CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1163571
24 | September/October 2019 Seth's Wish received its 501(c)3 non-profit status in 2015. Back then, the organization was still a mobile operation, bringing meals and supplies out into the community in hopes of tracking down those in need. Since its inception, the organization, which is funded by donations and grants, has always offered a Sunday meal. It now also hosts a hot lunch Tuesdays and ursdays, when visitors can also pick up bags of groceries and hygiene products. Graybill operates a small clothing closet of donated items. By now, the distribution of goods moves pretty efficiently. In July, Seth's Wish served 1,180 hot meals and gave out 739 grocery bags and 638 bags of clothes and hygiene products. Wofford, Rivera and Graybill have occasionally had to stretch beyond their fundamental mission, sometimes taking emergency calls in the middle of the night to help people find services they don't offer at Seth's Wish. ey've assisted people in getting to shelters or to behavioral health clinics or in finding baby formula and diapers in the middle of the night. "e people who call us tell us we're the first people they thought of," Graybill said. "ey just trust us. We're all family. We know everybody by name. When people come in, I don't even have to ask their clothing size. I just start making their bag." In 2017, in search of a permanent location, Seth's Wish settled into the building next door to the one it occupies now. "Having a building is the first step in a lot of things that we want to do," Wofford said. "Shelter and housing is huge. We're not near that point yet, but we're getting there." e organization moved from its former location to its current one earlier this year, taking over a former club on the