Nondenominational Church in Folly Beach, SC

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Folly Beach has been working on developing a plan in hopes of reducing car accidents and creating safer roads for pedestrians and drivers.

In April, the City approved a contract to develop this Safety Action Plan and leaders have been working on taking the necessary steps to create the most beneficial plan possible ever since.

Some steps they are taking to develop this plan include meeting with community members and stakeholders to get a sense of what improvements should be prioritized. They are also gathering data and audits about the roads, speed limits, and incident locations in the city.

Their hope is to collect all this information, create the Safety Action Plan based on it and then implement those plans.

The city has gathered crash statistics and data regarding pedestrians in the area so they can look at what improvements are needed as part of this comprehensive plan. Thursday evening the city is hosting a public meeting to present this data to the community and gather feedback on what safety improvements they would like to see.

The city is looking to narrow down the necessary projects and problem areas. For example, there have been several pedestrian incidents near Center Street, so that may be a project area they choose to prioritize.

Katie Zimmerman is the executive director of Charleston Moves, an organization that works toward building a safer and more accessible community for pedestrians and cyclists.

She says she anticipates this plan will take a year to complete before they can take action, but she shared how important this process is for community members to express their feedback.

“The best thing from the community is just to continue to participate in the process and make sure folks are letting the planners know what they’ve experienced, and also what their ideas are for safety improvements and where,” Zimmerman says. “You know, most of us are not engineers, but we certainly have experienced the situation in the community, not just Folly Beach, but throughout the county. It’s pretty dangerous for those of us who are biking and walking.”

Zimmerman says that pedestrian safety is a major issue across not just the Lowcountry, but throughout South Carolina.

Many other cities and municipalities have chosen to also develop Safety Action Plans and Zimmerman hopes those can help bring more of these changes to the Lowcountry and encourage a connected, safe environment for pedestrians.

Zimmerman says that, to bring these plans to fruition, the council must implement certain policies aimed at eliminating pedestrian fatalities and develop the plan so they can qualify for federal funding for the actual installation of these projects. Those also help them to better leverage future project plans.

One of these policies is a “Target Zero Plan,” which would set a goal to get the number of traffic fatalities down to zero by a certain year.

Zimmerman says pedestrians, and human beings in general, need to be the top priority.

“Everywhere pedestrians should be No. 1 in transportation planning,” she says. “Human beings are the most vulnerable, especially when they’re not in a car and obviously cars are now being built to be safer for people in the cars and not as safe for people who are outside of the cars, so we have a situation on our hands. South Carolina is a dangerous place for vulnerable road users.”

To Zimmerman, intersections, bridges and paths should be designed so well that it is safe enough for an 8-year-old to cross it, and she hopes that is what comes of the Safety Action Plan.

Thursday evening, the City of Folly Beach will be hosting its last scheduled informational drop-in session to gather community feedback on the development of the Safety Action Plan.

The meeting will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will take place at the Folly Beach Community Center located at 55 Center Street. The meeting is open for anyone to come and provide their input.

More information on the meeting as well as some of the crash data that will be presented can be found here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 10, 2024 at 2:05 AM PDT|

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - A Lowcountry nonprofit that works to enhance the lives of veterans and their families is giving the community an inside look at what they do and the impact they have.

The Warrior Surf Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was founded in the Lowcountry in 2015. The organization offers a free surf therapy, yoga, one-on-one wellness coaching and a sense of community to veterans.

The organization focuses specifically on veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression, transition issues and other mental health issues.

Warrior Surf Foundation offers a 12-week program that is free for anyone who is military affiliated, whether they are a veteran, an active-duty member, or even a family member of a veteran.

But for the first time ever, the organization will host a community day for anyone of any age to come out to see what they do and meet the Warrior Surf Team.

The different outlets that the organization offers allow veterans to work with physical barriers they may have developed while serving, as well as mental barriers like anger and trust issues.

Joshua Suggs is the chief surf instructor for the organization and a veteran himself. Suggs served in the army and has been a part of the Warrior Surf Foundation for four years. He says that throughout his time with the program, he has seen it completely change the lives of the participants and helped break barriers for them both physically and mentally.

“I have watched people who carry around that anger and aren’t exactly socially capable anymore, completely turn around like a full 180. And you see people come out of their shells, which is kind of their safety mechanism. They’ve been hurt so many times and lost trust through the military, and they feel capable of being in society again because of community,” Suggs says.

One of the organization’s mottos is “leave it on the beach,” encouraging the veterans to be present in the moment and to release any negative feelings they may be having. While the therapy programs are impactful, Suggs shared the top reason he encourages veterans to check their organization out.

