ELIZABETHTOWN — The Elizabethtown Rotary Club was treated to not one but two guest speakers on Wednesday.
Speaking to the group were Kevin Kunst, headmaster of Harrells Christian Academy, and Gary Greene with Lake Waccamaw Boys and Girls Home.
Hurst spoke first and gave the group an overview of the school.
“We have a lot of families from Elizabethtown, Wallace and Clinton,” said Kunst.
He told those gathered that he and his staff have to be mindful of the decisions they reach because those decisions don’t just impact one grade level or one student but they actually impact all grades.
Kunst said that the school offers character education and special programs. He said the school is studying purchasing some nearby land to erect a FFA building. The school also offers a prefect leadership program and a developing entrepreneurial program.
“Education is a very important thing,” said Kunst.
He talked about a food drive the school is doing for the Bladen Crisis Assistance. Kunst said the third, fourth and fifth grades are learning about hunger through the food drive.
Kunst announced that in October, the school will be holding a 5k run for Technology, to raise funds to purchase computers and other needed technologies for the classrooms.
Greene spoke about the Lake Waccamaw Boys and Girls Homes.
“The kids are not bad kids, but they are kids that come from a bad situation,” said Greene.
He told those gathered that Rotary sponsors a cottage on the campus, and in 2016, the Rotary cottage will turn 50 years old. Greene said that Rotary financially supports the cottage and currently six boys reside there.
“The boys that live in the cottage think of themselves as junior Rotarians,” said Greene.
He said that the children who are brought to the Boys and Girls Home think the situations in which they find themselves are normal.
Greene said the Boys and Girls Home also has a school on the campus that will be in its third year. It has 88 students enrolled.
“We are breaking ground for a new middle school,” said Greene.
Many of the children who arrive to the facility are generally behind in their school work.
Green said the average stay for child at the home is about 18 months, and that a child arrives at the home either through Social Services or through a court order. Greene said the longest stay that anyone had been on campus was for a period of four years.
Greene said the campus can house up to 75 children and currently 48 children are on the campus. He added there are also 180 children affiliated with Boys and Girls Homes that are in foster care.
Greene said the facility also has a cottage, called the Lake House, that houses teenage mothers. He said the home is preparing to open a second Lake House.
He told the group that 50 percent of the time, a child is reunited with his or her family.
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