Calhoun County DSS Office

July 2026 | Calhoun County, South Carolina

• Calhoun County is located in the Lowcountry Region of South Carolina, southeast of Columbia. Home to the town of St. Matthews, the county is known for its rural landscapes, rich agricultural heritage, and easy access to natural areas like Lake Marion and the Congaree River.

• We first reached out to Calhoun County at the end of 2025 to let them know we were planning to install a Lily Pad in 2026. The director was responsive and made it easy to gather everything we needed to get started. Since Calhoun and Clarendon counties are so close to each other, we decided to schedule both installations during the same weekend. Shortly before the installation, Calhoun welcomed a new director, who was just as helpful, excited and appreciative of the project.

• During our initial site visit, our team identified two spaces to transform: a main Lily Pad room and a smaller visitation room that also serves as overflow space for youth and families when the main room is being used. After both rooms were professionally painted, our team and a few volunteers completed the transformation into welcoming, trauma-informed spaces. To make the space feel warmer and more welcoming, we used a warm rust tone on the bottom half of the walls and a fresh, warm white on the top. This simple design choice helped break up the monotony of the walls and transformed the office into a space that feels less like an office environment.

• Both rooms include many of the features found throughout Lily Pad spaces, including comfortable seating, books, sensory toys, drawing supplies, soft blankets, ambient lighting, and activity walls. Like every Lily Pad room, each space also displays Scripture to offer truth and encouragement to every child and family who enters.

• The Lily Pad room was designed with a sleeper sofa, room-darkening curtains, soft lighting, sensory items, electronics, and a reclining rocking chair that all work together to create a calming, trauma-informed environment where children can rest, play and feel supported. The bold, geometric rug, and the calm but colorful wall treatment give the room a natural, earthy feel, while the tree-ring wall decor ties everything together.

• The Visitation room was designed create connection between family members during visits in a warmer, more comfortable setting. We added comfortable seating, books, child-friendly activities, soft lighting, and a Lego activity wall to help the room feel less like an office and more like a living room.

• We are incredibly grateful for the Darrel and Alicia Jackson Foundation for generously funding this project and helping make this space possible for the Calhoun County DSS office and the communities they serve.