“Mostly for the community. In all honesty, I mean, there’s surfing everywhere. You can do yoga at home if you really want to. And just specifically for veterans, the VA offers therapy, but if you want to get involved with a new group of people that will make you feel comfortable, vulnerable, if you wish, safe, which is a really hard thing for vets specifically that’s why they should get involved. Come and find new people that are experiencing the same struggles that are also seeking something to help with those struggles,” he says.

For anyone interested in checking out what this organization does, they will have the opportunity to do so this weekend.

The Warrior Surf Foundation will host their first ever community day Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at 3rd Street West on Folly Beach.

The event is free and open for anyone of any age or skill level in the community to attend, military affiliated or not.

They will be accepting donations at this event to go completely toward the Warrior Surf Foundation’s Surf Therapy Program.

The community day will begin with yoga at 8 a.m., surfing from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by a large group meditation. It is an opportunity to see what “Day One” is like for those who participate in the 12-week program.

Event leaders say that participants should bring a towel, change of clothes, sunscreen, water and a snack. Foam surfboards will also be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in attending can RSVP through this link here. They will also need to fill out the waiver linked here.

For those interested in supporting the work the organization does, donations can be made here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Miles of the Folly Beach shoreline have been restored months after strong storms peeled back portions of the beachfront.

“If you were here in May, and you’re here today, you probably notice a big difference. If it’s your first time, you probably walk out and say, ‘Wow, that is a beautiful beach,’” Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin says.

“On an undernourished beach, like the one we had months ago, water was going past the dunes, onto the streets for a normal high tide or king tide. For a renourished beach, you won’t see the same impacts,” Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Wes Wilson says.

The renourishment also dredged the Folly River to reduce shoaling. It placed materials on the Bird Key sanctuary habitat. The project overall cost a total of $22 million to complete.

Projects like this one are typically done before peak hurricane season begins. It is believed to help preserve the shoreline and even out eroded areas. This project, which started in the Spring, was prompted by the effects of Hurricane Ian.

“We don’t get the replenishment of sand as it moves down the coast because the jetties stop them on the other side of the harbor. Every few years we have to renourish more often than a lot of other folks,” Goodwin says.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Folly Beach recently updated their contract to ensure the continuation of renourishment and preservation efforts on Folly Beach for the next half-century.

“That 50-year partnership will create a new design template that is more dunes-centric. Again with berm, higher dunes, still a berm. The dunes provide that higher level of risk reduction so that’s a better template, a bigger bang for your buck,” Wilson says.

The new plan also adds in wood panel fencing, which is used to hold the sand in its place and act as a barrier.

Goodwin says the timing is perfect after a few recent “near misses” and some storm surges on their way in.

“It can disappear as fast as it comes, faster than it comes actually. With the right winds, waves, Nor’easters, hurricanes,” Goodwin says. “That empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, knowing you did that work, but if the storm doesn’t move further out, you did it for nothing.”

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Mary Rhodes is celebrating a century. She was born in 1924 and raised just outside of Summerville with her parents, two sisters, and three brothers.

“I still call it the country,” said Rhodes. “We had a lot of fun. It was out in the country and the church was right there close by.”

Talking about her time as a young girl, she had no car… heck, no electricity. She used a paper fan to keep cool in the hot Lowcountry summers.

But there was one time when she was 11, she just had to have some ice cream.

“My cousin, she drove the mule, but I sat on the back holding a block of ice on his rump. To the day I figure how cruel it was because I know his rear-end was frozen by the time we got home, but we got the ice cream made and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Before so many milestones, one thing she and her family always made sure of… they made it to church every Sunday.

“We were raised in church. We go every Sunday- no matter what, we went.”

Her memories are as vivid today as the day they happened. Like one with her mother.

“I’ll never forget the time she learned how instead of putting food in a jar, you could put it in a can and seal it. I will always remember that. Now you didn’t have to mess with the jars.”

A much simpler life, Rhodes graduated from Berkeley High School in 1941 and had a few jobs, including at the Navy shipyard. That’s when she moved to Folly Beach and met her future husband in 1945.

“He would come over after he got off work and visit. Next thing we knew, we were dating.”

A full life, living on the beach where everyone knew everyone else. She worked at a concrete company and helped with her parent’s store. But Rhodes credits her longevity to her children.

“They mean everything in the world to me. They are so faithful. I guess that’s why I’ve lived as long as I have, because I have good children.”

No secret to this life well-lived. “Just stayin’ busy. Trying to eat right. But other than that, there’s no pattern to follow,” she said.

Nowadays what Rhodes has to do, and loves to do, is keep her yard looking good.

“I love to go out there and work,” she said.

Rhodes has 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren with one on the way, and two great-great grandchildren. Her birthday is September 24^th.