A donation of $250,000 from Spero Financial will go toward sponsoring the plaza at the center of Unity Park, named in honor of longtime Southernside community leader Mary Duckett.
Plans for the Mary Francis Duckett plaza were unveiled during a surprise event in downtown Greenville on March 29, with Duckett and members of her family in attendance.
“They kept it from me,” Duckett said, laughing as a tarp was pulled off the large plaque, revealing the name of the plaza. “I was wondering why my son was coming home. He was just home two weeks ago.”
Bryan McKay, president and CEO of Spero Financial, said he came to understand the depth of Duckett’s contributions when digging through the history of the Southernside neighborhood and the land on which Unity Park now sits.
“But even those stories reflect only a fraction of the life work of Mary Duckett,” McKay said. “We specifically chose the plaza because it is a place that brings people together, something she has been doing her entire life. We hope this will be a symbol of her legacy.”
As president of the Southernside Neighborhood in Action organization and a member of numerous boards and organizations during her tenure in Greenville, Duckett has been instrumental in spearheading projects aimed at uplifting underserved neighborhoods, according to Mayor Knox White.
A major donation to Unity Park. Spero Financial donates $250,000 and uses the naming rights to the plaza in front of the welcome center to honor Southernside neighborhood president Mary Duckett. #buildunity pic.twitter.com/6BFsniBvFN
— City of Greenville (@CityGreenville) March 29, 2022
Speaking at the start of the surprise unveiling, White said Unity Park would not have been possible without her efforts.
“In her seven decades living in Southernside, Mary Duckett has dedicated herself to making our community better — a better place for seniors, children, her neighbors, and for people she has never met,” White said.
As she stood before the microphone to address the crowd, Duckett only laughed.
“You all really got me,” she said. “It’s not like me not to know what to say. You know, it’s true that God always has something planned that you never know about. And He really got me, too, today.”
The plaza will open May 19, along with the rest of Unity Park.
Headquartered in Greenville, Spero Financial was chartered in 1935 and is now one of South Carolina’s largest credit unions, with nearly 50,000 members and $559 million in assets.
