Members of the board of directors for Mary’s House are, from left:? Kevin Darnell, Keith Mincey, Randy Horn, Fletcher Perry, Ashley Cummings, Christine Adcox, Marie Koth, Jill Blanchard, Fay Nichols and Rick Clark.Three?years ago, in August 2003, Ashley Cummings, associate director of missions for the Pickens-Twelve Mile Baptist Association, called the Pickens County Sheriff’s Department to find out if there was a shelter for battered women in the county.
Christine Adcox, the department’s victim advocate, recalls the conversation.? She remembers speaking to Cummings and telling her that there was no shelter for battered women in Pickens County, and that women were generally sent as far away as Columbia.
God had been burdening Cummings with a need and a mission.?That conversation on a hot August day?was the beginning of a God-sized?vision that is now becoming?reality.
Within months of that first conversation, an organization called Mary’s House was formed to look into building?a shelter. At about the same time,?a woman contacted the Piedmont Baptist Association and said she wanted to donate some land.? She knew nothing of Mary’s House or the need for land on which to build a shelter. She said she felt led of God to give the land, even though she did not know what purpose it could serve. She was simply obeying God.
Three years later, on April 3,?2006, area pastors, elected officials and the public joined together with the?board of directors for Mary’s House to officially break ground for Pickens County’s first domestic violence shelter.?
Rick Clark, chairman of the board for Mary’s House and member of Rock Springs Baptist Church in Easley, said, “The support for this tremendous undertaking comes from area church groups and individuals. The shelter will do more than offer a night of safety. It will offer support, guidance, and counseling for victims in a Christ-centered environment.”
Christine Adcox, the head of the education committee for Mary’s House, spoke about the desperate need for a shelter in Pickens County, which has one of the highest rates of domestic violence cases in South Carolina. The county?has already?recorded a death as a result of?domestic violence?in?January 2006.?
Because the location of the shelter cannot be disclosed (in order to protect the women and children who will stay there) the ceremony was held on the front lawn of the Pickens County Courthouse.?The ground was broken using soil from the actual future site of the shelter.
Cummings summed up the occasion by saying, “All I knew was that God wanted this built. I did not know how to do it, but I knew that he did.”
Persons interested in assisting Mary’s House should call Cummings at (864) 878-2456.