Inaugural Golf Tournament benefitting United Way of the Cape Fear Area Community Impact Fund.  

      Pine Valley Country Club

AUGUST 30, 2010

Box lunch and registration at 11 AM. Shotgun start at Noon. Cook Out and Awards to follow play and putting contest.

Captain’s Choice Tournament / Cook Out and Awards

Proceeds of the tournament will benefit United Way of the Cape Fear Area’s 2010 community impact; funding local agencies that are providing solutions to the critical needs of Cape Fear residents in the areas of health, education and income.

Sponsor A Child

Each team will also be sponsoring a child who will attend the golf etiquette and putting clinic, and then participate in a putting contest as the team’s representative. The putting contest will immediately follow the golf etiquette and putting class, which will be hosted from 4-5 PM.

For more information about sponsorships for the tournament CLICK HERE.

United Way of the Cape Fear Area welcomed three new Board Members and announced its slate of officers for 2010-2011 during its recent Annual Board of Directors Meeting.

The Board of Directors for United Way of the Cape Fear area has 22 members, who are among the area's most prominent business and community leaders. These respected individuals help United Way create long-lasting, positive change to improve lives and strengthen our community.

The following individuals have begun a three-year term on the Board of Directors:

Lethia Hankins, Community Volunteer
Cristy Sorensen, Cumulus Broadcasting
A. Mark Tyler, First Federal Bank

The Board of Directors has elected the following individuals to serve on its 2010-2011 Executive Committee:

Board Chair - Donna Girardot, Wilmington-Cape Fear Homebuilders Association
Vice Chair - Avril Pinder, New Hanover County Government
Treasurer - Billy Smith, NewBridge Bank
Planning & Investment Cabinet Chair - Pat Ahern, Progress Energy
Marketing & Communications Committee Chair - Jennifer Adams, SunTrust Bank
Nominating Committee Chair - Jay Neisen, Neisen Law Firm
2010 Campaign Chair - Bob McCall, Progress Energy
Immediate Past Chair - Bob Stuart, East Carolina Bank

Donna Girardot, newly elected 2010 Chair, reminded guests that United Way focuses on the highest priority needs in our local community. "We raise money locally and keep that money local to help those in need right here in our own backyards."

"United Way of the Cape Fear Area-and the entire community-benefits tremendously from the expertise, dedication and passion of our Board members. Through service with United Way, these business and community leaders make a direct impact on the issues that matter most to our community-education, income and health," said Christopher Nelson, president of United Way of the Cape Fear Area.

The additional members of the United Way Board of Directors include the following:

Gary Broughton, Wilmington International Airport
Dr. Kevin Cannon, Wilmington Health Associates
Paula Corbett, East Coast Research
Deborah Covington, PPD
Brad Erbes, General Electric Wilmington
Robbie Garner, Atlantic Computer Services
Matt Heywood, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Jayne Mathews, Brunswick County Government
Gary McNair, WECT TV6
Ed Murray, PPD
Lynore Young, Corning

Many thanks to Corning for holding a special Father's Day raffle to benefit United Way of the Cape Fear Area! Dot Marshburn is the lucky winner of a Wilmington Classic Grill, generously donated by Edwards Incorporated for the raffle. The Corning Father's Day raffle raised $1350, in addition to the $300 raised during a special Mother's Day raffle at Corning last month. Many, many thanks to Corning, Edwards Incorporated, and the wonderful Corning employees who participated in the raffle.

Dot Marshburn with her Wilmington Classic Grill
Dot Marshburn and Richard McNinch, Supervisor of Technology Synchronization for Corning

United Way of the Cape Fear Area is pleased to announce Bob McCall, Eastern Region Vice President for Progress Energy, will serve as 2010 Campaign Chair.

Bob joined Progress Energy in 2000 as the first African American plant manager in 60 years. After one year, he was promoted to General Manager for the Eastern Region Fossil Generation Department. Bob had five power plants, two engineering groups, an outage management team, travel maintenance team, and a financial management team reporting to him. In January 2008, he was promoted to Eastern Region Vice President of the Energy Delivery Department.

Bob's passion and dedication will be a tremendous asset to United Way during its 2010 campaign. He has been a volunteer for the Special Olympics for over ten years, built two Habitat for Humanity houses, and received the Governor's Volunteer Award for his service with the Lynn Mar school district. Bob's motto is to "Make a difference everywhere you go."

United Way of the Cape Fear Area has announced it will receive a $1.2 million grant to fund a new program to address homelessness prevention and housing in the three-county Cape Fear area. 

The grant is funded by the federal American Recovery and Re-investment Act of 2009 through the North Carolina Office of Economic Recovery.  This federal program is called the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid-Re-housing Program or HPRP.  It is the only new program created by the Recovery Act. 

