Archive for category: Ribbon Cuttings

The mission of the American Cancer Society is “to save lives, celebrate lives and lead the fight for a world without cancer.”

“Having cancer is hard,” Boateng said. “Finding help shouldn’t be.”

The American Cancer Society sponsors Relay for Life. The 26th Florence County Relay for Life will be from 1 to 10 p.m. on April 25 at Freedom Florence.

“Every survivor in Florence County is invited to participate,” Boateng said.

It is also for caregivers and family and friends. Everyone is welcome to join in the celebration, she said.

The Florence Relay was started in 1994. One of the originators was Kaye Floyd-Parris.

Boateng said she joined the chamber after discussing the benefits to the American Cancer Society with Jay Lavrinc, director of membership relations with the chamber.

She said the exposure in the community and getting information about the ACS out to chamber members will benefit them.

Boateng said she doesn’t have an advertising budget, and having that outreach will be beneficial to the organization.

“This will mean more folks to share the word,” she said.

Boateng doesn’t have an office in Florence. She works from her home at the beach.

Boateng started as a volunteer and team captain with Relay for Life. She said her mother, father and a sister died of cancer, and she has two brothers who are prostate cancer survivors.

When people asked her why she volunteered before becoming an ACS employee, she said, “The life I fight for could very well be my own.”

Herring has worked for ACS for 16 years.

“I think it is important to let folks know that we appreciate all the investment they has put into the American Cancer Society,” she said.

She works closely with the Hope Lodge in Charleston. She said it was the first one of its kind. There are now 33 across the country. These are places for cancer patients and family to stay free of charge while taking treatment.

“It was started in 1970,” Herring said. “This is its 50th year.”

She said it is completely free. The facility in Charleston has 18 rooms.

Eaddy said ACS needs volunteers, especially with the Road to Recovery program. Through this program the ACS provides free rides to cancer treatments.

“This is one of the biggest requests when people reach out to the American Cancer Society,” she said.

There is some good news about cancer.

There has been a 29 percent decline in the cancer death rate from 1991 to 2017, Herring said.

She said it is due to the investment of the communities and their support.

The largest single-year drop occurred from 2016-2017 at 2.2 percent, she said.

Every month except August and December, Boateng said, brings awareness to a specific cancer. There is a “colors of cancer” calendar with some months bringing awareness to more than one type of cancer. She said most people are aware of the “pink” for breast cancer awareness, but there are others that receive less exposure but are no less important.

Through their membership in the chamber of commerce, Boateng hopes to make more people aware of cancer. She said so many lives can be saved through early detection and screenings.

To read the full story on SC Now, click here.

Primary Learning Center is an untraditional day-care-type facility for children. It offers short-term, after-school tutoring for children up to 12 years of age.

Jefferson said the center has flexible hours.

“It is our flexibility that sets us apart,” she said.

Jefferson said the center operates two shifts and normally closes at 8 p.m. Although, she said, it has stayed up to midnight with a child. She said the center is there for parents who want a date night, who have to work late or attend night meetings.

Children who come after school receive a snack and are offered supper. The center sees that children do their homework, too.

“Our mission is to cater to the working mom, the modern-day mom, even if she is a stay-at-home mom,” Jefferson said.

She said stay-at-home mothers need time to themselves, too.

She has a staff of six.

Jefferson started out after college working in education at Brockington Elementary School in Timmonsville. She was a psychology major. She enjoyed working with children and decided to start her own center for taking care of children.

The center opened in October and normally has about 30 children on any given day with a capacity to care for 50 children.

For the full article on SC Now, click here.

Burris and Pressley specializes in residential and commercial real estate and serves South Carolina in new home sales, resales and construction, property investments and property management.

“We are glad to be a part of a vibrant downtown,” Pressley said.

“Florence is growing,” Burris said. “I love what downtown is doing. We wanted to drop our roots here.”

There will be four agents at the Florence office. Burris said he will be in Florence every Wednesday and Thursday.

He said they have been working with clients in the Florence area for a while and saw a need to offer “elite service” in the area.

“We are unconventional with tradition,” Burris said.

He said they try to appeal to the millennials who are now purchasing homes.

“We cater to the customer,” he said. “We care about how our customers approach homebuying.”

Both men are from the Pee Dee. Burris is originally from Marlboro County, and Pressley is from Mullins.

Burris is a retired police officer, who worked in homicide and narcotics for 12 years. He retired from the Camden Police Department in 2016. He is married to Valerie Moore Burris and lives in Kershaw County.

Burris said they founded the company on their faith.

“We attribute our success to God,” he said.

Pressley is married to Avarie Pressley and has four children. He is retired military, having served eight years in the Army. He is a member of the Richland County Zoning Board in Columbia.

“We are one of the largest independent minority real estate companies in the state of South Carolina,” Burris said.

“We look forward to serving the community and want to educate students about literacy, real estate and being business owners,” Pressley said.

They both travel the country speaking on national platforms.

Burris said they are looking forward to becoming more involved in the community and with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to help build the city of Florence, not just houses,” he said.

They both agreed it was important to them to locate their business in the thriving downtown.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Grey Raines, president of Raines Hospitality Inc., welcomed guests to the event.

“We are really excited to bring Comfort Inn & Suites here,” he said.

Patrick Pacious, president and chief executive officer for Choice Hotels, said he is excited for the Florence Comfort Inn to join its 2,100 other Comfort Inns. He said they have 250 new hotels under construction and will be opening 60 hotels, one a week to the end of 2020.

Raines said this Comfort Inn is Raines Hospitality’s 17th hotel.

“It is our first Comfort Inn,” he said.

Raines said they started in the business with upscale hotels before getting into the upper midscale segment of the hotel market.

The Comfort Inn, near the Florence Center, opened at the end of June.

“It has been very good for us,” Raines said. “The Florence market continues to be a good hotel market.”

He said the company is already working on more hotels but isn’t ready to talk about them yet.

Pacious said Choice Hotels represents 12 brands. He said they have 7,000 hotels overall with 6,000 of them in the United States, mostly in the Southeast. He said they have five in the Florence market with two of those Comfort Inn hotels.

He said they started in Florence five years ago with Hotel Florence in its Boutique Collection in partnership with Raines Hospitality. They have a Cambria Hotel in Mount Pleasant with Raines and two more Cambria’s in the works, he said.

Pacious said Comfort Inn & Suites has been around since the 1980s, but the hotels recently have undergone a complete renovation, which represents a $2½ billion investment. He said the hotel has been rebranded.

The Florence hotel was one of the first in the rebranding with open and elegant lobbies, spacious breakfast areas and larger rooms with warm tones and soothing textures, local artwork and inviting designs.

“We are mostly known for three things,” Pacious said. “That is free breakfast, free Wi-Fi and free parking.”

The hotel in Florence has 89 rooms and suites.

Comfort Inn & Suites is a family-oriented hotel.

Investors and staff of Raines properties were on hand for the celebration, which included a ribbon cutting with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce and its ambassadors.

Sparkle Cotton is the general manager of the Florence hotel. Taylor Gray is sales manager.

Prettier Than Matt duo entertained.