New name, same mission

Furman's award-winning Collegiate Educational Service Corps has been named in honor of Max and Trude Heller, a Greenville couple who have given a lifetime of service to the community.

During a November 7 ceremony, it was announced that more than $1 million in support of the newly named Max and Trude Heller Collegiate Educational Service Corps has been raised. Friends of the Hellers have set a goal of $1.5 million for an endowment that will ensure the continued growth of the student volunteer organization that works with area agencies, hospitals, and schools.

"Since Max and Trude have devoted much of their lives to the service of others and Furman's Service Corps has been a model of altruistic excellence for nearly 40 years, it was natural that a more formal bond should be established between the two," said Furman president David Shi. "The Hellers have been magnanimous and entirely selfless in their support of both Furman and the larger Greenville community, and we could not think of a more appropriate way to show our thanks for everything that they have done."

A room in Furman's new on-campus conference center, which is still in the planning stages, will also be named in honor of the Hellers. The announcement was made at a special gathering at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Greenville and included remarks by community leader Minor Mickel Shaw, mayor Knox White, Judge Merl Code, and former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley.

Collegiate Educational Service Corps, founded in 1966 by Betty Alverson, is one of the leading community service programs in the nation. Each school year, more than 800 students work in 45 area agencies, from the Oakmont Nursing Home and the Free Medical Clinic to Greenville County schools and the Literacy Association.

The grand finale of each school year is "May Day Play Day," when the students bring to campus the hundreds of children and adults they have served throughout the year.

The Service Corps originally had six students serving three agencies. The organiza-tion has received the South Carolina Governor's Award and has twice been named as one of four finalists in the National Center for Voluntary Action's annual award in "recognition of outstanding volunteer service and achievement."

During the Service Corps' early years, Max Heller, as mayor of Greenville, facilitated many of the agency relationships that remain a part of the organization. Over the years, the Hellers have established scholarships at Furman, taught classes, and served as volunteer leaders themselves.

Both have received honorary degrees from the university, and Max is currently a member of the Furman Board of Trustees. Heller, a native of Austria, left his Nazi-occupied homeland in 1938 and came to Greenville to work as a stock boy at Piedmont Shirt Company. Trude, his wife-to-be, followed from Austria a short time later.

The bond between the Hellers and Furman began when Furman president John L. Plyler became a mentor to young Max. Heller went on to found the Maxon Shirt Company and retired in 1969 to devote his time to public service. In 1971, after two years on the Greenville City Council, he was elected to the first of two consecutive terms as mayor of Greenville, where he led the way in revitalizing downtown Greenville. He also formerly served as chair of the State Development Board and president of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce.