Background
In 2004, some twenty local organizations serving older adults met to begin working on what we perceived to be a great unmet need of seniors who call the South Carolina Grand Strand (Horry and Georgetown Counties) home; namely, a "one stop shop" for locating needed services, quickly, easily, and inexpensively. As that group continued its work throughout the year under the leadership of Horry-Georgetown Tech’s Division of Continuing Education, a number of ideas for the best way(s) to serve that need were proposed, discussed, refined, and eventually discarded as being inadequate or unfeasible. After the main idea of a "Senior Summit" - i.e., a large one-day exposition by senior services providers for the area's older adults - was set aside due to lack of interest, a moving editorial by one of the group's leading members, Paula Ellis of the Myrtle Beach Sun News, rekindled our interest in continuing to work together until something more useful and practical could be developed.

The release of the CAAR’s Older Adult and Retiree Needs Assessment Study in late 2004 provided a new impetus for this project when it somewhat surprisingly revealed that our local senior citizens were using computers and the Internet much more than previous generations. Thus, the committee began to zero in on the idea of constructing a senior services directory online as the best and most practical method to attain our vision. In early 2005 over two hundred local agencies, businesses, and organizations that serve older adults and retirees in this region were surveyed for information on what services they provide and how they can be accessed. This website is the product of that collaborative project.

The CAAR staff – Dr. Reid Johnson, Director, and Mr. Rocco Cartisano, Assistant Director - would particularly like to thank the following people and organizations for their contributions to establishing this Grand Strand Senior Services Directory, and for their continuing support: Shirley Butler and Shirley Johnson of the HGTC Division of Continuing Education; Elizabeth Calley of Senior Peer Counseling; Robert Cavanaugh of North Myrtle Beach City Council; Diane Dale of SC Woman Magazine; Dr. Jennifer Doyle of the CCU Center for Education and Community; Linda Ketron of CCU’s Litchfield Higher Education Center; Mark Kruea of the City of Myrtle Beach; Milton Miles of the Sun News; Judianne Schmenk and John Womack of the Georgetown County United Way; and Norm Whiteley of the CCU Academies of Lifelong Learning.