Together, members of the Clinton-Sampson Rotary Club were glad to lift boxes and office equipment into trucks to help child advocates start a new era.
The local Rotary Club recently helped the Sampson County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) move from Main Street to Sampson Street. With their assistance, CAC was able to continue their work with children this week.
“They were not down very long and they were able to get set up so they can start seeing children,” said Ken Benton, president of the Clinton-Sampson Rotary Club.
Benton said the work with the CAC is the most important project of the year. With the move, the Rotary Club is doing a lot more. Members of the Rotary Club are going to provide a $4,000 grant to help with office space and renovations. Benton said one room in the CAC’s new space will be named in honor of the Rotary
CAC director Shannon Barber showed appreciation for the Rotary’s assistance. The advocacy center offers assistance and a safe place to help traumatized victims of sexual and physical abuse. Barber and other team members began looking for a new location in April. The previous place was no longer available because of the expansion of Sampson Partners, which provided the previous space. The renovation is utilizing CAC’s previous location.
“We moved into a new building two weeks ago that needed to have some remodeling to fit our needs,” Barber said. “The Rotary graciously made a donation to assist with this remodeling. They also helped with physically moving us to the new location.
“We are able to start back with services within a week of the move and without the work and donation of the Rotary members, this would not have been possible,” Barber said.
The nonprofit agency relies on grants and community funding for operations. Along with fundraisers, funding is provided by the Governor’s Crime Commission, Department of Health and Human Services and United Way of Sampson County.
The help for CAC is just one of many contributions of local Rotary members. The biggest fundraiser for the Clinton-Sampson group is the Shrimp Fest, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 24. Some of the others include donations to the Sampson Community College Foundation, the Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina in Lake Waccamaw, Sampson County’s United Way, and the Sampson County Department of Social Services.
The Rotary Club has donated thousands of dollars to help with Christmas gifts for elderly people raising their grandchildren. With the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, Rotary donated money to help victims recover.
One of the biggest projects of Rotary International is the fight against polio throughout the world. Polio is a paralyzing and deadly disease common with children under 5. The infectious disease spreads typically through contaminated water before it attacks the nervous system. Through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has reduced cases by 99.9 percent since the program began more than 30 years ago.
“So far, since the early 80s, Rotary International, which is all of the Rotary Clubs in the world have eradicated all polio in the world except in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Benton said.
In 122 countries, Rotary helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children and contributed more than $1.8 billion.
