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Tuesday, 11 February 2025
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Written by Erin C. Healy
Prior to 1988, best friends Ann Marie Swilley and Cindy Stroupe worked at Spa Fitness & Wellness Center here in town. Then Swilley asked Stroupe to come answer phones for the new promotional items business she was starting. One day, Swilley handed Stroupe a box with a notebook, a pen and an order for a local company and told her to go deliver the order and ask if there was anything else Carolina Specialties could do for them. Cindy said that when she returned, “[Swilley] said, Congratulations, you just made your first sales call.”
The two have been working together ever since; that’s over 40 years of friendship and 37 years of working together. Now, the company is known as Carolina Specialties International (https://www.carolinaspecialties.com/) to reflect its current reality, thanks to online sales, and Stroupe will soon be retiring.
This crew has literally survived fire, flood and pestilence to be here.
Promotional items are goods branded with an organization’s name, logo, tagline, contact information or whatever else is appropriate for the target audience. The item can be anything from a pen, pencil or refrigerator magnets to high-quality wearables and specialty products selected because they’re a precise match for the company.
Promotional goals can include everything from advertising, increased sales and brand awareness to employee recognition, gift-giving and more. A beauty spa, for example, could opt for an eye mask embroidered with its logo for clients who purchase a bundled service package. Or a school might give out T-shirts to its honor roll students.
Military leaders repeatedly use CSi for plaques to commemorate someone’s service with a unit or a run of challenge coins. Distinguished unit insignia have made appearances on couch covers, too.
Whether the customer is a business, a government entity, charity or family reunion, branded items make a difference. How much of a difference? Well, a staggering 85 percent of people will do business with a company from which they receive a promotional item. In addition, 83 percent of people like to receive branded items. A business, whether a startup or well-established, must guard its advertising budget. Finding the balance between spending to generate new business and overspending is an art, and a company like CSi can help marketers purchase wisely. This is why—although room exists in the industry for companies such as VistaPrint, Swilley said—most established companies want to work with someone local, someone who knows the industry, the client and the intended audience.
Swilley explained that if you hand out 5,000 pens, for example, you won’t get 100 percent return, not even 50. But if you got 5 percent, that could provide a significant influx of new business to a company. That makes the expenditure well worth it.
Wearables last a long time, receive looks, or “imprints,” every time they’re worn and hold their value as a repeat means of advertising. Decision-makers need to look at promotional items as an investment rather than an expense. Branded items, such as insulated travel mugs with a company’s logo could also be resold by the client for additional income.
CSi now offers in-house embroidery, screen printing and heat seal sublimation. Because everything is done in-house, turnaround times are shortened. Another reason to go with a local promotional items company is for its expert guidance with artwork. What goes well on a mug, won’t work on a pencil. Part of what CSi does is ensure that your company’s name or logo works with your selected item. Often, if not received as a vectoring image, someone at CSi will need to ensure the artwork can be rendered into a form that is sizeable in proportion to its original dimensions.
T-shirts and sweatshirts are both a uniform for employees and an evergreen form of advertising. During the holiday season, business owners might want to deliver gifts to their vendors and employees.
These could be food items with the company’s logo on the packaging. Schools recognize their teachers for outstanding performance with a school mug, a planner or a desk accessory. A cooking school could give screen-printed aprons to their students. Or what about an automotive dealer with customized license plate frames?
Swilley insisted that her son, Stephen Haire, go to work at another company before he came to work for her. Now he owns the business and specializes in working with colleges and contractors.
Stroupe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in performance dance and did pointe, jazz and modern dance up until her first child was born. She was an aerobics instructor at the spa when Swilley said her talents were being wasted and she needed to come work for her. Stroupe said that the 10 years she has spent working closely with grade schools have been some of the most rewarding for her.
She loves spending time with the kids. In fact, she plans on spending more time with her grandchildren when they move to the area. In addition. Stroupe’s 82 year old mother is looking forward to more time with her daughter as well. It’s simply time for Stroupe to have some “Cindy time.” She will continue to see her best friend at the exercise class they both attend.
Stroupe wasn’t kidding when she said that the company survived many ups and downs, including fire, flood and pestilence. Approximately 35 years ago, the company suffered a fire that destroyed everything.
They started over again in a building on Gillespie Street that enjoyed a 100-year-flood estimate rating. The ladies suffered through five years straight of flooding in that locale. The elevated waters brought rodents and snakes out into the open.
That would need to be addressed, Stroupe said with a chuckle. They moved to higher ground. And through it all, business fluctuations, raising children and now retirement, the two women have maintained their friendship.
