Duke Energy and Ansonville Mayor Caraway team up to bless local small business

ANSONVILLE — When Ansonville Mayor and CEO of Caraway Business and Learning Center, Angela Tina Caraway, was first awarded Duke Energy’s $25,000 Small Business Support Grant by Duke Energy District Manager Emily Turner back in July, she did not know which nine area businesses would be chosen to receive a $2,500 portion of the grant money.

Last Thursday, county officials, including newly elected County Commissioner Kyle Leary and Anson Economic Development Corporation (AEDC)’s Executive Director Randy Collins, came to a ceremony at the Caraway Business and Learning Center to show support for Mayor Caraway and the nine businesses chosen to receive a split of the grant.

Brenda’s Reality Plus, Caraway Concrete, Eddie Maye Lawn and Landscaping, Generation 2 Upholstery, Kat and Liz a clothing boutique, Maye’s Auto Repair, Trend Settaz, Sunny Rae Photography, and Westview Memorial Park and Cemetery each received a portion of the $25K prize.

The Duke Energy grant assists small businesses “through building renovations, purchasing needed equipment, technology and inventory assistance,” and its award is chosen annually by the company’s shareholders.

Owner of area real estate firm, Brenda’s Reality Plus, Brenda McMillan, is one of nine businesses chosen to be awarded a portion of the grant money. McMillan says she can work with clients to find a buyer. “I can take you from credit to closing,” she says.

Caraway Concrete pours foundations and can fulfill all commercial and creative concrete needs. Owner Tyrone Caraway was 19-years old when he started working with concrete at American Builders, finding his professional passion there. “I have never wanted to do anything else since, nothing but work with concrete. It has really become a passion for me,” said Caraway.

Striking out on his own, Caraway has had his share of success, his first big job being a 60 x 100 ft. pad of concrete for a local church. “It was my first big job on my own and I am still very proud of that job today,” he says.

Eddie Maye Lawn and Landscaping provides tree and stump removal, pressure washing and other landscaping needs. Maye says he strives for perfection in all he does, working to leave each place looking better than when he found it.

Stan Harward started Generation 2 Upholstery in his father’s footsteps. “I learned through osmosis I guess, watching my dad,” says Harward, modestly describing what he says has been a life-long passion for him. “It started as a part-time kind of thing for about 27 or 28 years before I started to go full time at it in 2018,” said Harward, whose favorite items to upholster are automobiles and boats. “I can reupholster anything, but to work on a car, boat, or yacht, it takes real skill and perfection,” he says, admitting he is a perfectionist who cannot be happy until he has an item perfect for his customer. Harward plans to use the grant money to purchase new equipment as many of his tools are custom made or handed down to him from his father.

Kat and Liz clothing boutique, located beside H.W. Little Hardware store in uptown Wadesboro, plans to use its portion of the grant money to purchase a DTF printer so it can offer customers custom t-shirts. Owner Sarah Burr says her boutique’s ‘Build Your Own Tee Christmas Tree’ is returning this year for Kat and Liz’s Christmas Open House on Thursday, Nov. 21 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the boutique. “We will have 60 prints to choose from that evening. We order from USA vendors and our sizes range from XS to 3X,” said Burr.

Marvin Maye, owner of Maye’s Auto Repair, says his business offers automotive, grading and landscaping services. “I really love helping people. I don’t do any advertising, my customers come from word of mouth,” says Maye, who adds he knows he must be doing something right as bad news travels faster than good.

“I’m going to use the grant money to buy some equipment I have been needing. I love working with concrete, it is when I feel like I am creating something, like I am really doing something,” said Maye. His brother, Rev. Eddie Maye of Pee Dee Baptist Church hired him to do a pad for the church and Maye says to date it is the project he feels the biggest sense of pride over.

After 15 years in business, Trend Settaz hair salon is a familiar face in Anson County and owner Albertina “Shay” Green says the secret to her longevity is she wants all of her clients to feel good about themselves by feeling beautiful when they leave her salon. “Nothing really changes in the beauty industry, you always see the same looks and style come around again,” says Green of her nearly two decade career. She says she will use the grant on shop repairs, adding she is planning a community give back event, date to still be determined.

Sunshine Rae of Sunny Rae Photography has turned a life-long hobby into a lucrative career move, finding financial success behind the lens of her camera. “It started out as a hobby, but one day my friend asked me, ‘how much do I owe you,’ and a light bulb just went off in my head and I have been charging ever since,” she says of her expertise with timing, angles, and lighting. She said she will be using the grant money to upgrade her equipment. Sunshine Rae says she can photograph anything, including weddings, reunions, graduation ceremonies, baby showers, etc., and is now taking orders for holiday family pictures.

Owners of Westview Memorial Park and Cemetery are married couple Sylvia and Lewis McLendon. The couple started working at the cemetery in the 1990s, deciding to buy the property in 2004. Sylvia says they offer memorials, cremations, burials, and sale graves. “We are going to use the grant money to redo the hedges and the bricks around the signs out front. We are just so excited to receive this grant and it is truly a blessing from the Lord,” says Sylvia who has been pastor at Divine Unity church for 21 years.