Today we’d like to introduce you to Blakely Roof.
Hi Blakely, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Knoxville, TN in a middle-class neighborhood. My dad was always in sales in the candy business. While I always had to have a job and work hard, I didn’t truly understand how good I had it until much later in life. He always said I would be great at sales because we were so similar. So I graduated from Clemson with a BS in Marketing and began working in sales for UPS in Knoxville. But I just couldn’t get my heart into selling shipping! People would say, “I would rather use FedEx,” and I would just agree. I quit my job at UPS and moved to Myrtle Beach and was fortunate to land at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. In this role, I oversaw the education programs for the chamber members and eventually started and oversaw two main programs, gsSCENE for Young Professionals (now Grand Strand Young Professionals) and Youth Leadership Academy. Through the chamber, I was able to meet so many people in so many industries, but I was also able to really get involved with nonprofits and volunteering. gsSCENE allowed me to plan volunteer events at various nonprofits and learn more about the community’s needs. During that time, I was also dealing with my sister, who was in active addiction. I could not understand how she could let this ruin her life and the life of everyone she loved because of what I thought of as “her bad decisions.” I realized I wanted a job where I could really make an impact, so I moved to become the Assistant Director of Conway Medical Center Foundation. While working at the hospital my eyes were opened to many other needs, but it was also at this time that I finally understood the issues with my sister facing addiction and how it was a disease. She and I were raised by the same parents, and had very similar childhoods, but yet she went down a different path. It became very obvious to me that people needed to understand how close addiction/homelessness/substance abuse can be to anyone regardless of socioeconomic stature or upbringing. In 2016 I took a job at Habitat for Humanity as the Director of Administration. Here I oversaw the Habitat Home Buyer Program and did all the financial counseling for those in the program and those that were currently in homes, but had fallen behind in their mortgage payments. It was here I learned that it is nearly impossible not to live paycheck to paycheck while working in many of the jobs available in our community. I saw firsthand how generations of families have learned how to budget their money and pay bills in a way that allowed them never to get ahead financially. I also met Chyenne Hill (now Phillips) and discovered I didn’t have ANYTHING to ever complain about! Chyenne was the first person I met that started the program through Habitat when I came on board. She had 8 children, all ages 15 and under, had the best credit score of anyone I still had ever seen, and worked her butt off at Mcdonald’s to provide for her kids and leave an abusive marriage. When I thought I had it rough, I remembered in her home visit that she and her kids lived in a trailer out in Conway that had holes in the floor and she paid over $800/month in rent. All because she had “too many kids” to be able to live anywhere else. She finished the Habitat Home Buyer program in less than a year, and I was there the day she got the keys to her new home. I have stayed in close contact with Chyenne over the years, even after leaving Habitat. She keeps me posted on her kids’ accomplishments. She let me know how excited she was to get her CDL license and eventually bought her own truck. I saw how she overcame people being negative to her because of the number of children she had and realized that so many in our community have no idea what people like Chyenne and others have to go through to get to where they are. When the opportunity came for me to go to United Way of Horry County, I went so that I could have a part in helping solve the most pressing needs in Horry County. I knew that the reason so many struggled to make ends meet is not having the basic knowledge of financial education and being aware of the resources out there. I knew that Horry County had one of the highest overdose numbers in the state and a large homeless population due to addiction. Our community needed to understand that addicts aren’t just “bad” people who come from “bad” families. I have been so fortunate in my life, but there is no reason others shouldn’t have the same opportunities as me to be able to purchase a home like Chyenne, overcome addiction like my sister, know about the resources for their children and family I had learned while at the hospital. I don’t have a good story, but I know plenty more that do, and I try and use those stories to inspire me every day and to educate more people about the needs in our area.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest obstacles I have found in my line of work are the perceived thoughts of others that anyone that may need help from a nonprofit is less than others. When we support certain initiatives some people will say that the people we help, “put themselves in these positions,” or “are lazy” and that’s why they can’t pay their bills. Educating the public about the needs of our community will always be a huge challenge.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In my work, my main purpose is to collaborate with others to make sure that everyone in Horry County has a chance to reach their full potential. At United Way of Horry County, we work with dozens and dozens of other nonprofits to do just that. Since we don’t just focus on one thing, we are able to help bring many organizations together to help eliminate gaps and make sure efforts aren’t duplicated. Our United Way has operated as a “community chest” united way for over 45 years. Meaning we raised money and funded grants to agencies that were serving individuals in a vast range under 3 pillars of health, education and financial stability. While we helped many agencies do many things, we couldn’t pinpoint exactly what our efforts had done to make a change in Horry County. In 2021, we began the transition to Collective Impact Model to focus on the most pressing needs based on data, community needs assessment, and community conversations. From here we narrowed our focus under the health pillar to be in providing mental health resources to anyone to lower suicide rates and overdose deaths. In education, our main focus is kindergarten readiness and access to affordable and quality childcare and in self-sufficiency, we focus on financial education, job training, and resource navigation. Every program we invest in whether through another nonprofit or our own, must have measurable outcomes and be able to show through data if the program is working. We have grown our agency from 5 to 8 employees in 3 years and have been able to apply and receive funding for specific grants that will allow us to work with other partners to “move the needle” in those most pressing needs. We have built a network of over 75 nonprofits together called HC3 (Horry County Community Collaborative). This group meets once a month to tackle together our area’s biggest challenges.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I told my dad I never wanted to do sales. But my husband reminds me all the time that I am actually in sales. I guess I just had to find something I was passionate about to be able to really “sell” it. And when you know the solution you are trying to sell will ultimately impact lives in our community and make a generational change, it’s an easier sell!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.unitedwayhorry.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitedWayofHorryCounty
Image Credits
Ryan Smith (headshot)
Lisa Young (1st photo)
Anne Roof (2nd photo)
Tracy Vreeland (last group photo)
