Urban Ministries of Wake County is enormously grateful to have been selected as the 2016 beneficiary of the Enloe Charity Ball. We’re having a great time working beside Enloe students to gather resources for a great cause. They continue to be amazingly responsive, creative and dedicated partners – in some obvious ways and some less obvious ways.
You may not know that some 60 Enloe students supported our (record breaking) Stone Soup Supper a few weeks ago by assisting with setup and decoration, food service and clean up. Their bright faces and exuberance made the evening special for our guests.
Just now, as I went to refill my coffee cup, I bumped into Enloe students with video gear – they’re capturing visuals to better tell the story of whom we serve and why. They’re co-hosting an art auction on December 3 with VAE to benefit Urban Ministries, they’re hosting Space Jam at Market Hall in Raleigh on December 8, and they attended the recent National Philanthropy Day awards ceremony where they were honored as Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy for 2017. Enloe students seem to be everywhere these days, making Urban Ministries stronger and our community better.
We’d probably agree that this is a great community. We might also agree that it can be better. Hidden behind the public image of our growing, prosperous Wake County are some sad realities: more than 100,000 living in poverty; a crisis in homelessness for single women; no access to a doctor’s care or prescription medicine for more than 90,000. They’re all around us – in our schools as students and teachers, standing beside us as we buy groceries or pump gas. It’s great that agencies like Urban Ministries exist to serve our neighbors in need, but the need is far greater than one agency. Long-term, sustainable success in this battle against poverty requires a community-wide response. Enter, Enloe.
Enloe is helping us spread the message about poverty in Wake County and inspire more of us to get involved somehow. Enloe is helping us break through barriers of age, geography and socio-economics to reach new volunteers, donors and advocates for the poor. They’re touching every constituency that supports us – individuals, businesses, congregations, civic organizations and philanthropic organizations like foundations. Enloe is making Wake County better – one smiling, energetic, caring interaction at time. These truly are some Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy!
John C. Welch
Director of Development at Urban Ministries of Wake County