Housing Authority of Florence Holds Ribbon Cutting For New Location on Palmetto Street

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The Housing Authority of Florence held a ribbon cutting and tour of the facility on Wednesday, April 27th to celebrate the opening of its new location on West. Palmetto Street.

Ambassadors of the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce assisted with the ribbon cutting.

In operation for the past 54 years, the Housing Authority moved from 400 E. Pine St. to its new location at 2640 W. Palmetto St., a property it purchased in January 2019. The agency serves people in upper Florence, Chesterfield, Dillon and Marlboro counties.

In the move in October, 2021, all administrative staff members, except for community managers, were brought under one roof.

Before the move, the administrative staff was housed in three or four different buildings. With the transformation of the former Food Lion purchase, the Housing Authority has turned about 15,000 square feet of the facility into office space. The majority of the staff members are now all in one location, which allows them to have meetings in-house, have more events for their residents and provide more resources for them.

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Vibez843 Joins the Chamber and Celebrates with Ribbon Cutting

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Vibez843 bar and lounge celebrated joining the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting on Thursday, April 21st. The lounge is at 104 Kansas Drive in Florence.

Owner Tameka Thomas was joined by her husband, Titus Thomas, and her three children, Tiana Thomas, Morgan Thomas and Jazzmyne Pipkins, in cutting the ribbon. Chamber ambassadors joined in the celebration.

The lounge, which serves a full menu, opened in October 2019 and has undergone a complete renovation.

Thomas said the location was original a nightclub, turned gentlemen’s lounge, and now lounge and bar for a mature clientele.

In the daytime, Thomas said, she serves a full menu that includes honey-glazed salmon, salmon bites, chicken quesadillas, chopped cheese glizzy bun, vegetables, wings and other food. Lamb chops are served on Wednesdays.

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Lucky Dog Animal Rescue Breaks Ground on Florence Location

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Lucky Dog Animal Rescue broke ground on its new South Carolina campus Thursday, April 14th at 2508 N. Williston Road.

Executive Director and Founder Mirah Horowitz joined local team leader Stephanie Moore and others in the ceremonial groundbreaking at the property, just off I-95 in Florence.

Lucky Dog purchased the property last February, Moore said. She said it is a perfect location for them because most of their dogs are transported north on I-95 to their forever homes mostly in the Virginia/Washington, D.C. area.

Moore, who will be in charge of the Florence site, said they are hoping for a fall opening of phase I of the project.

Phase I of Lucky Dog’s campus will include a transfer building to temporarily house rescue dogs before their transfer, a spay/neuter clinic, and an infectious disease ICU to treat puppies and dogs with parvovirus, distemper and other infectious diseases. A building on the property focused on the treatment of cats with ringworm has already been renovated for that purpose.

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LOV3 Celebrates Chamber Membership with Ribbon Cutting

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LOV 3, a digital marketing agency, celebrated joining the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, April 19th with a ribbon cutting in the James Allen Plaza behind the Chamber office.

Owner Adrian Pooler cut the ribbon and was joined by Chamber staff and ambassadors.

Pooler started working while in high school in an effort to help his family generate more income. After high school, he began focusing on improving his skills. He was hired by an Inc. 5000 Tech Company called Compliance Line, where he controlled a marketing budget of $15,000 a month.

Pooler is a young entrepreneur in his early 20s. He has been in business for six years, and in that time, he said he has generated more than “a million social media impressions.”
Some of his clients have been bakeries, hair salons, real estate agencies and other small businesses. He helps businesses with marketing campaigns and social media.

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Florence 1 Schools Investing in Arts Education

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In a continued effort to lead the state in arts education, and improve and expand opportunities for students across the district, Florence 1 Schools is making further investments in all K-12 arts programs ahead of the 2022-23 school year. The investments total approximately $1.5 million, supplemented from various sources including federal and state grants.

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Dancing For Our Future Stars Resumes

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This year’s dancing event will be held on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at SiMT in Florence. The reception begins at 6:00pm and the competition will begin promptly at 7:00pm. The Chamber own, Les Echols, Director of Community and Minority Enterprise, will be one of the dancing participants. The paired couples will square off for a chance to win the coveted mirror ball trophy at the 10th annual dancing competition. Founded in 2000, The School Foundation created the dancing event to support efforts in promoting educational excellence in Florence One Schools through grants for innovative learning and through high-impact initiatives designed to prepare all students for success. You can vote for your favorite dancer by clicking here.

 

DEW Announces Labor Force Participation Task Force

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In recent weeks, the SC Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) announced the creation of a task force that seeks to understand and address the state’s low labor force participation rate. While the state’s unemployment rate is 3.5%, the labor force participation rate is 57.2% which is below the national average of 62.3% and one of the lowest rates in the country. Additionally, the state has over 112,000 open jobs available, indicating strong employer demand for workers.

In announcing the task force, DEW Director Dan Ellzey noted that “A higher participation rate increases the wealth of a state. We need to know the root causes of our low participation rate before truly making any improvements. This is why the Task Force is so critical at this time.”

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SC Unemployment Claims Fall for Second Straight Week

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The amount of first-time unemployment claims in South Carolina is down for a second straight week. For the week ending Saturday, the Department of Employment and Workforce received 1,455 first-time unemployment claims, 46 fewer than last week, the agency said. That represented a 3% decrease from the prior week’s 1,501.

Greenville County recorded the highest number of initial claims, 151. Richland County had the second-highest weekly count with 144, while Spartanburg County was third with 94.

For more information on how Florence County unemployment claims stack up, click here.

Salvation Army Joins Chamber, Celebrates 135 years

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The Salvation Army in Florence celebrated its 135th anniversary this year by joining the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting on Monday, April 4th.

Cutting the ribbon were Capt. Tim Scott and Major Melissa Scott of The Salvation Army.

Scott, Command Officer serving the Pee Dee region, said The Salvation Army in Florence is older than the city itself. The actual beginning date of the Salvation Army’s in Florence was March 23. Scott said they waited to celebrate the anniversary and ribbon cutting on the same day.

“We just closed our West Palmetto Street location,” Scott said, consolidating those services at the 2111 S. Irby Street location.

Scott said they were renting the Palmetto Street location, and they own the Irby Street building. With the closing of the Palmetto Street location, the Salvation Army is taking a breather before making plans.

The clothing store and drop-off of donated goods is at the Irby Street location. The Salvation Army on Hoffmeyer Road houses the emergency shelter, social services, food pantry, administrative offices, the church and the women’s and men’s shelters.

 “A large portion of what is in the store is given away with vouchers.” Scott said. “As well as feeding and clothing people in need, we also help with drug and alcohol rehab services.”

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Harvest Hope Breaks Ground on New Facility Off I-95

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After two years of pandemic response and assessing the modern needs of the Pee Dee region, Harvest Hope Food Bank of the Pee Dee Branch held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, March 17th at its larger, more centralized facility parallel to I-95 in Florence County.

The 75,000 square-foot facility at 2701 Alex Lee Boulevard formerly served as a call center for “Monster.Com.”

To read the full story, click here.