(Photo: Cindy Stroupe is retiring after 37 years at Carolina Specialities International. She plans to spend time with her grandchildren and mother. Photo courtesy of Cindy Stroupe)
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Tuesday, 11 February 2025
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Written by Erin C. Healy
In a Regimental First Formation ceremony held on Jan. 23 at the Crown Complex, a total of 167 men donned their Green Berets for the first time.
The event was hosted by Col. David M. Lucas, commander of 4th Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne). The graduates made their entrance to bagpipe and drum tattoo. Following the singing of the national anthem, Chaplain Capt. Benjamin R. Frank delivered the invocation. Col. Lucas introduced the other members of the official party: Maj. Gen. Lawrence Gilbert “Gil” Ferguson, Commanding General of 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne); Chief Warrant Officer 5 (Retired) Jamie Korenoski, distinguished member of the regiment; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Williams and Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Williams, both, along with Chaplain Capt. Frank, of 4th Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne).
Maj. Gen. Ferguson is a career Special Forces officer, originally from Mississippi. As Commanding General of 1st Special Forces, he’s responsible for the Green Berets, masters of unconventional warfare, and Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations soldiers. Civil Affairs soldiers receive additional training in negotiation, diplomacy and governance to assess the needs of an allied indigenous population and to help improve the quality of life for civilians.
Psychological Operations soldiers learn to use persuasion, cultural awareness and social psychology to influence how a targeted group thinks and makes decisions.
Maj. Gen. Ferguson’s remarks to the class and audience of approximately 1,400 were poignant in light of current global circumstances. They were worthwhile for everyday civilians to hear and apply to their lives, as well:
“You are joining our formation at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. In a world replete with risk, but also, opportunity. With that in mind, today, I will ask four things of you:
“First, we need you to be creative. Your ability to be creative is one of the reasons we already hired you. I would ask you to remain so. In an increasingly complex world, our challenges will require new solutions, or perhaps, old solutions applied in a new way. Creativity does not have to be complicated, but it will remain a vital component of how we fight and win.
“Second, run to the sound of the guns. We need you to be audacious. The history of warfare has proven time and again, audacity is the most vital attribute in warfighting. Whether in conventional or special operations, fortune truly does favor the bold. But do not misunderstand; I do not mean recklessness. There is a difference. Recklessness is plunging headlong into a fight regardless of the risks, audacity is understanding and mitigating risk and then taking decisive action. Weigh your options, then choose the bold one.
“Third, we need you to be lethal. Ultimately, your task as a special forces officer or NCO is, alongside and through your partners, to fight and win our nation’s wars. Every piece of technology, whether new or old, every tactic or technique, every trick of the trade that you envision or that you find in some old forgotten manual, every partner relationship advantage and capability should all be focused on one end…the defeat of our nation’s adversaries.
“Fourth, remember your roots. How can you know who you really are and where you’re going, if you don’t know where you came from? As you live and work on Fort Liberty, and wherever your future assignments take you, you’ll be surrounded by clear and constant reminders of the people and places that shape our collective destiny. Names like Rock Merritt, Zabitosky, Womack, Ardennes, Bastogne, Normandy, Sicily, La Fiere, Son Tay, Tora Bora, Yarborough, Miller, Stiner, Shachnow…these names are all part of our Army’s collective role of honor. They are the legacy you’re responsible for honoring and continuing. A legacy of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Never forget that legacy and the debt that you owe those who came before who forged that legacy. You owe it to them, and to yourselves, to learn about them and the places they fought, and daily honor our shared legacy through your actions.”
Top graduates in each of four Military Occupational Specialties — weapons, communication, engineering and medical — received special recognition prior to each class member receiving his Green Beret.
Maj. Gen. Ferguson handed each man his headgear affixed with the flash of the man’s assigned Group. Each of the 157 U.S. servicemen and 10 graduates from allied nations returned to their seats with beret in hand. On word from their commander, they donned their Green Beret in unison. The Special Forces Creed was recited en mass, followed by the singing of “The Ballad of the Green Beret” and “The Army Song.” A dozen or more Green Berets welcomed the new graduates with a toast.
Throughout the covered walkway into the building and in the entrance area were poster-sized pictures and histories on some of those names that Maj. Gen. Ferguson mentioned the graduates should learn about and remember. Hopefully, some members of the public also took the time to read the stories of the men who went before and created the legacy of the Green Berets. God speed to Special Forces Qualification Course Class 338.
(Photo: Soldier assigned to the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School renders a hand salute to Major Gen. Lawrence G. Ferguson, Commanding General, 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), after receiving a green beret during a graduation ceremony and Regimental First Formation at the Crown Theater in Fayetteville, Jan. 23. The ceremony marked the completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course where Soldiers earned the honor of wearing the green beret, the official headgear of Special Forces. U.S. Army photos by K. Kassens)
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