Cary Nonprofit Crisis Services: The Carying Place

Cary, NC — This pandemic has pointed out a lot of the key players in Cary that were founded with an intent to provide a helping hand to community members in need.

To say thank you and bring about awareness, we’re highlighting a few of Cary’s non-profit organizations that have stepped up to provide crucial services, starting with The Carying Place.

Offering Housing and Life Skills Since 1993

The Carying Place offers assistance in the forms of transitional housing as well as teaching vital life skills such as financial literacy and budgeting.

Founder of The Carying Place, Milt Douglas, volunteered with fellow Cary organizations Dorcas and Step Up in the 90s before forming The Carying Place in 1993, gaining its non-profit status in ’98.

It all started 28 years ago with Douglas met a homeless family while helping a friend move. He sat with them for coffee to learn their story and The Carying Place was born from that interaction. Today, with the slogan of, “Empowering Homeless Working Families,” The Carying Place continues in that effort.

According to Executive Director, Leslie Covington, the organization’s mission is aimed at teaching homeless, working families with children life skills for attaining independent living while providing short-term housing and support services to address their individual needs.

Meeting the Need in a Pandemic

Representatives of Mr. Black NC provide a donation of 500 masks in July 2020 to be used by families in need.

In the last year, Covington says the most urgent needs have been for support to go fully virtual, for funding to continue and navigating how to safely accept and link families to their services. To meet these needs, The Carying Place team has established many partnerships to serve families and received lots of support from the community from volunteers to donors and sponsors.

“We know that the eviction moratorium will be over in the next few months. Once that happens and even before, we expect a deluge of more families needing more help,” said Covington.

Now and always, Covington urges any Cary community member who knows of a homeless, working family with children looking for assistance to get back on their feet, to have them contact The Carying Place.

“We are safely assessing and working with families even during COVID,” said Covington.

A Journey to Independence and Self-Sufficiency

In speaking with Covington about her 6 years as Executive Director, she says her favorite parts of the job are:

Seeing families realize what they are capable of with some help and direction from volunteers and staff
Seeing a family transition from homeless, hopeless and struggling to housed, wisely saving money and prospering
Seeing graduates coming back as volunteers, mentors and leaders

How To — Support The Carying Place

Volunteerism

All the resources you need if looking to volunteer with The Carying Place can be found on their website.

Donations

The Cary Woman’s Club is one group that supports The Carying Place by donation.

The Carying Place relies solely on donations and grants to continue to help change the lives of families in need. Each dollar donated directly and positively makes an impact.

One-time and recurring online monthly donations are easy to get signed up for using The Carying Place’s website. Item donations are also accepted and needed items can be found on the website as well under “other ways to give.”

Sponsorship & Events

August 13, 2021 — 20th Annual Benefit Auction

Sponsorship and attendance opportunities are available for the Annual Benefit Auction on August 13, 2021, which is planned to be at Prestonwood Country Club. Check out the auction website which will officially go live in early May.

September 6, 2021 — Annual Labor Day Race

Event registration and sponsorship for the Annual Labor Day Race on September 6, 2021, can be found on the race website. Plus, there is a virtual race option, too!