our story

In 2015, Price Crenshaw heard Charleston Hope founder Emily Hoisington speak about her organization at the Jefferson Awards Banquet. Moved by Emily's story, she had dreams about starting her own branch of the organization for weeks afterward. “These were very vivid dreams that consisted of a layout and everything,” she said. “This kept happening every night for two weeks, so I decided to do something about it.”

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Price contacted Emily, who encouraged her to start Clemson Hope. At the time, Crenshaw was on the fence about attending college. The summer after her high school graduation had been transformative for her. After the loss of her grandfather, she began doing mission work and outreach in the streets of Charleston where, she says, she truly found her faith in God. “I became obnoxiously on fire for the Lord,” she said. “The heart I had for the homeless made me lose sight of wanting to go to college. I just hated the thought of spending money, going into debt and pursuing a career for my own gains. But the Lord was not going to let me not go to college.”

At this point, Emily reached out and sent Price a replication plan for Clemson Hope. Price prayed about it and was filled with a reassurance that starting Clemson Hope is what God had called her to do. She was already planning to start the organization before she even stepped foot on campus.

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Price began classes through Clemson University's Bridge program in August 2016 and immediately began to network with other students to start the organization. Within two weeks, a seven person Clemson Hope leadership team had been assembled.

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The team worked together to plan Clemson Hope's first Adopt a Classroom outreach at James M. Brown Elementary in December 2016. Since then, the organization has grown exponentially - now with three partner schools, three mentoring programs, hundreds of volunteers, and impacting over fifteen hundred local Title 1 students.