Two Rock Hill women won MLK Dream Keeper Award, one of the city’s highest civic honors
.jpg "Long-time Rock Hill volunteers and organization leaders Regeana Phillips, left, and Dorene Boular were honored with the Dream Keeper Award.")
Dorene Boular and Regeana Phillips haven’t just made Rock Hill a fairer, more equitable city. They’ve brought others along on their journey too.
From hosting statewide NAACP chapters to helping people get jobs after prison, Boular and Phillips each have long lists of community service. Now they can add another accolade — co-winners of this year’s Dream Keeper Award.
One of the highest civic awards given in Rock Hill, the Dream Keeper is presented annually to someone whose life reflects the values of courage, compassion and service exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr. It’s given at the annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“These honorees are leaders who, through their work and actions, create a more just and inclusive society,” said Kiera Barber, who introduced the awards Monday.
Dorene Boular
From church to civil rights campaigns, Boular has been a familiar figure in Rock Hill.
She served in various Rock Hill Branch roles with the NAACP, including as president. She was instrumental in bringing the state NAACP convention to the city six years ago, which was the first time in more than a quarter century that it was held in Rock Hill.
Boular also serves as pastor of Cedar Grove AME Zion Church. She founded groups like Women of Strength promoting spiritual wellness and the Good News Club at Emmett Scott Recreation Center. She’s promoted youth development programs, too, as president of the Central City Optimist Club.
Many know Boular through her long-time work with Rock Hill Neighborhood Empowerment, which serves as a bridge between public and private neighborhood building.
That group helps citizens create neighborhood organizations so they can better leverage city services as a collective voice. Boular also coordinated the Weed and Seed crime prevention and Inside Rock Hill civic engagement groups, among others.
“What sets this individual apart is her ability to lead with love and inspire collaboration,” said Maggie Schwietert, who presented Boular’s award Monday.
Boular was shocked to hear her name called for the award, likening her civic work to the running scene in “Forrest Gump” where the title character doesn’t realize how far he’s gone until he finally stops.
“When you’re working, you don’t always realize what you’re doing until someone actually shows it to you or you hear it,” Boular said. “I love my community and I love people. It’s just what I do.”
She was humbled to think that her work impacted so many people, she said. Boular is proudest of the programs she led that connected people to public services, improved their quality of life and gave them a voice in public affairs.
She retired from her city services coordinator job a year ago but remains active in numerous volunteer groups. Boular will always have a connection with the south side of Rock Hill, where she’s done much of her work.
“Even before I became a pastor,” she said. “I felt like I had a congregation.”
More than recognizing her, Boular hopes the Dream Keeper Award inspires others to serve too.
“The community is only as strong as those that are in it,” she said. “If we as individuals would decide that I’m going to be the change in my community, we can.”
Regeana Phillips
One of the earlier students to transition from segregated to integrated schools in Rock Hill, Phillips worked for decades at what is now Duke Energy. Her roles included diversity and inclusion work, along with recruitment and staffing.
Efforts to connect people with jobs went beyond her employment.
Phillips founded Another Chance Staffing. That group connects non-violent offenders who are released from prison with jobs, job training and mentoring. Phillips also co-founded Her Place, a shelter and service organization serving women facing homelessness.
Phillips has been a fixture in Rock Hill for people looking for shelter, or for a free hot meal on Christmas Day. She spent the last 20 Christmases serving food at St. Mary Catholic Church.
She’s volunteered but often coordinated large groups of volunteers to serve. Phillips was honored at the prayer breakfast for her breadth of service, and her resilience in corporate or social settings that weren’t always friendly to women and minorities.
“Whether through her advocacy for affordable housing, her support for women and families or her efforts to build pathways to economic opportunity, she has committed herself to the betterment of others,” Barber said.
Like Boular, Phillips didn’t initially believe the award was for her as she listened to a long list of accolades being read.
“I’m just not one who expects things like that, so I was shocked,” Phillips said. “I’m just one to talk to everybody all the time, everywhere I go.”
From teaching classes to incarcerated people at Moss Justice Center to helping women facing homelessness become self-sufficient, Phillips can’t pick a favorite service role.
She does have a favorite outcome that runs like a thread through all of them.
“Just helping someone else,” Phillips said. “I always say, I try to do what’s right, not what’s popular.”
Phillips would encourage anyone in Rock Hill to start their service somewhere, even if it is small. It could be anything from working on affordable housing options to reading to people at a local library.
“Find your passion,” Phillips said. “What do you like? What do you feel like you could make a difference doing? There’s a need somewhere for everybody.”
