South Carolina General Assembly
123rd Session, 2019-2020

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Bill 855


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A SENATE RESOLUTION

TO CONGRATULATE AND HONOR LEE MARIE SERRALTA MCELVEEN, HISPANIC/LATINO PROGRAM COORDINATOR FOR THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSION FOR MINORITY AFFAIRS, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT AFTER YEARS OF OUTSTANDING SERVICE AND TO WISH HER CONTINUED SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS IN ALL HER FUTURE ENDEAVORS.

Whereas, the South Carolina Senate has learned that Lee Marie Serralta McElveen will begin a well-deserved retirement after years as an advocate for the Hispanic/Latino community, the last of which have been as the highly-regarded Hispanic/Latino program coordinator for the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs; and

Whereas, born in Mexico City to a Puerto Rican father and a South Carolinian mother, she was reared in Puerto Rico and had the benefit of a bicultural and bilingual influence in her home; and

Whereas, during her teenage years in Puerto Rico, Ms. McElveen excelled in sports, a leader among her peers as a gymnast, basketball player, volleyball player, and 100-yard-dash runner in track and field, where she learned the importance of being a team player; and

Whereas, she received an athletic scholarship to Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina to play volleyball, one of very few women athletes coming from Puerto Rico to obtain this honor; and

Whereas, Ms. McElveen earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Southern Wesleyan University, providing a rich background for her professional career with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, University of South Carolina Center for Developmental Disabilities at the School of Medicine, and The ALPHA Center-Kershaw County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, and as the Region II Hispanic/Latino program coordinator for a nine-county area that includes Kershaw, Lee, Chesterfield, Lancaster, York, Fairfield, Richland, Lexington, and Chester counties; and

Whereas, fluent in both Spanish and English, she has served as a state certified interpreter and translator with the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; and

Whereas, now employed with the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs as the Hispanic/Latino coordinator for the State of South Carolina, Ms. McElveen plans to retire on May 31, 2019; and

Whereas, she has served as a board member for the National Latino Peace Officers Association in Columbia, the Cross-Cultural Council, Latino Communications-CDC, and United Way of the Midlands, and on the South Carolina Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, chairman of Good Samaritan Medical Clinic, and member of the Language Access Task Force by the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission; and

Whereas, Ms. McElveen currently sits on the board of directors for the Puerto Rico Soccer League which was run by her late father and now is run by her older brother, Joey, and on the Fundación Joe Serralta, a charity created in honor of her late father; and

Whereas, together with her beloved husband of twenty-eight years, the late Donald "Donnie" I. McElveen, Jr., she reared two wonderful sons, Joseph and Christopher; and

Whereas, grateful for her distinguished service to the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs, the members of the South Carolina Senate take great pleasure in extending best wishes to Lee Marie Serralta McElveen as she transitions to a richly deserved retirement and the leisurely pace of the days ahead. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, congratulate and honor Lee Marie Serralta McElveen, Hispanic/Latino Program Coordinator for the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs, upon the occasion of her retirement after years of outstanding service and wish her continued success and happiness in all her future endeavors.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Lee Marie Serralta McElveen.

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