U Care usesletters toget donors

Domestic violence and sexual assault are an unfortunate reality in Sampson County, according to staff at the county’s local domestic violence shelter, and in an effort to continue helping victims both, U Care and its members are seeking community aid in reaching their fundraising goal.

The latest effort is part of an ongoing campaign to raise funds for the non-profit, money that will go toward the organization’s operating expenses. The target for this year is $50,000 and the route to achieve those funds is being driven by a letter-writing campaign to potential donors. This follows the annual Pancake Breakfast held a few weeks back, also designed to bring in needed dollars for the domestic violence shelter.

“What we’ve got going is a letter-writing campaign, and we send those out to our previous donors, also churches, and all around to different businesses that have donated before,” explained Perry Solice, a member of the U Care board of directors. “What it does, besides the grants that we get from the state and all that, is helps us with some of our expenses.”

That campaign began Oct. 1 and will continue through Dec. 31.

“As for the $50,000 campaign goal, that’s what we’re shooting for,” Solice noted. “It’s also something that, when we look at what we do get, we’ll see, from this year, do we need to keep it like that or raise it depending on how the funds come in”

Solice said the U Care board has changed its approach to fund-raising this year, going with a letter, which is meant to be more efficient than past campaigns.

“One of the campaigns that we used to do was the reverse drawing, but since 2020 we haven’t done that,” said Solice mentioning its demise because of Covid. “So, we decided to do the letter-writing campaign instead of going back to the reverse drawing because everybody’s not interested in coming out and doing that stuff.

“I think by doing this, it’s a much better way of doing raising funds. With this, you have folks that are repeat donors who know what U Care is all about.”

In the letter sent out to previous donors, it explains that U Care has been providing services in Sampson County for 29 years — nearly three decades of free aid to domestic violence and sexual assault victims in and around the area.

According to U Care’s report, this past fiscal year, the nonprofit assisted 506 victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse, and received 513 calls to its 24-hour crisis line.

Also worth noting in the letter, is the assertion that $50,000 is needed now more than ever, since money from this year’s Federal Victims of Crime Act was severely reduced which, in turn, means less funding to states and thus local programs.

“To meet our mission and maintain services, we heavily rely on your generosity,” U Care’s letter states. “Over the last six years, there have been continual decreases in federal funding. In 2024, Federal Victim of Crime Act funding for North Carolina dropped more than 42 percent to $24.6 million.”

Funding in 2023 was $42.5 million, according to northcarolinahealthnews.org. While that sounds like a massive drop, Solice said it wasn’t uncommon.

“A lot of times, the state can only allocate so much money, and sometimes, each year, it just falls a little under and a little short,” he said. “So, it’s a state funding guideline thing, and 42 percent sounds glaring but you just never know how much money is available, and sometimes it’s cut.”

Perry’s thoughts on how they plan to use those funds covers a wide variety of ideas, as U Care covers an array issues.

“Those funds, like anything we use, it goes to help our victims,” he said. “We do have those that stay at the house, and these funds are for the operational expenses and similar things like that. There’s also the Beehive stores; we have one here (Clinton) and the one in Newton Grove, which is the thrift stores we run.”

All of these, Solice notes are means to finance various aspects of U Care.

“The $50,000 were trying to raise coincides with what we did on Oct. 5, which was our pancake breakfast,” he said. “So those event, the pancake breakfast and letter writing, is about fundraising. We always try to do something that we can reach out to the people, and it’s something they can honorably do to contribute on their own.”

For anyone who didn’t receive a letter but is interested in contributing, Solice urged them to reach out to him or anyone at U Care.

“Oh yes, people can donate even if they didn’t receive a letter, because each year, we try to pick up other potential donors,” he stressed. “For those who wish to donate, they can contact the U Care office, or one of our board members — any board member.”

The U Care Board of Directors consist of seven members: Dr. Oscar Rodriguez, Joyce Sampson, April Melvin, Denise Daughtry, Bonnie Fann, Pebbles Spearman and Solice. To find out more about what they do, and how to donate, call 910-596-0931.