Home Telecom Celebrates Tri-Community Center for Winning $5,000 Grant from Foundation for Rural Service

Member Submission • December 17, 2025

The Tri-Community Center is Home Telecom’s first FRS Community Grant recipient.

(L-R) Bernard Gilliard, Board Chairperson; April Floyd, Home Telecom Community Engagement Coordinator; Caldwell Pinckney, Jr, Site Manager.   

MONCKS CORNER, SC December 17, 2025 — Home Telecom is excited to announce the Tri-Community Center in Cross, SC has won a $5,000 grant from the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) through the foundations’ Community Grant Program. The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) was established in 1994 as a non-profit by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association and plays a unique role within the telecommunications industry by supporting rural telecom companies, consumers and policymakers with educational information, products and programming.


Home Telecom submitted three applications for FRS grants, on behalf of partner community organizations. The Tri-Community Center’s award is Home Telecom’s first FRS Community Grant recipient.


FRS Community Grants are awarded annually to nonprofit organizations, schools, community groups, municipalities, and other organizations doing noteworthy work in their community. The recipient must be a technology - and broadband-enabled project with expected long-term impact for the community and its residents.

Home Telecom congratulates Tri-Community Center for being awarded the full grant maximum of $5,000. The funds will be used to acquire a variety of equipment and installation costs in support of these efforts.

“Home Telecom is committed to ensuring that rural communities have access to the technology and

opportunities they need to grow and thrive,” said Gina Shuler, vice president of Marketing at Home Telecom.

“Through this grant, the Tri-Community Center will be able to expand internet-optimized programs that

support health, wellness, career advancement and education.”


Located on the 10-acre campus of the former Sandridge Elementary School on Poplar Drive in Cross, Tri-Community Center, Inc. acquired the 29,000 square foot facility and large campus from the Berkeley County School District. They will use it to offer and support a diverse spectrum of community health and wellness programs.


The Tri-Community Center, which is one of the five Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce Community Hubs, will accomplish this through partnerships and collaborations with entities like Berkeley County’s Kennedy Center for substance abuse and addiction services; the Medical University Telehealth division of South Carolina (MUSC); the Berkeley County Department of Mental Health; Trident Technical College; Berkeley County Community Development Block

Grant program; and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments.


Collaborating with these partners, the community center’s objectives are to serve as a gathering point and point of distribution for supporting health and wellness, using technology including webinars, demonstrations, and presentations. The Tri-Community Center feels it will

affect approximately 1,500 local individuals in the areas of health and wellbeing services, i.e., education, awareness, community oneness, and unity building activities and programs.


The community center and the programs they offer will primarily serve the Cross, Sandridge, Pringletown, and Ridgeville residents, but will also serve citizens in bordering areas of the county like St. Stephen, Pineville, and Eadytown.



About Home Telecom



Home Telecom is an innovative communications provider headquartered in Moncks Corner, SC,  with a legacy spanning more than 120 years. Serving Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties, Home Telecom offers multi-gig internet, app-based video, next-gen security, home automation, and VoIP services. With state-of-the-art FTTP technology, Home Telecom leads the way in delivering the fastest broadband in the Charleston region.


For more information, visit https://www.homesc.com/.

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