Several days ago, I opened the newspaper to see the picture of a young man who had been referred to my agency, Rowan County Youth Services Bureau (a United Way member agency).
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an article about an achievement or a milestone. It was an article about his arrest. It broke my heart because I remember this young man very clearly. Quick with a smile and possessing a winning personality, he was the kind of young person you couldn’t help but like. However, his personal life was anything but sunny. His parents were, alternately, unable or unwilling to provide appropriate supervision, attention and affection. He fell in with the wrong crowd, hoping, I believe, they would provide the support and relationships he so desperately craved.
In an effort to steer him away from that crowd, he was referred to our Times Two mentoring program in the hopes that he could be matched with a positive, caring adult. But there’s no happy ending here. This young man languished on a waiting list for over a year because we were unable to find someone, anyone, to be his mentor. Before we were able to do more than engage him in some group activities and to provide him with staff support, he aged out of our service parameters.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are too many in our community with personal and spiritual gifts that could make a difference in the lives of young people for any child to have to wait. Thanks to the United Way, we can provide volunteers with training and ongoing support. But we need you! Please consider becoming a mentor. You could make all the difference in the world and, maybe, we’ll start seeing fewer newspaper articles about crime and more about accomplishments.
— Karen South Jones
Salisbury

Karen South Jones is executive director, Rowan County Youth Services Bureau, Inc.

With the recent attention brought upon the Rowan County Animal Shelter and its policy revisions regarding euthanasia, I believe there is another important issue that should be addressed at the shelter.
The overpopulation of animals continues to increase because of irresponsible owners not spaying and neutering their pets and Rowan County Animal Control not enforcing the spay and neuter of all adopted animals. When you adopt an animal from the shelter, you sign a written spay/neuter agreement that states you have 30 days to alter the animal. This is agreement is not being enforced.
Too many dogs and cats die at the Rowan County Animal Shelter. Animals are being bred by new owners after leaving the shelter. To prevent this, all dogs and cats must be altered and permanently identified with microchips before release. Surrounding counties have successfully instituted a spay/neuter policy prior to release to new owners. Implementation of this policy at RCAS would see a reduction of animals in our shelter system with much less killing necessary. Our goal is “No Kill.” Requiring spay and neuter and microchipping of all animals before release to new owners is the first step towards less killing.
— Samantha Smith
Salisbury

My wife and I are volunteering at the Community Care Clinic to help people enroll for health insurance under the new Affordable Care Act. Throughout March, an ACA navigator is available on Mondays at the clinic to enroll qualified individuals. Our specific role as volunteers is to screen or prequalify individuals to ensure that they are eligible to receive a subsidy on their health insurance.
Unfortunately, most interested individuals to date have not qualified for a subsidy because the state of North Carolina chose not to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals whose income was less than the poverty level. For example, a family of one must have an annual household income of at least $11,490 to qualify for a subsidy, and a family of three must have household income of at least $19,530. If individuals do not qualify for a subsidy because their income is too low, the good news is that they do not have to buy insurance nor will they have to pay a penalty. Also, these individuals can continue to use the Community Care Clinic to get free prescriptions, medical and dental care.
Individuals who are interested in enrolling for health insurance or want to find out if they qualify for a subsidy should call the clinic at 704-636-4523.
We will try to return these calls as soon as possible and schedule enrollment appointments for qualified individuals.
— Fred and Cyndi Krusemark
Salisbury