Sewing Up the Day of Caring

As many of you are aware Robeson County 4-H receives the entire bulk of its programming funds from the United Way of Robeson County. We are very fortunate to have this funding so we can provide our youth opportunities they would not otherwise have. As part of our partnership with United Way we take part in their annual fundraising campaign, and we take a large roll in the United Way Day of Caring. You may have read about this rather incredible event in The Robesonian. In case you are not familiar with this almost decade long event, the Day of Caring is an organized effort to go out an make a difference in the community and this year it happened in a big way. Robeson County 4-H was a part of this change in a variety of activitiess.
The volunteers and members of the Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener Club partnered with members of the Master Gardener Association to beautify an outdoor sitting area at Southeastern Hospice House. The group dug in and dug down to plant flowers and other plants that will brighten the area and hopefully some one's day. The youth also presented a Hospice House representative with a piece of yard art that represents the club logo.
4-H and Robeson County Cooperative Extension Staff also took part in a canned food drive. The food drive was opened to everyone throughout the county. More than 20,500 pounds of food was collected and distributed to the Robeson County Church and Community Center.
If you went to the Day of Caring headquarters at Jerry Johnson Chevrolet in Lumberton you might have seen some familiar 4-H faces. Aggie Rogers, Marilyn Merritt, Nelson Brownlee and Tameka McLean helped make almost two hundred plant people for youth who came by to get fingerprint cards and enjoy story time.
A new activity took place at the 4-H office, Robeson County's 1st annual Knit-In was for knitters, crocheters, sewers and more. A group of volunteers met and created items all day. When they were done more than 112 items which included baby blankets, caps and booties as well as adult lap blankets and caps were donate. Four first time knitters each completed at least one baby cap, while the more experienced crafters did their best to churn out several items that day. The items made will be donated to Gibson Cancer Center and Southeastern Regional Medical Center.
Some of the other events and impacts that the United Way has reported include:

4-H and Southeastern Hospice House - Flowers were planted at Southeastern Hospice House.

Boys & Girls Club - ¾ of the fence around the Boys and Girls Club was painted.

Robeson County’s First Annual Knit In - 112 items were completed; blankets, caps, booties and toy teddy bear.

Wheel Chair Ramps - 4 wheel chair ramps were built throughout the county. Pembroke, Maxton, Rowland, and Lumberton.

Odom Home – Play Ground Repairs - Repairs were made to the play ground, and other small projects to include organizing the food storage area, making boxes for their vegetable garden, replacing some missing aluminum, planting flowers, repairing benches and bikes.

Community Health Checks - 24 individuals received health checked; Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, and Blood Glucose.

A Time To Visit—Pillows - 30 pillows where delivered to individuals at Sarah’s Assisted Living in Pembroke.

Teacher Cadets to serve in PSRC - Tanglewood Elementary, W.H. Knuckles, Rowland Norment, West Lumberton and Janie Hargrave students received lesson plans and projects prepared by Lumberton High School’s “Teacher Cadet”.

Backpack Meals - 312 backpack meals were prepared. 100 delivered to W.H. Knuckles, and remainder delivered to West Lumberton.

Food Drive 30,000 lb. GOAL (Food Collection will take place from April 1- May 12) - 20,518 pounds of food was collected

Child Identification Cards and Education Outreach - 154 students received, Child ID Cards, participated in a 4-H hands on learning project, and received an age appropriate book.

Hot Dog Lunch at Jerry Johnson’s - 375 hot dog lunches were prepared and served to volunteers, youth, and the community.

Blood Drive - 25 units of blood were collected

We are already making plans for next year's big event if you would like more information on the United Way Day of Caring or would just like to support our local United Way and help them support 17 local agencies please contact them at (910) 739-4249.

A big thank you to all those who volunteered and made a difference in our community. Once again proving that we Live United.