Martha Dendy Community Center board works to create educational opportunities
Efficient and secure windows and doors and a new roof are among the work already completed at the future Martha Dendy Community Center. Photo by Judith Brown
Clinton, South Carolina – A banquet in Clinton this weekend will have a two-fold purpose, as it’s not only raising funds for the planned Martha Dendy Community Center but also raising awareness of the benefits the center will eventually have on the Clinton community.
Several members of the Martha Dendy Community Center board of directors met on Tuesday morning to see the progress of the renovations taking place at the former school, located at 310 N. Bell Street, Clinton.
“We are happy we have exceeded our goal for this dinner but there is still an opportunity to get involved,” Simpson said, referring to the need for volunteers for clean-up days at Martha Dendy Community Center as lights will soon be installed, and plumbing roughed in.
Costell Little served for several years as board chair of the planned community center, meeting with city officials on a regular basis. Eventually the property at 301 N. Bell Street was turned over by the City of Clinton to the nonprofit Martha Dendy Community Center organization and its board of directors.
As a certified nonprofit, the center was included as one of the 16 separate projects within the county’s penny sales tax referendum, or the “Capital Project Sales Tax,” which passed in November of 2020.
That provided $760,000 for the renovation of the former Martha Dendy Elementary School, and at the time plans were drawn up, the amount would have been sufficient. As a result of the pandemic slowdown and supply chain problems, however, costs for construction projects across the nation went up drastically, putting a pinch on the Martha Dendy Community Center’s budget even before work could begin.
“In addition to that, it had been vandalized and even the electric wires and plumbing were taken or destroyed,” said fellow board member Rev. Anthony Sims.
With the building basically gutted, some of the funds went toward the cleanup that was required. New secure doors and windows and a new roof are in place and lights are set to be installed in the large gymnasium and in the classrooms in the next couple of weeks, board member Ricky Johnson explained. Plumbing is also set to be roughed in.
“That will finish the money we got with the referendum,” Johnson said, hence the need for the fundraising.
“From the beginning our purposes for the community center is for education,” Simpson said. “We plan to have after-school tutoring and we also plan to work with the Adult Ed program to offer GED classes. It’s always been about education and reaching out to the community.”
It’s an appropriate goal, since the work is also about preserving the history of the school and the surrounding area which was an important part of the education and social center of the African American community in the North Bell Street area of Clinton.
The first school there for African American children was Friendship School, a combined elementary and high school sponsored by the nearby Friendship AME Church.
It was replaced by Bell Street School for all grades, and in 1937 with the addition of 12th grade, it was the first black high school in Laurens County accredited by the State of South Carolina. The property is adjacent to the Martha Dendy City Park, which is still maintained by the City of Clinton.
Later Bell Street High School was built on Peachtree Street and Martha Dendy Elementary School was constructed, honoring Martha Dendy, the Clinton laundress who cleaned laundry for Presbyterian College students for 43 years. Dendy earned enough over those decades so that she and her husband, Young, were able to send each of their children to college.
It was important to honor her commitment to education, Simpson said, and that’s how the plans for the community center were created.
For this weekend’s banquet, Willis Fortson, formerly a vice president and senior human resources officer at The Palmetto Bank, is to be the keynote speaker, encouraging the community to get behind the Martha Dendy Community Center for the benefit families in Clinton.
In addition to Little, Simpson, Johnson and Sims, other board members include Donzell Mitchell, Velma Austin, Booker Ingram, Tim Gary, Pamela Peake and Sabrina Johnson.
Anyone interested in sponsorships and tickets can call Ricky Johnson at 864-923-6646 or Velma Austin at 864-923-2049.
To make donations, checks or money orders can be made payable to Martha Dendy Community Center, PO Box 582, Clinton, SC 29325.
Donations can also be made through Give Lively, a secure website specifically for non-prof- its. The Martha Dendy Community Center’s Give Lively fundraising link is https://secure.givelively.org/dona te/martha-dendy-community- center/community-unity-build- ing-our-center-building-our- future.
