Jerry Blassingame 

Executive Director of Soteria CDC

Denise Patterson-Jones

Director of Operations

Denise Patterson-Jones is the Director of Operations and Property Manager of Soteria Community Development Corporation.

Denise, a graduate of Eastside High School, continued her education at Greenville Technical College from 2008-2013 where she received her Associate Degrees in Business Management, Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Accounting. In November 2007, she began volunteering at Soteria CDC as an appointment setter for the Ministry of Resources Benevolence Ministry. In May 2011, she started an Internship for Soteria’s Green Start Recycling before coming onboard as staff in July 2011 as Soteria Program Manager.  As the need expanded, so did Denise’s role into Administrative Assistant and Property Manager. In seeing a need of managing the housing of Soteria CDC, she went back to Greenville Tech in August 2012 and received certification in Property Management. Shortly thereafter in January 2014, she became a Notary Public for The State of South Carolina. In her spare time she loves to be “YaYa” to her six grandchildren.

Denise lives in Greenville with her husband, Melvin, and they have a blended family of eight children and six grandchildren.

Bob Norwood

Director of Programs for Men

Bob Norwood came to Soteria as an intern in 2019 and quickly established himself as an invaluable part of the Soteria family.  His first role was to help Denise cover the front desk, to field phone calls, and to be the face of the front office.

After graduating our 12 month program, Bob naturally rolled into the role of Director of Programs and joined our full time staff.  He now oversees our intern activity, from the needs of Soteria House to the interns’ education, job training, transportation, and support services.

April Barksdale

Director of Programs for Women

April is an alumni of The Institute for Prison Ministries at Wheaton College. She is also the founder of ‘Beyond the RazorWire’ an online peer support community for formerly incarcerated women in S.C. after her own release from prison in 2011.

In 2015 she published her first book, ‘31 days and a Wake Up: My Journey Back to Freedom’ that chronicles the myriad of emotions she experienced during the final month of her incarceration.

April has been a local entrepreneur since 2014 and enjoys crafting and cooking in her spare time. Her and her husband Bernard reside in Simpsonville, S.C. and share a blended family of 5 children and 3 grandchildren.

Her quote to live by is, “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world, at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”
– Albert Einstein

Christopher Pritchard

Case Manager

Christopher is an ordained Minister of Christ who serves current and formerly incarcerated people in several capacities:

• Case Manager for the men’s program at Soteria Community Development Corporation
• Board and Executive Committee member of the Tyger River Chapel Foundation, an organization created to construct and support a chapel on the lower yard of the Tyger River Correctional Institute in Spartanburg County, South Carolina
• Founder and Director of Falling Chains, a 501(c)3 that encourages, educates, and equips the Church to be active participants in the reentry process, and provides program development and evaluation for organizations that serve incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people
• Member of the “True Value” Leighton Ford Mentoring Community
• Member of Church at the Mill
• Graduate of the Cross-Examined Instructors Academy, where he received advanced apologetics presentation training

Beginning in high school and during his freshman year at North Carolina State University, Christopher made a series of bad decisions that resulted in a life sentence. He was released in 2007 after 17-1/2 years of incarceration and made a decision to follow Christ six months later. He married Jennifer in late 2008, inheriting two wonderful daughters in the process. After his 5-year parole ended, Christopher successfully completed coursework at Wheaton College, where he received a Certification in Reentry Ministry as a Charles W. Colson Scholarship recipient. In January 2017, he received his ordination as a Minister of Christ. Christopher and Jennifer live near Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Catherine Blount

Director of Marketing

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Catherine brings almost 20 years of design and marketing experience to Soteria.  She gets the word out about all the good things going on both at Soteria, CDC and Soteria At Work.

Jonathan Thompson

Soteria At Work Artisan

Soteria At Work is the on-site job skill training program at Soteria.  We teach the men how to deconstruct houses and then use the wood to build furniture and artifacts. Jonathan joined the Soteria At Work team when he first enrolled in our Reentry Program and became a full time employee after graduating. He now teaches the trade to new interns.

Cody Satterfield

Soteria At Work Artisan

Cody is currently enrolled as an intern at Soteria CDC and joined the Soteria At Work team after completing his first 30 days in our program.  Cody works hard with a great attitude, is eager to learn, and we are thrilled to have him.

Kenneth Johnson

Soteria At Work Artisan

Kenneth is currently enrolled as an intern at Soteria CDC and joined the Soteria At Work team after completing his first 30 days in our program.  Kenneth’s calm presence and quiet confidence bless us all day every day.