Fayetteville Urban Ministry Incorporated is celebrating 50 years of being a staple in the community at their gala Saturday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden.
“Being that we have been in the community for 50 years, there have been a lot of folks that have been there for us to help us survive and make it,” said Johnny Wilson, CEO and president of Fayetteville Urban Ministry. “Urban Ministry got its start in 1974 and was basically just street ministry serving out of the basement of Hay Street United Methodist Church.”
He added, “There were some founding board members who came together and wanted to take it to another level by establishing Fayetteville Urban Ministry as a true nonprofit organization and after that, the organization started to branch out.”
The first initial program for Fayetteville Urban Ministry was Emergency Assistance that assisted individuals with food and clothing. Through the years, they added on additional programs such as Adult Literacy and Education Center, Find-A-Friend and the Nehemiah Project.
“I came along in 1999, and now all four of the programs have been truly modernized,” said Wilson. “We are doing a lot more things differently and for example, emergency assistance which specializes in food and clothing, now has a huge-sized clothing closet and a huge-sized food pantry for people to shop in.”
Wilson added that they also support folks with financial support by helping to pay the rent, utilities, mortgage, emergency hotel stay and more.
The Find-A-Friend program has its own facility on the same street as the main site.
“The community backed us really hard to build a brand-new facility back in 2018, and now we are able to serve at risk and court-involved kids,” said Wilson. “Our adult literacy program involves GED preparation, job resume building, ESL classes, help individuals obtain their US citizenship and it has truly blown up and evolved.”
The Nehemiah Project brings houses up to great living conditions for individuals with our partnership with the City of Fayetteville.
“We can repair HVACS, roofs, and plumbing to bring that house up to living conditions as long as the individual lives within the city limits,” said Wilson. “So collectively, all four of those programs serve well over 15,000 individuals throughout Cumberland County at 100% free of cost.”
The gala has an Old Hollywood theme and the menu features heavy hors d’ oeuvres, meatballs, cheeses, desserts and beverages sponsored by Healy Wholesale.
“The program will consist of several individuals who will share their stories about their partnerships with Fayetteville Urban Ministry and there will be a special surprise guest,” said Wilson. “We will also talk about the journey of Fayetteville Urban Ministry, where we came from, where we are and where we are going.”
He added, “Our goal is to net gain more than $75,000 so that we can do some infrastructure repairs on our parking lot, roof, baseboards and painting at our main site that has been standing for 26 years.”
Wilson’s “why” is quite simple when it comes to helping others.
“I aspire to be everything that I did not have,” said Wilson. “I want to be a resource to any and everyone.”
Wilson recently received the Key to the City of Fayetteville and the Sullivan Award from Methodist University which is recognition of an individual who has given most of their life to humanitarian efforts. “It was really a huge achievement for me and Mary Holmes, President/CEO for Cumberland Community Foundation, to receive this award which is really remarkable and totally unexpected,” said Wilson.
“We are looking forward to our gala so come out and join us for an evening to remember.”
Tickets cost $150 per person, with a discount for two tickets for $250. Sponsorships are available.
To purchase a ticket visit https://www.fayurbmin.org/ or call (910) 483- 5944.