Wash house with bathrooms, laundry opens on Blackmon Road

When she was younger, Rosa Mae McClure lived and worked on a cotton farm near Lesslie. She remembers braving snakes and lightning to cross a cotton field and fetch fresh water from a spring.

Now, she lives with her grandchildren at the end of a gravel road on the edge of the Blackmon Road community. A nearby well no longer works, so she fetches her water from a neighbor's well.

She has lived there for a long time, since long before A Place for Hope formed and began efforts to provide residents with electricity, water and sewer, among other services it lacks.

McClure, who couldn't say for sure how old she is, is one of about 50 residents living in 15 dwellings in the area just outside the southern Rock Hill city limits - more than half without septic tanks and 40 percent without working wells.

But on Monday, A Place for Hope took another step toward improving life on Blackmon Road when it opened its new wash house - giving residents access to token-operated washers and dryers and full bathrooms for showering.

Use of a washer, dryer and shower each costs a token - 75 cents - a price Karen McKernan, the community center's executive director, says is necessary to recover facility operating costs.

Grants helped pay for the wash house - $50,000 from the John L. Mulvaney Foundation, $25,000 from the Springs Close Foundation, and donations from The NASCAR Foundation, community members and organizations.

At Monday's ribbon-cutting, McKernan reminded the crowd of 50 or so government officials, visitors and Blackmon Road residents that the hard work has just begun.

"This is not an end goal, just a midpoint toward getting healthy, sustainable housing for this community," she said.

Blackmon Road "seems to take a step backwards for every step it takes forward," York County Council chairman Buddy Motz said. "This is definitely a step forward."

U.S. Rep. John Spratt also applauded the services now available to residents of Blackmon Road.

"We are meeting today to celebrate some of the most mundane conveniences," he said. "But these are necessities of life."

In addition to the new services, A Place for Hope offers educational and community-building programs aimed at empowering residents.

Tiffany Ervin, 28, was among the Blackmon Road residents who came out to celebrate the wash house's opening.

For Ervin, the wash house means more to her than a place to do laundry - it is now a place for her to earn some income. She and another resident will take turns staffing the wash house from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays.

The mother of a 5-year-old daughter, Ervin grew up along Blackmon Road. Her siblings have all moved away, which she hopes to do soon, she said.

She appreciates the wash house, because having no running water or sewer is a difficult way to live.

The wash house "means a lot, but they need to step it up some too," she said, by bringing in water and sewer service to homes.

Ester Whitlock, whose mother Hope Whitlock is the namesake for A Place for Hope, says the community was skeptical that they would get a wash house at all.

Now that they have, she said, it will be a way for the residents to get more involved in the community - one that has changed for the better over the years.

"The community is growing and we are getting more stuff done now," she said. "The kids feel much more comfortable. Their grades are coming up."

Whitlock also would like to see water and sewer run to the residences.

But because of the impossibility of running water and sewer lines through the area's rocky terrain, the county is looking toward other solutions, like creating rental housing closer to A Place for Hope, where water and sewer is already available.

McClure is among the residents who don't like the idea of relocating. She doesn't want to give up her home - or gain the added expense of renting a new place and paying for services.

"Resistance has always been a part of this community," said McKernan, adding that gaining momentum by providing more services and earning the trust of residents are important goals for the organization.

When A Place for Hope began, she said, some residents resisted at first, but now get involved.

Anticipating a similar resistance to the cost of using the wash house, McKernan said the community center initially will provide residents with free tokens for participating in their programs.

This story was originally published July 13, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wash house with bathrooms, laundry opens on Blackmon Road."