Freeman named Chamber's Citizen of the Year

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Winn Freeman was selected as the 2013 Citizen of the Year by the Greater Travelers Rest Chamber of Commerce, it was announced Tuesday at a banquet held at Green Valley Country Club.

The award, sponsored by Bank of Travelers Rest, is presented to "someone who has gone above and beyond in recent times to improve the quality of life in our community."

Freeman founded Travelers Rest-based Wisdom in Living Life Ministry in 2000. The faith-based, non-denominational recovery ministry provides services and weekly classes for both men and women, emphasizing not only substance abuse prevention, but also training and post-recovery counseling for those overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.

Wisdom in Living Life Ministry is currently in the process of raising $1,000,000 for its new 45-acre Beyond Recovery Residential Training Center campus located north of Travelers Rest on Goodwin Bridge Road.

"The best the world has to offer is treatment," Freeman recently told the Tribune. "Everyone has bought into a medical model – that [addiction] is a medical problem. But what we’re talking about is the issue of the heart, and our goal is for people to understand how important it is to go beyond recovery to transformation."

Past winners of the Citizen of the Year award include former Travelers Rest Mayor Roy Reynolds (2012), Mann Batson (2011), Dr. James E. Barnett Sr. (2010), Clyde Carr (2009), Dot Bishop (2008), Raymond and Brynda Brown (2007), Terry and Lee Cross and "Our Gang” (2006), Linda Garland (2005), Dianne Drummond (2004), Carolyn Crosby (2003) and Virginia Whitmire (2002).

To learn more about Wisdom in Living Life Ministry and/or Winn Freeman, click here.

To learn more about the Greater Travelers Rest Chamber of Commerce, visit their website here.