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover County Vice-Chairman Jason Thompson, both members of the 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness' Executive Board, were on hand for the funding announcement made by United Way president Chris Nelson. 

Funds from the grant will provide a combination of rental and utility assistance to low-income households that are already homeless or in peril of becoming homeless in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties. 

The 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness and Reduce Homelessness in the Cape Fear Region is a community initiative that is managed and partially funded by United Way.   Nelson said 10 Year Plan staff  has been working collaboratively with community service providers since learning about the availability of the $18 million in HPRP funds allocated to certain North Carolina communities last spring to build a broad-based, three-county coalition to apply for those funds. 

During that process, at the request of a number of the participating community organizations, United Way of the Cape Fear Area's Board of Directors agreed to serve as the lead applicant for this application. 

Nelson thanked Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo for his leadership in maximizing this funding opportunity for the entire three-county area by quickly granting the City of Wilmington's permission for a United Way application to go forward.  Nelson also thanked United Way board chairman Bob Stuart for the board's quick decision that allowed United Way of the Cape Fear Area to serve as the lead applicant for the grant application. 

According to Nelson, United Way has considerable experience in managing dollars directed to social programs through our Community Impact programs and through management of special community initiatives like the 10 Year Plan, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Youth Violence and the Senior Aids Program.   In fiscal year 2010 United Way of the Cape Fear Area will allocate approximately $150,000 to agencies that serve homeless populations throughout the three-county area, he said. 

In its efforts to facilitate the development of a community's HPRP plan, the 10 Year Plan staff engaged a very broad a coalition - one that encompassed stakeholders from all three Cape Fear area counties.  The goal of the coalition was to quickly stimulate the creation of a comprehensive HPRP program not only for the City of Wilmington, but for Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties, as well. 

Nelson announced United Way's successful collaboration with a group of five Cape Fear Area Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Partner Agencies that form the foundation for this new program.   The five partner agencies are: Brunswick Family Assistance Agency; The Salvation Army of Wilmington; The Good Shepherd Center; Pender County Housing and AMEZ Housing Community Development Corporation.

"Our community partnership was forged to allow us to very quickly begin to direct federal funds appropriately to prevention, shelter diversion and rapid re-housing throughout the Continuum of Care's entire three-county area", said Nelson.   "Our decision to apply for these federal funds was based on an overall assessment of the level of need within our community and the need for this program is high."

According to Nelson, more than 40% of the calls made from the Cape Fear area to the 2-1-1 help-line in August involved requests for rental or utility assistance.   

Nelson said the number of homeless households with dependent children in the three-county Cape Fear area increased by more than three hundred percent from the 2008 to 2009, according to the  HUD Point-in-Time Count - from 44 households in 2008 to 150 households in 2009. 

"In fact, the level of need is so high that none of our HPRP Program Partner agencies anticipates any challenge in using the entire $1,200,000 during the three-year period," said Nelson.  "This three-year HPRP allocation of $1.2 million will allow our partner agencies to provide services to as many as 1,500 homeless and at-risk people throughout our three-county area within the three-year grant cycle." 

The 10 Year Plan staff will manage the grant within the United Way structure and will conduct outreach and public information activities on behalf of the partnership.   The HPRP Recovery Act funds will become available after October 1, 2009 and must be spent by September 30, 2012. 

Finding help in the Cape Fear area is now easier than ever before: United Way of the Cape Fear Area has launched 2-1-1, an information and referral line that makes it easier for people to find the community services they need.   

By simply dialing 2-1-1 from their home or cell phone, Cape Fear residents can reach a caring, trained specialist who will match their needs with community services. Available 24 hours a day in multiple languages, 2-1-1 is also an integral component of our region's disaster response infrastructure.

Trying to find services can be very frustrating for someone who is in a desperate situation.  2-1-1 is an easy-to-remember solution for service providers and their clients. 

2-1-1 is not just for those who need help. It's also for people who want to volunteer their time, resources and talents to the community. The referral line directs volunteers and donors to the place where their gifts are most needed.

United Way of the Cape Fear Area provides the financial resources for our local 2-1-1, which serves Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties. Statewide operations are managed by United Way of North Carolina in cooperation with 40 local United Ways throughout the state.

In the Cape Fear area, 2-1-1 offers access to a wide variety of services, including:

• Basic Human Needs: food banks, shelters, clothing closets, rent assistance, utility assistance
• Health and Wellness: Medicaid and Medicare, maternal health, Children's Health Insurance Program, crisis intervention services, support groups, counseling, drug and alcohol intervention, medical clinics
• Financial Stability: financial assistance, job training
• Education and Youth Development: childcare, after-school programs, family resource centers, summer camps and recreation programs, mentoring, tutoring