Scotland Family Counseling Center receives grant from SECU Foundation

LAURINBURG – The Scotland Family Counseling Center received a $40,000 grant from the State Employees Credit Union Foundation Wednesday morning.

Members of the SECU and the Scotland Family Counseling Center were in attendance during the presentation of the check, with speakers including SECU Senior Grants Officer Caitlyn Duke and Executive Leader of the Scotland Family Counseling Center Kenzie Miller.

Duke explained that grant requests to the SECU Foundation aren’t accepted often.

“We were denying about 80 percent of our requests,” she said. “Not every organization is ready for a six or seven figure gift.”

The SECU Foundation looks for capacity building and expanding non-profit organizations’ reach and strength, and the Scotland Family Counseling Center met that criteria.

With the money, the Scotland Family Counseling Center will be able to innovate the center, according to Miller.

“It is an amount of money that will make a big difference for us,” she said. “We are being very intentional about how we choose to spend it. The recreation of the website is one big thing, but we have several other ventures in the back of our mind that we couldn’t consider without this.”

The Scotland Family Counseling Center is a nonprofit agency that “strengthens family life among people living in Scotland County, North Carolina, and the surrounding area. We do this through counseling, educational events, and a variety of specialized services,” according to the group’s website.

One thing about SCFCC is that the ability to pay for the services isn’t an issue. Each year, the center has a Silent Samaritan Society fundraiser to make sure many people in the community can access the service they need.

It’s only the second grant presented by the SECU foundation in Scotland County.