With a newly wrapped bus the Pee Dee Rural Transportation Authority (PDRTA) and Trinity Behavioral Care mark their half-decade partnership providing public transportation in rural Marion, Dillon, and Marlboro Counties and celebrate Trinity’s fifty years of service to those communities.
Trinty, and the statewide system of county substance use disorder prevention and treatment providers, was formed in 1973. “Each of our Counties created their Commissions on Alcohol and Drug Abuse via ordnance in October of that year”, Donny Brock, Trinity’s executive director explained. “In what is now seen as very progressive, the three commissions merged over time into one modern efficient organization adopting its current name in 2007.” For fifty years Trinity has provided outpatient counseling out of its offices in Marion, Dillon, and Bennettsville as well as community and school-based prevention services throughout the area. Trinity’s response to our current opiate crisis has been recognized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the White House’s Office of Drug Control Policy as a model for rural communities. “We are also very proud of our new Marion and Dillon facilities and the PDTRA’s commitment to provide our clients front door access to the care we provide.” Trinity is also constructing a new facility in Bennettsville, expected to open late 2024.
The PDRTA’s efforts to provide rural transportation in our outer most counties involve leveraging community partnerships. “Rural area transportation comes with a unique set of challenges. Valuable partnerships, like that with Trinity, allow our community-based organizations to reach shared goals. Local funding allows PDRTA to leverage federal dollars to maximize impact and facilitate essential community connections,” said Don Strickland, PDRTA’s Executive Director. “Together, Trinity and PDRTA are providing a path to recovery and treatment.”
PDRTA provides public transportation in six counties: Florence, Chesterfield, Darlington, Marlboro, Marion and Dillon spanning over 3,500 square miles.
By service area, the transportation authority covers the largest area in South Carolina and is the third largest in the nation. Founded in 1974, PDRTA was the first transportation authority formed in the state of South Carolina.
