Inman South Carolina Elisa

We left Indiana with a 9 hour overnight drive. It is the final long drive of the tour, and I for one was antsy in the van. South Carolina is a state we stop in often and from now on I will know all the families. There are 2 stops today and 2 tomorrow, which is our last day on the tour.

This stop is hosted by the family of Evelyn Shelton and the city of Inman. Evelyn went missing in Spartanburg and we had a stop last year at the Spartanburg City Hall, but today we are at the Inman City Hall and Police Department. Everyone was interspersing the 2 names, which was confusing to me, a non South Carolinian, but from what I understand Inman is in Spartanburg County.

Evelyn Shelton was 42 when she went missing in 2011. She was last seen leaving a church friend's home where she was attending Bible study. She had received a text message and left suddenly never to be seen again. The following day her car was recovered a few miles from where she had been the evening before and about 2 months later her wallet was found in a storm drain. Searches of all these areas failed to reveal anything else relevant to her disappearance.

Evelyn's brother Tim always hosts a good rally stop. He puts time and thought into what his message will be about and has changed his focus this year to domestic abuse. Tim runs the nonprofit Speak Life Forever Foundation, which Evelyn's family founded after her disappearance. It is a faith based organization whose purpose is to create awareness about missing individuals through connections with other organizations who maintain similar goals. The SLFF has vowed to keep hope alive through ministry at various community outreach events. Their shirts with Evelyn's picture say Never Give Up Hope.

Today's program began with an invocation by Inspired Life Ministries. Then we heard from the founder of the Retread Initiative, a nonprofit organization whose programs are aimed at youth education, victim re-empowerment, and behavior coaching. His domestic violence speech was different than most, as he spoke of the boys and men who need to be reached and coached. Reaching males is key to curbing domestic violence yet most speak of what women can and should do. After Monica spoke we were treated to songs of inspiration. A part of Evelyn's stop that I was looking forward to and that did not disappoint. A Pastor then introduced the Mayor of Inman, who welcomed us to his city although wishing we had come under different circumstances. Tim then invited us to cross the street where the balloon release would occur.

 As we walked, we passed many missing persons posters staked into the ground all around the area of the ballon release. So many of the missing of South Carolina, so many faces that I was familiar with, so many stories that I know. Brandy, Kareem, Zach, Garrett, Crystal, Clartha and Brandon and Brittanee, to name just a few. It overwhelmed me rather than making me feel comfortable knowing so many. So many faces that I see year after year, so many who's families I've met, so many that are in my heart and that are dear to me, so many that deserve to be returned to their loved ones, just so many..

Elisa