A Brief History of the Simple Room

The Simple Room originated in an interterm class at Greenville College called "Creative Evangelism" in January of 1981. Dr. Jim Reinhard and his class saw the need for ministry among the young people of Bond County, and in the course of discussion, one member said, "Well--perhaps if we just had a simple room downtown we could offer cookies, hot chocolate, and conversation to whoever comes in."

The class acquired their room, and the response was gratifying. At the end of the month they realized they could not walk away from the good work, so they continued the ministry staffed by volunteers.

It soon became apparent that volunteers could not devote the time necessary to meet the needs of the youth of our community. So the Simple Room was incorporated as a charitable, not-for-profit, tax exempt organization with a Board of Directors and a full-time director. After moving from one rented location to another several times, we bought a building located at 405 Franklin Ave, which serves our needs very well.