LUMBERTON — The Robeson County Church and Community Center has received a $40,000 operating grant from the North Carolina Healing Communities Fund.
The North Carolina Healing Communities Fund is a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation that provides critical resources for nonprofit organizations across the state that have experienced revenue loss and seen an increase in demand for their services because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grant was awarded on April 23, and funding was received afterward, said Brianna Goodwin, RCCCC’s executive director.
The grant application was prepared by Chasity Skusa, RCCCC’s Resource Development coordinator, and made possible with the help of testimonials about the center’s services from staff, volunteers and Lumberton city officials, according to the RCCCC.
Goodwin thanked the N.C. Community Foundation for supporting nonprofits in rural communities that are keeping residents fed, housed and cared for during “such a challenging time.”
“This grant will enable us to recuperate some of the funding that we have exhausted providing direct emergency services to Robeson County residents over the past year, such as food, cleaning supplies, hygiene items and paper goods,” Goodwin said.
“It will also ensure that we are able to proceed with the expansion of our existing programs as we originally planned to prior to the pandemic,” she added.
The grants given to nonprofits for operational support varied from $25,000 to $55,000. Average grant awards totaled about $40,000, according to the North Carolina Community Foundation.
“The NC Healing Communities Fund will support nonprofit organizations in marginalized communities that have been disproportionately affected by the virus and its economic impacts and have been un- or under-served by other sources of financial assistance,” the North Carolina Community Foundation’s website reads in part.
“The Fund’s goal is to support nonprofits in these communities so that they may survive and thrive beyond the pandemic,” the website also reads.
