ROCK HILL — Using paint brushes and the handiwork of volunteers, a community program has revitalized hundreds of homes across Rock Hill while inspiring a culture of helping others in the city.
Rolling in Rock Hill marked its 30th anniversary last month the same way it’s spent every year before: beautifying a dozen or so houses that otherwise would be left in disrepair.
Since 1995, the city-run, volunteer-reliant program has provided makeovers to more than 750 homes in Rock Hill during its regular paint days. The beneficiaries are homeowners who financially or physically could never make the upgrades on their own.
“I thank God for Rolling in Rock Hill,” said Debra Thompson, a Rock Hill resident who had her home restored by volunteers this spring.
Thompson said it didn’t even take a full coat of paint for her home to become the envy of her neighborhood.
Volunteers pressure washed, touched up the trim and made a few upgrades, like fixing the home’s broken railing and leaving Thompson with a new flower garden and a back porch she never had before.
“They did such a good job that I fed them that day, I wouldn’t let them each lunch anywhere else,” she said.
Thompson was among those celebrating on Sept. 30 as volunteers, city staff and homeowners from the past and present gathered at Manchester Meadows Park to recognize Rolling in Rock Hill’s three decades of success.
“Rolling in Rock Hill really is like harvesting fruit from all of the efforts that have gone on for the last 30 years,” said Melanie Brandon, a former director of the city’s Neighborhood Services department that oversees Rolling in Rock Hill. “What started out to be a program really has become who we are as a community. We are all about helping our neighbors and making Rock Hill a better place.”
More than 18,000 people from churches, businesses, civic groups and local schools have chipped in over the years.
The longest-tenured participants recalled the inaugural paint day in 1995 that was washed out by rain. Even then, no one was deterred, volunteers returned the next day to finish the job.
“It’s really been a community collaborative,” said Cathryn Brindle, a former city staffer and who went on to be co-chair of Rolling in Rock Hill.
Through the years the program has evolved. Originally inspired by a similar initiative in Tampa, Fla., Rolling in Rock Hill held just one annual paint day each fall. In 2017, they expanded to add a second paint day in the spring.
While painting is in the name, some volunteer teams, including those who helped Debra Thompson, go above and beyond, using their skills to make repairs or improvements wherever they can.
“It’s kind of overwhelming, you’re really just doing your part,” said Dorene Boular, a former Rolling in Rock Hill program coordinator. “You don’t see how connected you are with it until you step back and see what has been accomplished.”
Boular helped guide the program for decades and still volunteers on paint days. Her passion was on display during a special performance of Tina Turner’s 1970’s song “Proud Mary.”
“We’re rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ in Rock Hill,” she sang during the 30th anniversary celebration.
Surrounded by supporters spanning more than a quarter-century, Rolling in Rock Hill debuted a makeover of its own — a bright, new logo featuring a home dripping with paint and a roller.
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and if we had a picture here of all the houses that have been painted in the last 30 years, it’s not the houses that were transformed but the relationships that were formed that paint the real picture,” Brandon said.