As the Foundation matures, its board members and Presidents continue to hone its mission and define its vision.

Under President Susan Dunlap, the database was developed, the newsletter originated, and annual reports were produced. She provided public relations work for the Center, and started the original website. A schedule of board member rotation was instituted, and the donor base expanded.

President Beth Laughridge, who had served on the CLC board for a number of years and whose son, Christopher, benefited from CLC’s services, combined her professional expertise with the perspective of a client parent. She found the ground fertile for further expansion, with board retreats helping to detail the board’s role and flesh out information about CLC to strengthen fund-raising. She helped develop the USC Spartanburg (now USCUpstate) curriculum for the profoundly disabled that included active daily living skills and enrichment courses. Lunch and Learn, a program to invite the public in to learn about CLC, was started by Elaine Freeman during Beth’s watch.

Throughout the Foundation’s history, a series of capital fundraising campaigns has brought in major blocks of private funding to make possible all kinds of programming and projects to benefit the children and adults supported by the CLC. Campaign 2000 raised funds for facilities remodeling, respite care, summer programs, and computer upgrades. The Circle of Friends Campaign from 2001 to 2005 included funding for a self-advocacy group called “People First”; for the relocation of the Vera Parsons Center on the Burdette Street campus which offers educational and developmental day programming for special needs adults; and for the construction of a therapy pool in the new McCarthy-Teszler School when the school moved from the Charles Lea Center to its current location “down the hill” to serve as a free-standing public school for disabled children serving all seven Spartanburg County school districts.

In 2006, the Foundation kicked off the Quality of Life Capital Campaign, a three-year funding commitment that raised more than $1 million for enhanced health services and recreational opportunities for clients, staff development, the College of Educational Enrichment partnership with USC Upstate, a summer enrichment program at the McCarthy Teszler School, and the campaign’s centerpiece, the purchase and renovation of a new industrial center on Highway 176 to increase employment opportunities for the disabled. Today, 350 special needs adults are employed at the WorkAbility Career Center through work contracts with local and regional companies.

Foundation President Cyndi Beacham came to the Foundation in 2008 from her position as Vice President for Community Improvement and Education at the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. With deep community connections and experience with fund-raising and sponsorships, Cyndi’s tenure saw the birth of two new fundraisers: Shoot ’n Shuck and the Wine Tasting and Sale.

Empowering Independence, an initiative that began in 2010 and continued into 2011, was a significant funding effort to ensure that clients gained greater control of setting their own life goals and of planning the services through a best practice called Person-Centered Service Planning. A life skills training center was built at the Burdette Street Campus in 2011 and 2012 to enable independent living and self-reliance as much as possible.

“For the Charles Lea Center, this is a shift from a more custodial service delivery to person-directed services,” says Cyndi. The initiative required funding and technical support from a number of partners, including the Milliken Foundation, Spartanburg
Regional Healthcare System Hospital for Restorative Care, Women Giving for Spartanburg, the Spartanburg County Foundation, Bi-Lo Charities, and other organizations and private individuals. Empowering Independence includes funding for three areas: training for CLC employees in person-centered service planning; technology and communications tools to make person-centered service planning possible;