station #5 and Isle of Palms Public Safety building.

The timeline for milestones on the new fire station in the Cane Bay community show the project has been in the works for over two years:

May 5, 2015 - The Whitesville Fire Department entered into a contract with Cane Bay Lakes LLC to provide fire protection for the Cane Bay area.

September 28, 2015 - The Whitesville Fire Department entered into a contract with Thomas & Hutton to provide Civil Engineering Services.

May 10. 2016 - Mr Ben Gramling donated the property for the new station to the Whitesville Fire Department which was valued at $410,000.

August, 31 2016 - The department met with Mrs Nickie Toomes from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development to discuss a USDA Loan.

February 21, 2017 - GR Gray Construction donated their services to clear the land for the new station which was valued at more than $5,000.

June 23, 2017 - The Whitesville Fire Department entered into a contract with Pazdan/McMillian/Smith for the architectural design of the new fire station.

August 11, 2017 - The Whitesville Fire Department submitted the loan to the USDA in the amount of $3 million dollars.

October 16, 2017 - The Department of Agriculture approves the USDA Loan in the amount of $3 million.

February 16, 2018 - The Whitesville Fire Department contracts CresCom Bank for the Construction Loan.

April 3, 2018 - The plans for the new station were approved by the State and Berkeley County building Officials.

July 23, 2018 - CresCom approves the Construction Loan in the amount of 1.5 million dollars.

July 25, 2018 - The bids for the General Contractor were accepted beginning the review process.

August 27, 2018 - The Whitesville Fire Department awards the contract to Mashburn

About Whitesville Rural Fire Rescue

The Whitesville Fire Department was formed in 1967 and has protected the Whitesville Fire District for 50-years without interruption in service. It became a 501(c)(3) incorporation in 1985. It currently staffs two fire stations with 52 volunteers and 3 Engines, a 105-foot Ladder Truck, a 100-foot Tower Truck, an Advanced Life Support Quick Response Vehicle, two Chief Officer Vehicles, a Brush Truck, two service trucks, one Heavy Rescue Truck, and one apparatus maintenance vehicle.

The district is just under 50 square miles and includes portions of the Town of Moncks Corner. The department also contracts with the Town of Moncks Corner to protect portions of Highway 52 and the associated subdivisions along this highway.

Mother concerned after learning special needs son will move schools

BERKELEY COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A Moncks Corner mother is concerned after learning the students in her child's special needs class may all be moving schools.

Karen Crawford said she got a call Tuesday afternoon saying her third grade special needs son would be moving schools within the Berkeley County School District, from Berkeley Intermediate to Whitesville Elementary.

Officials with the Berkeley County School District said all decisions are made with the best interests of the students as the priority.

Crawford said her son, Garrison, has a language delay and after some testing was moved to a mild special needs class.

Crawford said since joining the class he's been on the honor roll and made improvements, but Crafowrd said she's now worried that moving schools could have an effect on him.

"Even his therapist is proud of his progress. It's just today I felt like I had a shock to my system when they called and said that he would have to go to Whitesville Elementary," said Crawford.

Crawford said that Tuesday was the first she learned her son would be moving schools.

Crawford said the lack of communication, and not knowing her son could be moving schools until now, is what has her upset.

"It wasn't so much that as it was the lack of communication that was given," said Crawford. "I felt they could have either given us a letter or met with all the parents that would be effected by this."

Officials with the district said the decision came from the special services team that's working to transition students back to their home schools, rather than be bused in to a school outside of the area they live.

Crawford said moving her son from Berkeley Intermediate to Whiteville Elementary would actually be further from her home.

"I felt like it was more targeted to the special needs children at Berkeley intermediate, a specific group of students specially children in Garrison's class, the special needs kids there," said Crawford.

District officials also said Whitesville is a K-5 school which will allow students to stay there without having transitioning to middle school.

Crawford said that is already the case for her child's current school.

Officials also said they encourage parents who are concerned to reach out to school and district staff, saying this is not intended to be a hard-lined stance.

Officials said they are always willing to work with parents to determining how to reach each's student's needs.

Crawford said she reached out to her school board member and was waiting to hear back.

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