Jerry Blassingame

Executive Director of Soteria CDC

Kate Weaver Patterson

Managing Attorney and Site Director for the South Carolina Second Chance Justice Collaborative

Kate leads the South Carolina Second Chance Justice Collaborative, which is a partnership between Soteria and nationwide reentry advocate Root & Rebound. The Collaborative advocates for the rights of people who have been harmed and marginalized by mass incarceration, seeking to increase access to justice and opportunity for people with records, and to fight poverty and create second chances for people in Greenville and more broadly across South Carolina. Kate grew up in Greenville and attended Duke University for her undergraduate and law degrees. She also holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the University of Hong Kong. After working in New York, Charlotte and Miami, she returned home to the city she loves, looking to be a force for positive change. She lives in Greenville with her husband and their two children.

Denise Patterson-Jones

Director of Operations

Denise Patterson 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.

Wallace Justice

Soteria At Work, Project Manager

Wallace Justice is the Deconstruction Project Manager for Soteria At Work.

Wallace joined Soteria in 2017 and has given 110% to become a positive, productive member of society.  This man loves good hard labor, and it shows.  His deep understanding of construction combined with his maturity and motivation make Wallace one fine Project Manager.  We are proud to have him.

Jonas Stoltzfus

Workshop Manager

Born and raised in Chestertown, MD, Jonas and his wife Ruth, who grew up in southern SC, were married in 1980 and have been involved in agriculture their entire married lives.  They owned and operated a dairy farm and later were involved in poultry production.  In 2019, they sold their farm and moved to Greenville.

Jonas has always loved woodworking and had a small shop on his farm where he made custom furniture for family and friends.  He also made pieces for the Whole Foods stores in Washington, DC.

He approached Soteria At Work during the 2019 Indie Craft festival and expressed an interest in getting involved with our work.  Over the next year, Jonas invited interns into his woodshop and took time getting to know both our program and our participants.

We are honored to have Jonas teaching our interns carpentry.

Catherine Blount

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.

Sophia Daphnis

Director of Development

Sophia leads the efforts to fund the incredible work being done by the organization as our Director of Development. As an intern during her undergraduate studies at Furman University, she was inspired by the mission to aid and assist those in need.  Sophia, through her own experiences and education, possesses a unique insight into the importance of commitment into building a community that can thrive. She uses her passion for writing with meticulous attention to detail to create proposals for state, federal, and foundation grants.

Sophia grew up just outside of Boston, Massachusetts and chose the South Carolina upstate to continue her education.  She is a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, SC with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Urban Studies and Music.  Recently, Sophia also has obtained Grant Writing Certification from the University of South Carolina.

Sophia, a classically trained violinist, is enthusiastic about all genres of music, art and the Boston Red Sox.  Please email at [email protected] to contact.