New Hanover Community Endowment officials announced Tuesday that the endowment is awarding seven grants totaling $15.8 million, with two of the largest sums aiding local swimming pool facilities. An endowment grant of $6.5 million has been awarded “to support the development of a 50-meter indoor aquatics center at the Nir Family YMCA (on Market Street in Wilm ...

In the thick of summer, staff at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina help host a flurry of summer camp sessions for 12 hours a day, five days a week, for 10 weeks. During field trips, students tumble in and out of newly replaced BGCSENC buses – an upgrade from the 40-year-old fleet that CEO Dawn-Michele Blalock said had been breaking down alm ...

In the span of six hours each week, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard distributes a mix of canned goods, produce, meat, milk and other food essentials to more than 500 families. In the past year alone, the emergency food pantry has seen more than 200 new families, according to Roxann Lansdowne, the group’s executive director and board chair. Many more, she said, hav ...

Nonprofit organizations are stewards of donations that serve as investments in our community. Those monetary contributions or volunteer labor are used to provide human services, cultural offerings or conservation efforts intended to make this a better place for all of us to live. However, every organization takes a different approach to designing its services and measur ...

The boards of directors of two local chapters of Habitat for Humanity recently voted to proceed with a due diligence process to determine whether a potential merger between the two makes sense. Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity and Brunswick County Habitat for Humanity both work to serve families by providing affordable homeownership opportunities. Both also offer ReStores ...

For a decade, Meg McBride lived by the unofficial U.S. Postal Service motto: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers …” But when the Pennsylvania letter carrier moved to Wilmington in 2011, she traded her mailbag for a different kind of delivery. Today, McBride serves as a courier of hope and care, guiding individuals t ...

When an electrical lineman buckles into a leather strap, shimmies up a wooden pole and restores power to a business after a storm, the owner might not just have the power company to thank. He might also be indebted to The Forward Fund. John Thomason used the loan he received from the fund, which now provides up to $15,000 for high-demand workforce training, to help cove ...

A collaboration of government, nonprofit and faith-based organizations has launched the New Hanover Disaster Coalition Command Center, according to an announcement Tuesday. The entity was created to provide "a new coordinated approach to identifying and responding to community needs following a disaster," a news release stated. "For ...

Legal Aid of North Carolina is preparing to move into the Harrelson Center.  According to Rebekah Garcia, regional managing attorney for Legal Aid’s Wilmington office, the organization expects to relocate by Oct. 1.  In 2025, the nonprofit law firm received a $1.1 million grant from the New Hanover Community Endowment to relocate staff from its curren ...

The YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina still needs $3.5 million to completely fund its $15 million expansion in midtown Wilmington, but at an event Friday, YMCA supporters and local leaders celebrated the upcoming start of construction and the dollars raised so far. The project will include transforming the existing 16,000-square-foot facility at 709 George Anderson Dr ...