Group wins grant for Travelers Rest 'Before I Die' walls

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Let's Keep TR Beautiful, a nonprofit group that works to enhance the beauty of Travelers Rest, was chosen as a 2014 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Community Vibrancy Grant winner, it was announced Thursday.

Now in its second year, the grant program is designed to support vibrancy initiatives cross the Upstate region. This year, 22 applicants applied for the awards, which are presented by the nonprofit regional collaboration group Ten at the Top and sponsored by Greenville-based Hughes Investments.

“The goal of the Elevate Upstate program is to get communities thinking about what types of initiatives or programs might help spark vibrancy within their area and then provide some seed money to get some of them started,” Hughes said.

Let's Keep TR Beautiful had recently been named one of the five 2014 finalists, all of whom presented their proposals at a forum on Thursday, vying for the this year's two $5,000 grants.

 

The Let's Keep TR Beautiful initiative, presented by Brandy Amidon in the video above, calls for the installation of five “Before I Die” walls, a concept that has been implemented all over the world to encourage discussions regarding dreams and hopes.

The chalk walls will be constructed at locations throughout Travelers Rest, all designed to target input from a specific group: the "Before I Grow Up" wall at Heritage Elementary; the "Happiness Is" wall at Northwest Middle School, the "After I Graduate" wall at Travelers Rest High School, the "Community Is" wall at Trailblazer Park; and the "Before I Die" wall at the gazebo on Main Street.

 

The City of Laurens took home the 2nd grant with their “Finally Friday on the Square.” The other finalists included the cities of Gaffney and Clinton and the Pickens Revitalization Association.

On the Web:

Let's Keep TR Beautiful on Facebook

Ten at the Top