A Greenville nonprofit built on a prison cell business plan is throwing its annual fundraiser Thursday, aiming to keep formerly incarcerated residents housed, employed, and out of the system that once held its founder. The Soteria Community Development Corporation's Threads of Belonging benefit kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at The Annex at Judson Mill, 701 Easley Bridge Road, with tickets priced at $50.
Soteria was founded by Jerry Blassingame, who conceived the organization while serving a 20-year sentence for drug offenses, according to the Greenville Journal. Blassingame drafted the nonprofit's initial business plan in 1995 while incarcerated, and was paroled in 1999 after three and a half years behind bars, as reported by the Post and Courier. He went on to launch the nonprofit with the goal of reducing reincarceration among people leaving the state's prison system.
A Quarter-Century of Reentry Work
Over its 25-year history through 2024, Soteria estimates it has served roughly 10,000 individuals across Greenville County through transitional housing, job training, financial education, and community outreach, per the same Post and Courier account. The organization marked its 25th anniversary that year, a milestone underscoring just how embedded the group has become in local reentry efforts.
Today, Soteria operates a 16-bed transitional home for men in Travelers Rest, a 16-bed home for women in Greenville, and 14 low-income rental properties in the area for program participants, according to reporting tied to the Post and Courier. Participants complete six- to 12-month structured reentry programs as they work toward stable housing and employment. The nonprofit expanded its residential footprint in August 2022 by opening a mortgage-free transitional facility for women near Wade Hampton Boulevard, a move the Greenville Journal reported came in response to growing local demand for female reentry support; the group had previously run a smaller women's program from 2008 to 2009.
Soteria also runs Soteria At Work, a social enterprise established in 2015 that trains formerly incarcerated men in woodworking and business management by reclaiming lumber from deconstructed local buildings, according to a separate Post and Courier report. The organization's main carpentry shop was rebuilt after a fire destroyed the facility in July 2022, a setback that temporarily cut off both a funding stream and a training program central to the group's mission.
Why Greenville's Reentry Push Matters
The stakes behind Thursday's benefit are tied to Greenville County's outsized role in the state's prison pipeline. Greenville County is South Carolina's top committing county, accounting for 10.2% of the state's total prison commitments with 1,690 inmates as of June 2025, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections. That makes local reentry organizations like Soteria central to the state's broader push to keep people from cycling back into custody.
South Carolina's statewide three-year recidivism rate stood at 20.7% for release cohorts tracked through 2023, down from 33% in 2010 and among the lowest rates in the country, the Department of Corrections reports. Separately, the state's Second Chance Program, a joint initiative between SCDC and the Department of Employment and Workforce, found that 71% of the roughly 2,300 inmates who completed pre-release job training secured employment upon reentering society, according to Corrections1. That program also issues state identification cards alongside its pre-release vocational instruction.
Panel Pairs Biotech, Faith and Lived Experience
Thursday's benefit will feature a conversation between Blassingame, Dr. Jeremy Mercuri, and Rev. Sean Dogan focused on community acceptance and creating opportunities in Greenville for previously incarcerated people. Mercuri serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Samaritan Biologics, a biotechnology company that operates an 11,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, according to Clemson News. Samaritan manufactures human amniotic allograft products for surgical applications.
Dogan has served as Senior Pastor of Long Branch Baptist Church in Greenville since 1997 and was appointed Interim President and CEO of the Urban League of the Upstate in 2019, per the Urban League of the Upstate. He has led community health and economic stability initiatives across the Upstate throughout his tenure.
Beyond the panel discussion, the evening will include music, personal storytelling from program participants, and an art auction featuring work from Caroline Calder, Hollowed Earth, and Christopher Rico. The gathering follows other recent local attention on reentry and supervision issues in Greenville County, including Hoodline's coverage of a Greenville escapee caught after Easley chase, which touched on halfway house supervision and law enforcement response in the county.
