Turkey takes ‘Stand for Children’

TURKEY — This year, Turkey finds itself playing host, for the first time, to a nationally-run event that’s been around since the 1990s, Stand for Children Day.

The event, which is held June 1 of every year, will be at 6 p.m. at Community Connections, located at 8138 Turkey Hwy. The community is being encouraged to come out and enjoy the family, food and fun and the resource fair that will be going on throughout the event.

There’s also a bonus for youth that show up early for the event. The first 100 children get free hot dogs and drinks and those that bring copies of their progress reports get gifts. Members from the Turkey Fire Department, the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, NC State Highway Patrol and many other agencies are expected to be present to share in the event, organizers said.

“This year we are celebrating in Turkey, NC, for the children of Duplin and Sampson counties,” Emotions organization founder, Clarette Sutton, said in a letter to sponsors. “We advocate and pray for change. During the pandemic, rural areas and low-income families had challenges that allotted learning loss for our children. We are coming together in unity to plan for economic and educational changes while allowing our families to release stress from all this mess.”

“We are asking if you can assist us in anyway by providing a booth of your services or let the community know of the great things that your business does,” she said. “Not only does our organization work with youth at Community Connections, but recently we have taken upon ourselves to ensure that the elderly are receiving monthly food boxes and other personal items through Remedy Ministry.”

Stand for Children was founded in 1996 as an American education advocacy group, the non-profit advocates for equity in public education. Stand for Children’s mission is “to ensure all students receive a high quality, relevant education, especially those whose boundless potential is overlooked and under-tapped because of their skin color, zip code, first language or disability.”

Since its founding, the organization has shifted focus from children’s issues to improving public education funding and funding to improving the public education system. The organization includes both a 501(c) advocacy organization, Stand for Children, as well as a 501(c) training organization called Stand for Children Leadership Center.

For more information regarding the event, reach out to Community Connections at 910-305-6191.