LUMBERTON – The Robeson County Church and Community Center has been awarded a $210,100 grant to put wheels on its service to county residents in need.

The grant from the Winston-Salem-based Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust will help pay for the construction and operation of a Mobile Assistance Unit that will transport food, diapers, wipes and other hygiene items to residents in each of Robeson County’s municipalities. The unit will be used to address hunger and help eliminate the need for residents to find transportation in order to go to the Center to get needed items.

The grant money will be dispersed to the Center over a three-year period.

“Robeson County spans nearly 1,000 square miles and is plagued by widespread food deserts. This grant has given the Center the opportunity to diminish our community’s food scarcity in a way in which we’ve only ever imagined,” said Chasity Skusa, the Center’s Resource Development coordinator.

The mobile unit is expected to begin delivering items each Thursday to local municipalities by January 2021.

“Our proposed solution is to meet people in their own back yards, where help is most needed, by eliminating the obstacle they face in trying to reach our main facility here in Lumberton,” Skusa said.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust works to address underserved populations in Robeson, Columbus and Bladen counties, said Adam Linker, the Trust’s program officer. The organization saw the mobile unit as an opportunity to continue that service and to help improve health outcomes for county residents.

“We are committed to especially addressing health disparities in those counties and improving health in low-income populations and those communities,” Linker said.

In addition to funding from the Trust, other donors to the mobile unit project include Campbell’s Soup Foundation, North Carolina Community Foundation and Southeastern Health Foundation.

Because of the Trust’s support, RCCCC will be able to better serve the county, said Charles Townsend, Center board of directors chairman and mayor of Fairmont.

“I just think it’s great, and we really thank The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust,” Townsend said. “We look forward to being able to reach out to our rural areas in the county because of their support.”