LUMBERTON — The Robeson County Disaster Recovery Coalition has scheduled a fish fry fundraiser for Friday to raise money to help keep hurricane recovery case managers employed.
The coalition recently lost two case managers, leaving it with four, when the grant funding their jobs expired, said Cassandra Campbell, coalition executive director.
The remaining four positions, which are funded through a Dislocated Workers grant administered by the Lumber River Council of Governments, will expire Nov. 11. The grant creates and funds job positions related to helping displaced hurricane survivors for one year, or up to 2,080 hours of service, said Patricia Hammonds, Lumber River Workforce Development board administrator.
“We’ll do what we have to do to try to stay,” said Dawn Young, a case manager.
North Carolina counties eligible for assistance are Bladen, Hoke, Richmond, Robeson and Scotland.
Case managers had hoped the grant money would be renewed or extended, but it hasn’t and now they are doing anything they can to raise funding and keep their jobs, Young said.
“We’re trying to keep our case managers on board because there’s still a lot of great need in Robeson County,” Campbell said.
Losing case managers means hurricane survivors lose connections to recovery resources, she said.
To offer employment to six case managers and one distributor, who delivers donations, food, or household items to survivors, would cost more $200,000, Campbell said.
That is a lofty goal, but she is hopeful.
“We’ve been resilient from the time we started,” Campbell said.
Campbell said she is willing to work with a short-term goal closer to $10,000. The organization will continue to host fundraisers and apply for grants in order to keep the recovery avenues open for as long as possible.
The disaster case management program has served more than 30,000 victims of hurricanes Matthew and Florence, she said. The organization still has more than 250 clients in the program.
The fish fry will be from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Robeson County Disaster Recovery Coalition, located at 802 N. Cedar St. in Lumberton.
Fish plates come with a choice of fried spot or whiting, baked beans, coleslaw, bread and dessert. Spot plates are $10, and whiting are $8. Sandwiches also will be offered. Spot sandwiches are $6 and whiting, $5.
The Disaster Recovery Coalition will deliver orders of more than $100 to local businesses within the Lumberton area.
“The food is going to be spectacular,” Campbell said. “It’s for a good cause. If you don’t eat fish, buy a plate for someone else.”
Any donations also are being accepted.
Checks can be made out to Robeson County Disaster Recovery Coalition with “donation” in the memo line and mailed to Robeson County Disaster Recovery Coalition at 802 N. Cedar St., Lumberton. N.C., 28358. Donations can be dropped off at the coalition’s office on North Cedar Street or made online at www.rcdrc.com.
For more information about the fish fry or how to donate, call the coalition at 910-370-1648.
