On Friday, July 12th, North Star Child Advocacy Center (NSCAC) received a check from the Wood County Commission for $10,000.00.
NSCAC Executive Director Greg Collins was invited to speak on the agenda to the Wood County Commission on November 2, 2023, regarding the center and what it is doing for the community’schildren and non-offending family members. “My intention was to merely educate thecommissioners and possibly in the future, be considered to be included in their regular budget so we can start seeing a more stable platform than we currently have with grants,” states Collins.
To that end, North Star received a check in the mail last Friday from the Wood County Commission for $10,000.00. “What a great feeling to get this donation from them,” states Collins. “It was a goodmeeting in November with two of my board members, Sharon Anderson and Teresa Cunningham, present with me. Sheriff Rick Woodyard and Prosecutor Pat Lefebure were also in attendance and spoke regarding the assistance we provide to their particular offices on a daily basis,” says Collins. The commissioners listened intently, asked good questions and pulled up information on the screen to review throughout the presentation. Whenever you get in front of elected officials and you feel they genuinely wanted to know more about you, it’s a great feeling,” states Collins.
In February, the City of Vienna also made a $10,000.00 donation to North Star after a presentation by Collins to their City Council. Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp said at the time that this was something that the entire City Council felt compelled to do after Collins’s presentation. “Realizing that child abuse in Wood County is more prevalent than we want to think, and hearing Greg tell us some of the actual statements made by children that have been interviewed at the center was a real eye-opener to us all. It was heartbreaking. A percentage of the over 600 children that North Star interviews every year are children from Vienna, these are our kids. Our job, as elected officials, is to properly prioritize the city’s spending. There is not much of a higher priority to me than taking care of our children.”
“The donations from the Wood County Commission and City of Vienna are a catalyst I believe. There will come a time when I think we will be included in our local government’s budgets because of our importance in the child crime process,” states Collins. “We provide forensic interviews for law enforcement and Child Protective Services, the people that are fighting the problem on the ground every day. The same people that local governments are already committed to assisting. Getting some stability from budgets and not relying on the failing grants will assist us in helping them with their massive daily workloads for 100 years to come,” states Collins.
On July 1st of this year, NSCAC lost the Encova (once BrickStreet) grant that has been utilized for the last eight (8) years, providing $50,000 per year, as it no longer exists. NSCAC’s VOCA (federal) grant was frozen at the 2021 amount. After some smaller yet significant cuts over the past three years, the projected VOCA cut for October 2025 is between 70%-75%. VOCA is 42% of North Star’s budget. (VOCA is The Victims of Crime Act Fund that was created by Congress in 1984 to provide federal support to state and local programs that assist victims of crime. VOCA is not funded by taxpayers, it is funded by fines/arrests of convicted criminals.)
The two board members present at the November meeting shared their thoughts and appreciation. Cunningham states, “I sincerely express my appreciation to Wood County Commission for the gracious $10,000 donation to North Star Child Advocacy Center. As a member of the Board of Directors, the realization is that donations are integral to funding without reliance on depleting grant options. We are hopeful this promotes discussion among all local governments for future line-item budget consideration. North Star’s livelihood and longevity continues only with exemplary endeavors such as that illustrated by Wood County Commission. Thank you!” Anderson echoed that statement. “As a member of the Board of Directors for North Star, it was my pleasure to attend the meeting on November 2 with Greg, supporting his efforts to ensure consistent, long-term funding for the center that is not solely dependent on grants. On behalf of North Star, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the recent $10,000 check received from the Wood County Commission and hope to see our local county and municipalities continue to support the mission of North Star CAC in fighting child abuse in our own community.”
Collins concludes, “My genuine thanks to the Wood County Commission. At the end of the day, these are our abused kids, and we have a responsibility to take care of them. If we don’t successfully intervene, many will likely be the next generation of problems that we are trying to fix.”
North Star is a non-profit that does not have a consistent form of funding at this time. The money the center uses to operate comes from federal and state grants, foundations and donations from the public. North Star is an important piece of the child investigation puzzle, as they are not only assisting law enforcement, CPS and prosecutors, they are focused on the child and non-offending family members and getting them the help and tools they need to heal and be a productive member of our community, for as long as they need it.
People can contact North Star at 304-917-4437 or via email nscac@northstarcac.org to learn more about how you can help. You can also visit them at northstarcac.org or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. People wanting to contribute an afterlife donation can contact the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) to leave an endowment or a legacy gift.
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