Charles Warner|Daily Times Yushica Padgett, a counselor with the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department, is busy on the computer in the department's Union County office's new location in what used to be the Jonesville High School library. The school building is now the Jonesville Municipal Complex and is owned by the Town of Jonesville which is leasing it to the Vocational Rehabilitation Department.

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Charles Warner|Daily Times Christy Kitchens, office coordinator for the Union County office of the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department, and counselor Ashley W. Harris call up information on Kitchens' computer in what used to be the Jonesville High School library. The department is leasing the space from the Town of Jonesville for use by its Union County office which had been without a permanent home for the past two years.

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JONESVILLE — The Union County office of the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department now has a permanent home thanks to the Town of Jonesville.

Established in 1927, the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department provides services that enables South Carolina residents with disabilities to become and remain gainfully employed. The services are provided through the department’s offices and satellite offices throughout South Carolina. The Union County office is a satellite of the department’s Gaffney office and until December was without a permanent location.

“For the last couple of years since the Employment Security Commission office closed on the (Duncan) Bypass closed we haven’t had a permanent home,” Christy Kitchens, office coordinator, said Friday. “We were allowed to use temporary space in other county offices and agencies.”

The days of the Union County office having to rely on temporary office space came to an end in 2012 when the Town of Jonesville agreed to lease the department what used to be the library of Jonesville High School. The school building is now the Jonesville Municipal Complex but the town only uses part of the building for the offices of the mayor and town clerk, police department, and the meeting room for the Jonesville Town Council. The old school cafeteria now serves as the Jonesville Senior Citizens Center.

The library, however, was not being used and so the town agreed to allow the vocational rehabilitation department to lease it for its Union County office.

“Jonesville is our permanent location now, we moved in the month of December,” Kitchens said. “We’ll be having our open house on Tuesday from three to five.

“We really can’t stress enough how helpful and accommodating Mayor (Ernest) Moore and the town have been by leasing the old library to us,” she said. “We also have to thank our state office which is committed to serving Union County.”

Kitchens said her office serves approximately 200 clients in Union County with a staff that includes two counselors, a job coach, and a vocational evaluator.

The office, which is located at 131 N. Main St., Jonesville, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information about the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department, its Union County office, and the services it provides, call 864-475-5000.

Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@civitasmedia.com.