On July 15, Rotary Cottage re-opened on the campus of Boys & Girls Homes after being closed for renovations. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Resources approved the re-opening of the facility at a critical time when there is a need to house children requiring out-of-home care in the state. In the last year, N.C. has seen a 23 percent drop in licensed foster homes, not nearly enough homes to care for the more than 11,500 foster children in the system.
“Rotarians have a vision to ‘see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.’ For the last 58 years, Rotary Clubs across North Carolina and South Carolina and the Rotary Cottage on the Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina campus have represented lasting change for abused and neglected children,” said Marc Murphy, President of BGHNC. “I am grateful to all of the Rotarians who have made this reopening possible, which is already making a lasting change towards healing for children in care.”
Rotarians across the state contributed money to build the Rotary Cottage in 1966. Today, the group home can house up to eight children at a time.
“Rotarians are elated to know that their Rotary Cottage has finally obtained North Carolina licensure to reopen,” said Dave Weiss, a Rotarian and former BGHNC Board of Trustees member. “Our cottage can now get back to doing what it does best, taking care of kids and helping them improve their prospects for a brighter future in the safety and security of the Boys and Girls Home of NC.”
Improvements to the Rotary Cottage included all fresh paint, renovations to its staff apartment and new upholstery for its furniture.
Director of Community Engagement Tom Lamont said the Rotary re-opening will allow renovations at other cottages to begin.
“Thanks to this announcement, we will be able to move children from other cottages to the Rotary Cottage while their cottage has major renovations completed,” he said. “Once these renovations are completed, in the near future, new children and staff will be assigned to the cottage moving forward.”
Rotarian and BGHNC Board of Trustees member Mike Reid was overjoyed at the news.
“The Rotary clubs are about service and providing funds and service projects for the local community,” he said. “We are looking forward to doing more for Boys and Girls Homes and working with the other North Carolina civic clubs to do more for this special group of individuals.”
