Carol Burdette: The Anderson Observer Interview
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Carol Burdette said she’s not sure why the United Way of Anderson County leadership “took a chance” on her almost 25 years ago but she – and the community are glad they did.
Burdette will step down from her role as Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Anderson County at the end of the year, and the accolades and awards have been pouring in since she made the announcement earlier this year.
The Anderson Civic Center was packed Thursday night for the official celebration of Burdette’s life and work. A cut of that video is available at the Observer’s YouTube channel.
But two things have provided the rails for the track of her life and work in the community: her love for Pendleton and dedicated devotion to public service in Anderson County and beyond.
The daughter of a single mom who died while she was in high school, Carol went to work early, with jobs in her beloved hometown. From emptying trash cans at the Pendleton Historical Commission where her sister worked, to helping keep track of customers at Evans Rexall Drug Store, she never slowed down, and hasn’t since.
From a position at the South Carolina Welcome Center right out of college, to head of the Anderson County Beautification Commission, Burdette quickly recognized she wanted to be a force for change and improvement.
She was elected to Pendleton Town Council in 1987, by a margin of five votes.
“Those five votes made all the difference in the world to me for the rest of my life,” said Burdette, who added that after the election she vowed to learn everything she could to make Pendleton a better place.
After losing her bid for Pendleton mayor to a long-term incumbent in 1993, by 81 votes, she continued to serve on council and ran again and became mayor in 1997 and served in that post until 2009.
When she applied for the United Way job in 2002, her plan was to serve for five years and then run for a South Carolina Senate seat.
After passing on the opportunity to run in 2008, she lost a close race (475 votes) to former S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant, then ran again in 2017 and received 46 percent of the vote and lost to current S.C. Sen. Richard Cash.
She has not ruled out another run for public office.
“I am very goal oriented, and my bucket list is a mile long,” said Burdette, adding she has checked off everything on her list except serving in the state legislature.
As she looks back on her years at the helm of the United Way, she said that she might be most proud of a pair of initiatives, one aimed at teenagers and the other children.
The program to stem the tide of teen pregnancies in the county’s public schools gained national attention as a model program, one which reduced the number of teen mothers by 81 percent over 20 years.
The other, the Snack Pack program, provides food for school children who might otherwise go hungry, to take a pack of food home over the weekend.
Though she is stepping down from the top spot at United Way, Burdette has no plans to stop serving in the community. She will just be looking for new places where she can take her hands-on approach every day.