Congratulations to Brenda Nelson, our Regional Program Coordinator for Associates in Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina. Brenda was presented with an Emmanuel Nine Humanitarian Award in Charleston this past week by the Mother Emanuel AME Church, where she served on staff when the shooting occurred on June 17, 2015.

On that day, Mother Emanuel congregants welcomed a stranger who had entered their church. They invited him to participate in their Wednesday night bible study. Tragically, at the close of the bible study, the young man they had welcomed killed nine people, including Mother Emanuel’s pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, also a South Carolina State Senator. Brenda was not present at the time, but knew the victims and their families well.