03/28/2024
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NC Rep. William Brisson purchased the first ticket for the upcoming Bladen We Care Gala from Mac Campbell on Monday.
NC Rep. William Brisson purchased the first ticket for the upcoming Bladen We Care Gala from Mac Campbell on Monday.

Tickets for the 27th annual Bladen We Care Gala are on sale now. The gala is scheduled for Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at The Venue at White Lake and the Byron H. Gooden Golf Tournament will take place on Thursday, April 21, at Vineyard Golf at White Lake.

“Bladen We Care continues to be an important provider of needed assistance to patients and organizations here in Bladen County. I often wonder where the help would come from if not for our organization and the support we receive from many vendors and friends from all over. We all have an opportunity to serve at some level and we are blessed to have this right here in Bladen County to help make lives better in some small way,” said Mac Campbell in a written statement.

This year the gala is sponsored by Smithfield. Tickets are $100 per couple and can be purchased at Campbell Oil, the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, The Venue, Fisher’s, or from any Bladen We Care committee member.

At the gala there will be a live auction and heavy hors d’oeuvres will be available. The Blackwater Rhythm and Blues Band, which is always a crowd favorite, will also perform.

Mac Campbell said that last year’s event was attended by about 300 people.  Campbell said that last year’s event raised between $13,000 and $14,000 for the organization.

Applications for the Byron H. Gooden Golf Tournament are available at Campbell Oil Company, the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Vineyard Golf at White Lake or any golf committee member. For questions, call Kim at 910-862-8423, ext. 221.

In 2015, Bladen We Care was able to provide $50,000 in institutional grants to Bladen Crisis Assistance, the Bladen Baptist Association, Elizabethtown Middle School for a project dealing with student health, the Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy for a project dealing with student health, and Cape Fear Valley Hospital.

The group also made 240 in patient grants that including assisting them in paying for prescription drugs when the patient is unable to afford them; however, Campbell stressed they will not pay for prescription narcotics.

The group also assisted with patients with 40 utility grants. Campbell said these grants were made to terminally ill patients who were faced with the potential loss of their utilities due to financial hardships.

Through the years, Bladen We Care has also endowed a health teaching position at Bladen Community College and endowed a nursing scholarship at the school. Campbell said that the organization has also endowed a scholarship for the nursing program at UNC-Pembroke for any Bladen Community College student or an employee of Bladen County Hospital who wish to earn a four-year degree in nursing.

As of January 2016, Campbell said Bladen We Care has assisted 19 patients with $37,000 in grants.

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