She signs her emails, “Inspirationally, Octavia” and with a quote from Ermias Asghedom, “The highest human act is to inspire.” Her non-profit is named Aspire2Inspire. There is a pattern to be found for Octavia Lewis in words and perhaps more importantly deeds. She does aspire to inspire those around her.
Mrs. Lewis’ may not be originally from Colleton County, but she is just as involved in her community as someone who is born and raised here. Coming from Philadelphia, Lewis and her husband, Michael have always advocated for children. Octavia is a retired educator and school administrator. Michael was the Director of Social Services at the public defender’s office in Philadelphia. It has always been their mentality to help those who did not have and to find and help allocate resources to share with the community or those who are in need. While living in Philadelphia they ran an interstate basketball league for boys and girls. The league was very successful and ran very smoothly, but they ran into the issue of having to use various recreation centers for the teams to play. The ultimate dream was to have one location for the kids to play the game and to also receive and academic instruction or enforcement they could provide. This is very important because to be a part of the league the player had to participate in what Mrs. Lewis called an “academic instructional period.” Participation could be before the game or after the game, but it had to be done. It could be something as simple as completing your homework from school or even writing an essay for a college application, but there was always an educational component to the league. Unfortunately, while in Philadelphia they never were able to fulfill their ultimate “one location” dream. Mrs. Octavia’s own children came through and were active in the program too. Her sons would come in and set up the basketball courts, monitor the score table, and were mentors to the younger participants. While her boys, Kales, Nathaniel, and Ashie, were transitioning out of the league they chose to go to colleges in the south. So, in addition to the trips south coinciding with Mr. Lewis’ job as the Director of Social Services in Philadelphia and trips back and forth settling three young men into colleges, Mrs. Octavia said they fell in love with South Carolina and that was going to be where they retired. On one of these trips south, riding around trying to find a place for her boys to live, one of them saw the old Ruffin High School building. He said, “Mom, this is the building. This is us. This is what we have always wanted. It has everything.” Decision made, this family of five tracked down the owner, which took a year, pooled their money and purchased the building. Mrs. Lewis commented during that year they researched the property and the school and found out the back story of Ruffin High School and the fact it was a historical building. Alumni met with the Lewis’ and explained to her that RHS was “pivotal” to the community. Mrs. Octavia elaborates the alumni told her “once it was shut down, they basically lost a sense of community because they didn’t have a place to gather and participate in activities.” Now with the Lewis family at the helm, the Ruffin High School building is being refurbished project by project to make a place for not only the youth of Ruffin and the surrounding area, but to be that central heartbeat to the community it used to be.
Asking the $64,000 Dollar question of what would she do if money and time were no obstacle, her answer was not surprising. She said that she would continue to do what she was doing at Ruffin High School and have the building open and fully functioning for Ruffin and the surrounding communities and fulfilling her calling.
Mrs. Lewis is a firm believer the Creator places you where you need to be, and she is firm in her knowledge that she and her family were placed in Ruffin to fulfill their dream in a way that benefits an area that needs the assistance. Mrs. Octavia Lewis’ calling, and yes it is a calling, to help children and give opportunities and help to those who need it is well underway in Ruffin, South Carolina.
