By Sarah Sever, Assistant Director

There are many organizations throughout our communities that exist to help out when individuals and families are most in need. Whether it’s assistance with housing, food security, employment, or mental health, there are people and places here in Eastern North Carolina that specialize in providing valuable assistance. It is important to spread awareness of these services, not only to successfully reach the people that need them the most, but also to encourage meaningful partnerships that make a positive local impact. This is why Neuse Regional Libraries staff have compiled a Resource Guide for Lenoir, Jones, and Greene counties. 

The seeds for this project were sown in 2021 when Neuse Regional Libraries and East Carolina University worked together to place a Social Work student intern at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library. Creating an extensive and up-to-date resource guide was one of the intern’s primary assigned tasks. This guide would help the intern gain familiarity with all the resources our counties had to offer, and would be useful to the other library staff members, the public, and fellow organizations as well. In the years that followed, it was updated and improved a great deal when the Library added Resource Specialist/Social Worker Joyce Hawkins to our staff. Joyce also had to opportunity to receive valuable input from Lenoir County Department of Social Services, Greene Lamp Head Start/Early Start, Kinston Mayor's Crime Prevention Task Force, Kinston Teens, Kinston Police Department, Lenoir Community College, Lenoir Council on Aging, Lenoir County Health Department, Lenoir-Greene United Way, North Carolina 8th District Judicial Recovery Court, and SAFE.

The Neuse Regional Libraries Resource Guide is a wealth of information and contains contact information for organizations that provide support in multiple ways, including disability services, emergency assistance, employment services, housing and homeowners assistance, and senior and veteran's services just to name a few. The guide can be found at https://neuselibrary.libguides.com/SocialResourceGuide. Printing options are available on the website. For further details please visit www.neuselibrary.org or call (252) 527-7066 ext. 134.