Care Fund Helps Year Round, Greatest Need at Christmas
RISON - With exactly two weeks to go before Christmas, time is running out to secure funding and shopping items for all families in need this Christmas.
“There’s still time to contribute to the Care Fund,” said Melinda McKnight, organizer of the Cleveland County Cares mission.
McKnight said whatever money they collect through this Friday, Dec. 13, will be used to provide Christmas for needy families in Cleveland County this year.
Donations can be dropped off directly at the Cleveland County Herald office, 215 Main Street in downtown Rison.
As McKnight has shared in recent articles, and the Nov. 13 episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast, the number of children in need this year is much larger than previous years.
“We’ve already passed the number we reached last year,” McKnight said.
As a supporter of the mission,in lieu of recording a new episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast this week, host and Cleveland County Herald editor/publisher Britt Talent urges everyone to listen to McKnight’s feature on the podcast.
The episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on clevelandcountyherald.com
McKnight explains how she uses a referral process to determine who is helped through the program. All recipients of the Cleveland County Care Fund are referred to the program by teachers, churches, the Department of Human Services or other sources that truly see a need in a family.
Whenever a child is referred to the Care Fund, McKnight said they check with that child’s household to see if there may other children in that home who need help as well. She said the children they help range from newborns to 18 years old.
Whatever money is collected for the Care Fund is distributed among those in need. McKnight said that money is then used to buy an item on the child’s Christmas wish list as well as clothing and food. The gifts, clothing and food are distributed discretely to the recipients.
She said she has shoppers that are close to the same age as the child shop for the clothes or gifts so those selections will appeal to that age group.
“Our shoppers will be going to the stores this weekend (Dec. 14-15), and packing boxes next week,” McKnight said. “We’ll take money through the end of this week.”
The Cleveland County Care Fund operates under the 501(c)3 non-profit tax status of the Pioneer Village at Rison. McKnight said all donations are tax-deductible and checks should be made to Pioneer Village with Care Fund written in the memo line.
McKnight would also like to thank everyone who has donated already, and to those who contributed to the Care Fund by playing bingo at the Christmas in the Village festival.
“We had a lot of fun for a great cause,” she said. “We appreciate everyone who spent the day playing bingo and raising funds.”
While Christmas is a major focus of the Care Fund each year, McKnight said the fund also helps people in tough times throughout the year. She said she likes to have at least $2,000 to $3,000 left in the account to help in those circumstances. “We want to have something in the bank in case there is a house fire or something like that during the year,” she said.
She explained that non-Christmas requests for the Care Fund are by referrals only as well.