Brunswick County Cares

September 2, 2016 Currents No comments

Local efforts for fundraising and raising awareness

STORY BY: LISA P. STITES

Summertime at the coast means lots of visitors, days spent at the beach and spending time with friends and family. But for many Brunswick County residents, summertime fun doesn’t mean taking a break from supporting their favorite causes and charities. Whether it’s getting their friends and neighbors together to ride for a cure or playing golf to raise funds, these locals are keeping their priorities in order.

Island Riders – Riding To Support The National MS Society

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that can affect anyone. It is a disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. A group of Oak Islanders and their friends use their bicycle riding skills to help fund finding a cure.

There is a charity bicycle ride in New Bern every year, the MS Ride, to raise funds for the MS Society. This is the 10th year that a group of Oak Islanders will enhance the Society’s fundraising efforts.

Island Riders is rolling with 19 participants this year, but has ridden with as many as 52. The group includes riders of all ages and abilities, from ages 12 to 82. Riders can choose their participation level, logging 30, 50, 75 or 100 miles each day of the event. Island Riders captain Larry Snead said most of the group’s riders take the 100 mile route. Snead said he and others got involved with the charity ride through a former bicycle shop owner in town. Since then, in terms of fundraising, the Island Riders have usually been among the top 20 teams of the 120 or so teams that partici- pate. Donations and new riders are always welcome, Snead said. Anyone who wants to make a donation can visit the team’s page at www.main.nationalmssociety. org. To volunteer with the team, bicyclists can contact Snead directly at (910) 617-9988. Snead said that everyone knows MS is a terrible disease, and helping raise funds for the MS Society by participating in the MS Ride is one way people without the disease can help.

“You meet people, and you begin to realize you have team members or friends and family members who have MS. It just kind of breeds from there. All of these charity events are important. This just happens to be our thing,” Snead said. “We feel we’ve made great strides. It’s not something that gets advertised a lot, but almost everyone has someone who has been touched by MS.”

The MS Ride is September 10 and 11 in New Bern, NC. Team members have been out and about on the island, training individually and as a team. The group will also participate in a similar event in Sunset Beach in the October, called Breakaway to the Beach. For more information on that ride, visit www.bikenct.nationalmssociety. org.

The 7th Annual Southport Golf Classic – a golf tournament to benefit the NC Maritime Museum at Southport

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Did you know that there is a real, working periscope in downtown Southport that you can use to look across the river? Or that you can see the door from the store set used in the movie “Safe Haven” and artifacts from Civil War Blockade Runners?

It’s all at the NC Maritime Museum at Southport. The Maritime Museum is a real treasure, and is appropriately located near the water, at 204 E. Moore Street. It is open year round, Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Museum is supported in part by the Friends of the North Carolina Museum at Southport. The group’s mission is “to develop, encourage, and promote public awareness of the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport; to serve as a philanthropic organization for the support of the resources, programs and facilities of the NCMM at Southport; to render assistance as requested by the Museum…,” according to the Friends’ website, www.friendsnc- mmsouthport.org/the_friends.htm.

One way the group supports the Museum is through its annual fundraiser. The 7th Annual Southport Golf Classic will be held September 14 on the Members course in St. James. The tournament will include 18 holes of golf, cart, range balls, a hole-in-one prize, skill awards, prizes in various categories, happy hour, dinner, raffles, and live and silent auctions. The event generally draws at least 112 participants; a complimentary foursome is provided every year to the U.S. Coast Guard as well. Typically, the event raises more than $20,000 for the Museum, and organizers hope for similar results this year even though there are several golf tournament fundraisers for worthy charities.

Jim Carey is the recording secretary of the Friends of the Museum, and also chairs the golf tournament committee. The group’s fundraising efforts offer much needed support for operations, allowing more programs, such as the Third Thursday lecture series and the 2nd Saturdays (themed programs with special exhibits and vendors).

“The tournament is a very important lifeline for the Museum,” Carey said. “Without it we would not be able to support a lot of the programs which we put on, usually without charge.”

All of the proceeds from the golf tournament benefit the museum, and the Friends also offer support by helping with grounds keeping, volunteering as docents, maintaining exhibits, providing general upkeep and maintenance, building exhibits (Quarantine Station) and providing administrative assistance.

Any golfers who haven’t signed up already can check www.friendsncmmsouthport.org for more information; the cost for a single golfer is $85 and includes a day of golf, cart, cocktail hour (beer and wine), and dinner. The cost for a foursome is $340. Carey said that you don’t have to be a golfer to participate. Non-golfers join the festivities in the dining room for dinner after golf.

Raising Funds and Raising Awareness – Brunswick Literacy Council Golf Tournament

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Last year, the Brunswick County Literacy Council (BCLC) worked with more than 235 students in Financial Literacy, Computer Literacy, GED Preparation, English as a Second Language, Workforce Preparation, Health Literacy and Workplace Skills Development. One way the Council helps finance these programs is through its annual golf tournament. In fact, the tournament provides more than 25 percent of the Council’s budget, according to Executive Director Dorothy Hoerr.

“We need as many players as possible to participate at the great Carolina National Golf Course,” Hoerr said. “Our goal is to have 100 players.”

This year’s golf outing will be September 24 at Carolina National Golf Club. The event will include a Captain’s Choice, lunch and awards receptions following the golf, and a one-year subscription to “Golf Digest” magazine. There will also be a $10,000 hole-in-one contest for all registered players and a $1,000,000 hole-in- one shootout for three lucky golfers.

In addition to fundraising, the tournament also provides the opportunity to raise awareness of the BCLC and the help it offers There are literally thousands of people in the county whom the BCLC can help but are unaware of our programs. The golf tournament helps us spread the word to those people,” Hoerr said. The BCLC also reached more than 1,250 children and senior citizens through the Holiday Book share effort last year.

“It’s important to note that we have room for many more students in one or more of our programs,” Hoerr said. “We simply need to continue to let people know that our programs are available. Over 35,000 adults in Brunswick County do not read at higher than a fourth grade level.”

To help serve the literacy needs of Brunswick County, the BCLC relies on the assistance of more than 125 volunteers and a large base of support from community organizations and businesses.

“With funding from individuals, corporations, the local towns and the County, as well as our fundraisers, we are able to continue to improve lives and build a stronger community through the power of literacy. We could not continue to provide quality programs and services at no charge without the support from the community we serve,” Hoerr said.

To get involved in the golf tournament, visit www.planmygolfevent. com for more information. Or, to get involved with the Literacy Council, visit bcliteracy.org/.

“There are so many people who provide support,” Hoerr said. “This passion goes beyond the three employees, the Board of Directors, and the tutor. It includes those who perform seemingly mundane tasks like mowing the grass, helping to keep the building clean, performing needed maintenance at no charge, running errands, providing snacks, etc. When adults become more literate it has a huge effect on the quality of life in Brunswick County. And there are so many unnamed yet passionate people involved in this extremely worthy and important effort.”