On this episode of Coffee with Cool People, Chip sits down with Kim Fox, a self-described behind-the-scenes operator who’d rather make others look great than take the spotlight herself. Kim is the executive director of Teach My People (TMP) in Georgetown County and the co-owner of a 25-year marketing consulting firm with her husband, Chris Thomas. Born in West Virginia, raised in Sarasota, and a proud Florida State alum, Kim landed in the Grand Strand after a post-graduation detour to see her dad in Myrtle Beach turned into a same-week job offer. Roles in PR and advertising followed: Lydis Corporation (real estate development), marketing director at Briarcliff/Myrtle Beach Mall, agency work with Davis Advertising (Myrtle Beach and Charleston), a Florida agency stint, then a return to lead marketing at The Litchfield Company before launching her own consultancy in 2006.
Teach My People is where her professional discipline meets purpose. Founded in 1999 by Pawleys Island community leaders, TMP is a faith-based after-school and summer program serving students from low-income families, not as a drop-in program, but through a closed-enrollment model that accepts a cohort of first graders and walks with them through 12th grade. That long arc builds trust, consistency, and data: the team can see what’s working, adjust quickly, and surround each class with the right support. The footprint now includes five sites: the Waverly Road campus in Pawleys Island (grades 1–8 plus a dedicated high-school class), program space at McDonald Elementary (1–5) and Georgetown Middle (6–8) as Georgetown grows toward 12th grade, and a newer Andrews Elementary campus launched with two sections per grade (now 40 students across 1st and 2nd). Every afternoon, students get a hot meal before heading home, a small thing that changes everything when you’re trying to help kids learn.
That “whole child” mindset shows up beyond academics. After seeing rising needs, TMP added onsite mental-health counseling several hours each week, with counselors rotating across campuses and flagging students who need extra time. The ripple effect has pulled 13 families into ongoing family counseling with an outside provider. Volunteers are another pillar: at Pawleys alone, roughly 70 volunteers cycle in weekly to mentor, tutor, and serve meals. The culture is family, strong enough that alumni routinely swing by to help and four now work on staff (three from the same original cohort). Ask graduates what TMP meant, and you’ll hear a common theme: it’s the place they first believed they could be somebody.
Feeding kids became a test of that commitment. For 16 years TMP relied on Lowcountry Food Bank’s Kids Café program; when the program ended last year, the board chose to keep feeding students anyway. That meant fronting roughly $50,000 in unbudgeted costs until a replacement grant came through months later. It was a stretch, and it was the point: hungry kids don’t learn. The funding picture is exactly what you’d expect for a nonprofit that refuses to let gaps touch its kids: a generous local donor base, foundation support, events (Palmetto Giving Day with the Bunnelle Foundation, a golf tournament, Coastal Giving Tuesday), competitive grants, and only in the last five years, some federal dollars to help expand Georgetown and Andrews.
If you’re new to Teach My People, the model is the message: take a small group early, commit for the long haul, and keep layering what the data, and the kids, tell you they need. It’s quieter than splashy campaigns and slower than quick fixes, but it compounds: stable relationships, steady meals, consistent academic help, real mental-health care, and a path from first grade to a high-school diploma with adults who never clock out. To learn more or get involved: teachmypeople.com.
