Even though the economy may have some Sampson County locals tightening up their pockets, the outcome to recent fund-raising events have proved to be financially acceptable, in comparison to earlier years, and officials attribute the success to a “supportive community.”

U Care, Inc. held its fourth annual reverse drawing Friday, Feb. 6, at the Sampson Agri-Exposition Center where both the organization and four lucky locals walked away with an adequate additional income.

Wanda Boyette, Jill and Pat Usher, Doug Parsons, Doris Warren and Buffalo Investments were among the $5,000 winners who spilt the pot five ways; however, Warren elected to donate her share back to U Care.

U Care board member Brenda Warren, stated, “We were very pleased with the results of the evening, especially in these tough economic times! ... We made about $2,000 more in net income this year and about $2,000 less than the highest net income in the four years we have hosted this fund-raising.”

“I did have a few people who had to turn down the opportunity to purchase a ticket this year; however, we had some new ticket buyers which helped to broaden our contacts and support,” Warren addressed.

With an estimated attendance of roughly 350 guests, Warren revealed that from the generous donations and neighborly support of the community, U Care’s Reverse Drawing fund-raising brought in a net revenue estimated to be a little more than $23,000.

To reach the net income of $23,000, Warren listed the gross figures as, $29,900 retrieved from ticket sales; $4,570 from auction items; $347.50 from the original $695 half and half tickets and $455 from the last chance ticket, which bought the 300th ticket winner, Dorris Warren, back into the reverse drawing, and she ultimately made it to the final five.

In addition to the revenue brought in from the reverse drawing, U Care also received approximately $1,100, which was allocated from the $100 cash prize winner, Bob Scarborough, who was entered into this separate drawing for bringing in a canned food item and Doris Warren, who, as previously mentioned, donated her share of the overall $5,000, which totaled $1,000.

Even though the board had hoped to reach its financial goal of $25,000, Warren voiced all the officials were “thrilled to have such a positive response.”

“The ultimate goal of the U Care board was to increase the awareness of the problem of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sampson County; so that people would understand the need to support this program. I feel that we made significant progress towards that goal in having this fund-raiser,” Warren expressed regarding U Care and its real goal.

Just a day later, the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center filled once again for the annual Clinton and Clinton-Sampson Rotary Bingo fund-raising.

According to fund-raising chairman Chris Fann, of Go Toyota, the Rotarians were “a little nervous with the economy” at first; however, found “Bingo to be recession proof.”

“We had a great turn out,” Fann began, further stating, “We had lowered our goal because of the anticipation of it being a weak turn out, but actually we exceeded our revised goal, and we got to almost the same total of last years event ... maybe a little more.”

Netting roughly around $4,000 this year, Fann enthusiastically expressed this amount to be “wonderful.”

From advanced ticket sales alone, the Bingo event filtered in a gross income of $4,600, and Fann revealed that 12 additional tickets were sold at the door for an additional gross of $240.

For those who worked up an appetite at the Bingo table, a concession table was present for participants to purchase snacks for roughly a dollar a piece, and because the items were donated by Rotarian members, the organization was able to keep the profit of $700.

Simply put by Fann, everyone was “real excited with what happened” and the outcome from the evening will be governed back into the county through Relay for Life donations, supporting City and County Schools’ projects, N.C. Girls and Boys homes and Vial of Life, to name a few.

Over the past six months, many may have grown familiar to the Sampson County United Way campaign, which is a non-profit volunteer organization, who have raised money for more or less 12 local non-profit agencies; however, many may not be familiar with the final amount generated from the community during the 2008 campaign.

According to executive director Nancy Carr, the Sampson County United Way collected $165,000 this year from local individual and business donors, which is roughly $22,000 down from last years revenue of $185,000.

While the income spawned from the community did not meet the monetary goal, Carr explained that she believes it is because of the economy and not due to lack of donations.

“What we saw was that individual contributors were very loyal and supportive, as well as our companies, but the companies that run campaigns through payroll donations from employees was not as strong, because it seems they have lost some employees,” Carr elaborated.

Standing approximately 15 percent lower in donations then they have been in the past, Carr and United Way officials strongly believe it to be because of the nations economic state.

Although the economy may have financially hindered the Sampson County United Way this year, Carr spoke for the board when stating, “We felt as though everyone in the community was very generous. We attribute our success to the community. Being from a smaller community, the individuals can see first hand the need of the agencies, and they also see the impact United Way is having,” Carr concluded.

Beyond the realm of fund-raising, the community appears to also support many of Sampson County’s local churches despite the nation’s financial circumstances.

Pastor Lynn Blackburn, of Clinton Family Worship Center, was pleased to report earlier this week that alms have actually risen for this ministry.

“I really believe that it is the people in our community coming together,” Blackburn avouched in relation to the increase in offerings.

By evading the fear of the recession, Sampson County, in the eyes of numerous officials, has intertwined to keep this community alive.

For the construction of this article, several community driven organizations, agencies and churches were contacted; however, regrettably a majority of the prospects contacted did not respond as of press time.

Jessica Wagner can be contacted at (910) 592-8137 ext.122 or reached by e-mail at siphoto@intrstar.net