Pee Dee Community Action Partnership held a day of appreciation for those partners who play an important role in delivering the organization’s programs. Children’s Trust funds and oversees the Strengthening Families Program in Marion County.
Children’s Trust presents check to Pee Dee Community Action Partnership to implement the Strengthening Families Program.
FLORENCE – Children’s Trust helped observe Pee Dee Community Action Partnership’s Appreciation Day with a $75,000 check for the 2018 implementation of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) in Marion County.
The May 9 ceremony hosted by Florence-based Pee Dee CAP – a nationally-affiliated nonprofit that serves Florence, Marion and Dillon counties – celebrated May as Community Action Month and put a spotlight on the organization’s programs and partners that have such a positive impact on low-income families.
Sonyetta Cooper, the Pee Dee CAP site coordinator for SFP in Marion, and Anita Magwood, Pee Dee CAP program coordinator, led the day of appreciation festivities. Magwood cited the meaningfulness of programs like SFP, which unites providers with those families that need the community support and resources.
“It means a lot when we pull a group of people together to serve. We are helping people and transforming lives,” Magwood said. “We can see a difference in the children as well as the families.”
Children from Thelma Brown Head Start in Florence performed at the ceremony.
A group of children from Thelma Brown Head Start performed “Lean on Me,” which delighted the full house of community leaders, support staff, and volunteers in the auditorium of the DSS Public Service Building.
Through funding from The Duke Endowment and the S.C. Department of Social Services, Children’s Trust is providing financial and administrative support to Pee Dee CAP for the delivery of SFP sessions over 14-week cycles. A class of 10 families will graduate in June from the spring cycle.
Lauren Szymonik, Children’s Trust SFP coordinator in the Pee Dee, saluted the hard work, passion and commitment that Pee Dee CAP is bringing to help families thrive in Marion County.
“Pee Dee CAP became a grantee in 2017, implementing their first cycle in the fall, which they blew out of the water, and they have outdone themselves in their second cycle, which is currently running,” Szymonik said. “When seeing the team in action, you can see the growth of families and the joy that the Pee Dee CAP SFP team creates each week.”
SFP serves families with children ages 6 to 11 through local partners in settings that include community centers, schools, and churches. The program is designed to help families develop positive discipline practices, stay resilient in tough times, reduce conflict, improve parenting skills, and assist children with social skills, relationships, and school performance. These factors play an important role in keeping families strong while protecting against potential abuse or neglect and adverse childhood experiences.
Jessica Walker, a graduate of SFP in the fall cycle, gave a testimonial on what the program meant to her and her four children.
“The name says it all. It strengthened my family,” she said. “The change is evident. We’re still growing. We feel like we accomplished something huge.”
