By VICKI BROWN
vbrown@lowcountry.com
Members of the Ritter community enjoyed an after-Thanksgiving social to raise funds for a new community center.
The November 27th event included vendors, food and jump castles, all as families from the Ritter area spent time together to work on the Ritter Community Revitalization Project.
Law enforcement officers were also present to speak to the crowd and give demonstrations.
The Ritter Community Revitalization Project is a nonprofit LLC-organization that was established in 2019. Charles Bright is a member of the Ritter Project: he spoke to Colleton County Council several months ago asking for assistance in building a new community center.
“Our purpose is to restore community unity and to build a community center that will support educational, social economical, job development needs of our residents,” said Bright. In the Ritter community, Bright said a large percentage of the population is living at or below the poverty limit without proper access to basic resources.
“It is our duty to help them and improve their standards of living through education and job skills development,” Bright said. “I was born and raised in Ritter. It used to be a vibrant town with stores, businesses and schools. We need to try to restore the community to what it once was.”
Additionally, Bright said that donations and grants could “make a real difference in the lives of the Ritter community.”
It is unclear how much money was raised on Saturday, and if there is a timeline associated with building the new center.
