On May 26, 2020 Shield North Carolina along with the Apex Police Department hosted a panel discussion on how the Town of Apex and the citizens of Apex have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel included Apex Mayor Jacques Gilbert, Danica Coleman (Victim’s Advocate at Apex PD), Sherry Presnall (Western Wake Crisis Ministry), and Emily daCamara (Case Manager at Project Fight).
Bottom line: Our community needs our help to deal with the impacts of COVID-19. Would your service organization or faith group like to help?
Volunteers are needed to:
- Help the Emergency Meals Program by helping to distribute meals. (Contact Officer Kenneth Ragland 919-249-3469 or kenneth.ragland@apexnc.org)
- Western Wake Crisis Ministries need able-bodied volunteers to help in their warehouse.
- Western Wake Crisis Ministries also need volunteers to help with food distribution and to serve as Impact Coaches to work one-on-one with families.
Funding needed for:
- Western Wake Crisis Ministries’ Family Recovery Fund. (see details below)
- Covering the basic necessities (rent, utilities, food) for the clients of Project Fight (see details below)
During the panel discussion, Mayor Gilbert updated us on the Town of Apex’s efforts to lessen the financial impacts of the Stay At Home order. The town council has appropriated $1 million for small businesses and made donations to local service organizations. Future financial impacts of COVID 19 will be discussed today at the 2021 Budget Workshop.
He communicated the importance of a calm and confident approach to addressing the challenges the pandemic may present. Mayor Gilbert expressed gratitude for the fiscally responsible Town management of past mayors. He was also proud of the way Apex citizens have united together to help one another, mentioning the recent fundraising efforts of a group of local realtors.
Danica Coleman, Victim’s Advocate at Apex PD, spoke next about seeing an increase in sexual assaults, male-identified victims and overall requests for victims services. Specifically, Ms. Coleman spoke about a spike in service requests regarding restraining orders. Legal Aid of NC and Interact have been particularly helpful in assisting with those cases. Fortunately, Legal Aid is able to provide free attorney services both before and after the restraining orders have been instituted.
Ms. Coleman explains that under the current conditions, many domestic violence victims are trapped with their abusers without their usual self-preservation barriers in place. In other words, they are not able to escape their abusers by visiting family members or having friends come check on them as they normally would. Unfortunately, she anticipates an increase in domestic violence and lethality when the Stay At Home Order has been lifted and victims are finally able to flee their abusers, as several of her clients are planning to do. Ms. Coleman is busy now meeting the future safety needs of her clients who are currently suffering domestic abuse, assuring that they have a strong support system in place to receive them.
Sherry Presnell of Western Wake Crisis Ministries (WWCM) describes the three prong approach they are employing to overcome challenges caused by the pandemic. First, they are focused on meeting the current need for food services. Many western Wake County citizens are reaching out to them because of job loss, underemployment, abuse or trouble paying medical bills. They have been serving meals to about 120 households a week by either home delivery or curbside distribution. Secondly, Western Wake Crisis Ministries is working to assure the sustainability of their agencies by applying for a small business loan, requesting help from the Town of Apex and other fundraising measures. Finally, they have set up a Family Recovery Fund with the goal of raising $150,000 to address the current and future financial impacts of the pandemic on local citizens. According to a survey WWCM recently did covering households in western Wake County, many of our citizens were impacted by an error in the national unemployment insurance system that initially denied their claim for unemployment funds. This put many families behind in their payments for rent, utilities and other necessary services. Representatives from WWCM have been helping families negotiate with landlords, service companies or even helping them pay for hotel rooms until they can secure housing. Donations to their Family Recover Fund will allow them to continue this type of assistance.
Our final panelist was Emily deCamara who is a case manager for The Salvation Army’s Project Fight which provides hands on services to victims of human trafficking. She concurred with the other panelists who stated there has been an increase in financial need and demand for victim services. Case managers at Project Fight are working hard to help their clients find ways to pay their rent or secure shelter. Ms.deCamara described a desperate shortage of beds due to health restrictions and the necessity to social distance in shelters, requiring case managers to relocate clients to Asheville, Boone or coastal cities. She noted that a local church had donated self-care baskets for their clients which was very helpful.
Officer Kenneth Ragland announced that the Emergency Meals Program is currently providing about 10,000 meals a week for school aged children. That program is requesting volunteers to help with food distribution at their feeding sites.
Nicole Bernard of Shield NC reviewed actions that Shield has taken to counter the added risk of online child exploitation due to the pandemic. Shield collaborated with NC Department of Justice, NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking and WRAL/Capital Broadcasting to design and disseminate a resource document and webinars to parents reminding them of the dangers of leaving their children unsupervised online and informing them of red flag indicators of a potential problem. Shield also began a demand reduction campaign with assistance of WRAL/Capitol Broadcasting that directs potential sexual abusers of minors to helpful resources to address their deviant behaviors.