Courtesy of Amanda Irwin
Boys and Girls Home
One of the oldest cottages at the Boys and Girls Home has been renovated and reopened to help meet the expanding need for foster care.
On July 15, Rotary Cottage re-opened on the campus of Boys and Girls Homes after being closed for renovations. The N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Resources approved the re-opening of the facility at a critical time when there is a need to house children requiring out-of-home care in the state.
In the last year, the state has seen a 23 percent drop in licensed foster homes, meaning there are nowhere nearly enough homes to care for the more than 11,500 foster children in the system.
Rotary clubs across the state stepped into help.
“Rotarians have a vision to ‘see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change,’” said Marc Murphy, president of BGHNC. “For the last 58 years, Rotary Clubs across North Carolina and South Carolina and the Rotary Cottage on the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina campus have represented lasting change for abused and neglected children.
“I am grateful to all of the Rotarians who have made this reopening possible, which is already making a lasting change towards healing for children in care.”
Rotarians across the state contributed money to build the Rotary Cottage in 1966. Today, the group home can house up to eight children at a time.
“Rotarians are elated to know that their Rotary Cottage has finally obtained North Carolina licensure to reopen,” said Dave Weiss, a Rotarian and former BGHNC Board of Trustees member. “Our cottage can now get back to doing what it does best, taking care of kids and helping them improve their prospects for a brighter future in the safety and security of the Boys and Girls Home.”
Improvements to the Rotary Cottage included all fresh paint, renovations to the staff apartment and new upholstery for furniture.
Director of Community Engagement Tom Lamont said the Rotary re-opening will allow renovations at other cottages to begin.
“Thanks to this, we will be able to move children from other cottages to the Rotary Cottage while their cottage has major renovations completed,” he said. “Once these renovations are completed, in the near future, new children and staff will be assigned to the cottage moving forward.”
Rotarian and BGHNC Board of Trustees member Mike Reid was overjoyed at the news.
“The Rotary clubs are about service and providing funds and service projects for the local community,” he said. “We are looking forward to doing more for Boys and Girls Homes and working with the other North Carolina civic clubs to do more for this special group of individuals.”
Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina
Headquartered in Lake Waccamaw, Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina has served more than 7,500 children since 1954 as a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 agency. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive array of services for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. BGHNC offers adoption, family and therapeutic foster care, Success Coach services to prevent children from coming into foster care, and free children’s therapy, as well as residential care on the campus at Lake Waccamaw. The campus features a SACS-accredited charter school with a middle and high school curriculum, vocational education, recreation facilities, farm, equine therapy and a chapel. BGHNC is nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation. To learn more, please visit https://boysandgirlshomes.org/
