Mill Village Ministries is a family of nonprofit social enterprises that was founded in 2012 by Furman University Alum Dan Weidenbenner. Weidenbenner serves as the Executive Director of the West Greenville based “umbrella” nonprofit.
The organization is a faith based family of enterprises that aims to elevate the whole community through social justice, healthy food, bicycle access and entrepreneurial training. Based in a historically under-resourced section of the Greenville community, their mission is to confront local, systemic poverty and injustice through education, access, and resources by inviting the whole community to spark multi generational improvements in Greenville, SC. Mill Village Ministries is made up of four social enterprises: Mill Village Farms, Village Engage, Village Launch, and Village Wrench.
Mill Village Farms was the organization’s inaugural enterprise. It is a nonprofit farm and produce distributor that provides healthy produce, youth employment, and food system education for all in Greenville.
The enterprise has a FoodShare Greenville program in partnership with FoodShare SC. The benefits of this program are multi-faceted and many.
Many people in neighborhoods in Greenville and across the state lack access and/or the financial resources to be able to have healthy produce on their tables on a daily basis. The lack of access to the foods that are so essential to a healthy diet increases the risk of many illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers that disproportionately affect under-resourced communities.
The FoodShare Greenville program offers a bi-weekly produce box. Typically each box comes with 10-12 varieties of top quality fruits and vegetables that are sourced as locally and seasonally as possible. The boxes are ordered online and picked up at several partner sites across Greenville County.
Garden and food education is also a key component to the structure of Mill Village Farms. In 2012 a local church helped to build an educational farm which includes 30 garden beds, a 60 foot greenhouse, commercial kitchen and a produce-processing crop stop.
Educational classes and workshops are offered to engage the community and introduce them to the health benefits of fresh produce and a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. Some of the workshops hosted include learning how to seed, garden maintenance, and companion planting. A youth program is an integral part of the Mill Village Farms enterprise. The “Spoons and Sprouts” program is open to teens 14 years old and above. The program strives to help teens in the workforce and in life teaching skills not just pertaining to gardening and healthy food but also building character. Community mentors and professionals are brought in to teach interviewing skills, financial literacy, and more. Ellie, a 2024 Mill Village Farms Youth Apprentice had this to say, “At Mill Village I gained real life experience and improved my ability to work with others. I learned about food security, gardening and how to cook different types of food. I enjoyed meeting people in the neighborhood”.
Village Wrench is a full service bicycle shop that connects the community through bicycle repair, educational empowerment and upward mobility. The shop provides accessible and affordable sales and service while also focusing on youth employment and community education.
While Village Wrench is a full service bicycle shop the enterprise is aware that many residents do not have access to reliable transportation and cannot afford to purchase a bicycle. The Earn-A-Bike Program is an initiative that allows community members to earn a bicycle with volunteer hours accumulated at either the bike shop or around the community. Work benches and extra tools are also available at the bike shop for those who need a “quick fix” and know how to do it themselves.
As stated by a local resident, “Village Wrench welcomed me with a smile and provided a warm place with tools, parts and expertise where I could fix my bike and trailer that I rely on every day”. Community is the backbone of the origin of Village Wrench and that same intent is still the motivation for Village Wrench staffers.
A team of staff and volunteers set up tents and tools on the first Saturday of every month for Free Bike Repair at 7 sites across the county where residents can come and receive free simple bike repairs. In the last year Village Wrench has repaired 1,442 bikes, 59 community members have earned bikes through community service and volunteer hours and 12 youth went through our training or employment program.
Village Launch is the entrepreneurial arm of the organization. It exist to equip under- resourced entrepreneurs to become providers, creators, and producers in their own communities.
The flagship program for Village Launch is the Business Entrepreneur Academy. This program is also known as B.E.A. It is a 10 week program that pairs every participant with a mentor and each week focuses on different topics such as building a business plan, business finances, marketing and more. Business professionals often speak to the class about their area of expertise. The Business Entrepreneur Academy provides a wrap around support for community members who are looking to launch or expand their business. Village Launch also offers classes that focus on non-profit business as well as classes for entrepreneurs that are more established in their businesses.
One of the most unique aspects of Village Launch is that alumni of any of the programs are invited to join any of the classes again to sit in on topics they may need to brush up on. Alumni are also encouraged to join quarterly gatherings and workshops that are held throughout the year.
The Village Launch staff is very intentional about following up with alumni to make sure they are progressing well and to see if there is any need that the program can provide to help them as they grow their businesses.
A Village Launch Market was established to give entrepreneurs a platform to bring awareness to their businesses and to test their ideas. The market is held in the West Greenville neighborhood on the 2nd Saturday of the month from April-June and October-December.
At the end of 2024 Village Launch had trained 103 entrepreneurs across all their programs, hosted 82 small businesses at the Village Launch markets, provided over 2,300 hours of training and awarded $140,000 to Village Launch graduates.
Village Engage is the social justice and advocacy arm of Mill Village Ministries. It is a faith based community organizer that provides educational opportunities, space for dialogue and avenues for action to tackle systemic injustices facing Greenville, South Carolina.
The tag line for Village Engage is Have Faith, Speak Up, Take Action!
The mission of this enterprise is to provide pathways to activate the power of communities working together to build a more just and compassionate Greenville. The enterprise is the Greenville administrator of the Just Faith program which is an intensive small group study program. In addition, they produce issue-focused forums, guide immersive experiences to reveal inequity in our community, and provide opportunities for advocacy.
Village Engage has advocated and informed on various issues from gun violence prevention, the housing crisis, transportation, tools for advocacy, racial displacement and more.
In 2024 Village Engage hosted 96 participants in equity, faith and justice discussion groups, 632 participants at community engagement events and had 38 participating church and partner organizations.
