Focus

Since 2004, Race of Grace events have generated $298,000 to distribute to agencies in ministry to the hungry, homeless, and under-insured!

Every year the Raleigh District – NC Conference of The United Methodist Church interviews and selects local agencies that reach out in powerful and effective ways to those in need.

For 2012, the focus is on helping relieve hunger.

Beneficiaries of the 2012 Race of Grace are:

• Urban Ministries
• Women’s Center of Wake County

In 2011, the focus was homelessness:

• On any given night here in our community, nearly 3,000 people, including families, are homeless.
• The vast majority of our homeless neighbors work in a part-time job at the lowest end of the wage scale.
• The average age of a homeless family member is 4.
• Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
• A poor child in the US is more likely to be part of a working family and more likely to live in a rural or suburban area than an inner city.
• Today, a worker making minimum wage cannot afford fair market rent anywhere in the United States.
• Youth aged 12-17 are at the highest risk for homelessness.

Lack of Health Care:

• Approximately three working-aged North Carolinians died each day in 2006 simply because they lacked health insurance (more than 1,000 per year).
• Uninsured adults are 25% more likely to die prematurely due to lack of health insurance.
• Uninsured children admitted to the hospital due to injuries are twice as likely to die while in the hospital as their insured counterparts.
• North Carolina is one of the top 10 states with the highest percentage of uninsured children, low birth weight babies, and infant mortality.

See how 2011 recipients Haven House, Women’s Center of Wake County, and Franklin County Volunteers in Medicine are making a difference.

You can make a difference too.