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Tuesday, 15 September 2026
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Written by Tiffany Haywood
Toast of the Town helps The CARE Clinic provide free medical, dental and pharmacy services for uninsured and low-income adults across the community.
Toast of the Town.
Four words that may simply sound like another fundraising event. Another night where people gather on a fall evening in Fayetteville to connect, sample wine, beer and spirits, and enjoy all the things that come with a familiar community event.
What those four words do not immediately tell you is what that evening supports.
It can look like a patient receiving medical care they otherwise could not afford. It can look like someone learning they have diabetes after going an extended period without regular care. It can also look like a prescription being filled before a patient ever leaves the building.
For The CARE Clinic, that is what Toast of the Town really means. That is what community support becomes.
The CARE Clinic was founded in 1993 with a mission to provide free, quality health care to low-income and uninsured adults. The clinic serves Cumberland County and surrounding communities, including Robeson, Hoke and Bladen counties.
Its services go well beyond occasional basic care. The CARE Clinic provides medical care, dental extractions, diabetes diagnosis and management, physical therapy, nutrition services and an in-house pharmacy.
During my conversation with Chelsea Wareham of The CARE Clinic, she shared how some patients arrive after going extended periods without routine medical care. For some, that means discovering a condition they did not even realize they were living with, including diabetes.
The clinic then has an opportunity to do more than tell someone something is wrong. Patients can learn what their diagnosis means, how to manage it and what steps they can take toward living a healthier life.
Access to care can mean finding out something is wrong before it becomes worse.
The CARE Clinic takes that access another step through its in-house pharmacy. After being seen, patients can wait while their prescriptions are prepared and leave with the medication they need. Care does not have to end with a diagnosis and instructions to figure out the next step somewhere else. The clinic can help patients move directly into the next part of their care while they are already there.
Making all of that happen takes people.
A lot of them.
Wareham explained that The CARE Clinic relies heavily on volunteers throughout its operations, from receptionists and nurses to medical providers and translators. Many of those volunteers work regular jobs before giving their time to the clinic afterward. That is also part of the reason the clinic operates outside what many people would consider traditional doctor's office hours.
By the time many CARE Clinic volunteers arrive, they have already put in a full workday somewhere else.
But they show up anyway.
They show up because they care. They show up because they want to help. They show up because they have made an investment in their community that is measured in impact.
And the community, in turn, finds ways to care for them.
Wareham said churches, organizations and other supporters provide meals for volunteers on clinic days. It may seem like a small detail beside the medical care happening inside the building, but it is another piece of what allows people who have already given hours of their day elsewhere to stay and give a few more.
Those connections extend into the clinic's partnerships as well. Wareham discussed relationships with Cape Fear Valley and Methodist University, including its medical school. Students have an opportunity to shadow at the clinic, putting another generation of medical professionals alongside those already choosing to give their time there.
For many of the providers already volunteering, that choice comes back to giving back locally.
Wareham recalled a former patient who spoke during one of the clinic's board meetings about the difference that care had made in his life. She said he shared that The CARE Clinic had given him hope and helped him get his health under control.
That care happens on otherwise ordinary days. Regular weekdays. Regular workdays. Evenings when people are not gathered at Cape Fear Botanical Garden for an event but are instead walking through the clinic doors because they need help.
Without the support of government funding, Wareham said The CARE Clinic relies on fundraisers and grants to continue providing free medical and dental care, medications and the operational support required to keep its services available.
That is where Toast of the Town steps in, where volunteer hours alone cannot fill the gap.
As one of The CARE Clinic's largest fundraisers, Toast of the Town brings people together for one evening while helping support the work that continues throughout the year. Some attendees may already know exactly what they are supporting. Others may simply know Toast of the Town as one of Fayetteville's familiar annual events without realizing how far the support from that night reaches once the event is over.
It reaches the patient who needs care.
It reaches the volunteer who comes in after work.
It reaches the pharmacy filling a prescription before someone leaves.
And sometimes, the event itself becomes someone's introduction to The CARE Clinic, creating a relationship that continues long after one night.
That awareness matters because even after more than 30 years, one of the clinic's challenges is still a simple one: making sure people know the help is here.
When I asked Wareham whether embarrassment or a lack of awareness sometimes prevents people from seeking services, she leaned more toward the latter. There are still people who simply do not know The CARE Clinic exists or understand what resources may be available to them.
For anyone who does feel embarrassed or ashamed about needing help, Wareham emphasized that the clinic is there to help. The people volunteering inside it are there because they want to be.
Knowing that resource exists can matter just as much as knowing when to ask for it. And knowing what Toast of the Town actually supports may also help someone realize there is a place for them to give, volunteer or become part of that support in another way.
For Wareham, the connection between the fundraiser and the people on the other side of that support comes down to something much more personal than an event.
“Every dollar that is raised for us helps a neighbor receive a diagnosis, a prescription, or the reassurance that somebody cares,” she said.
Toast of the Town may last one evening, but the care and support it helps make possible continue long after the night is over.
The 26th annual Toast of the Town will be held at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden at 536 N. Eastern Blvd. on Sept. 25 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For more information and for tickets to the event, or to donate, visit https://www.thecareclinic.org/annual-toast-of-the-town/
(Photo: The CARE Clinic provides free healthcare to those in the community who need to be treated but may not have the ability to pay for care. Everyone who works as a caregiver for the clinic are volunteers. Photos courtesy of The CARE Clinic)
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Tuesday, 15 September 2026
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Written by Amber Little
From pen to paper to stage, the 14th annual Southeastern Regional NC Poetry Slam is back. On Saturday, Sept. 26, thirteen poets will battle it out in 3 rounds for a $1500 cash prize at The Capitol Encore Academy, located at 126 Hay St. Doors open at 7:15 p.m., and the slam gets underway at 8 p.m.
Poetry slams are a fun and exciting experience. Unlike the traditional open mics and poetry showcases, slams are the ultimate test for poets and their work. Going round for round, word for word, each poet performs their best for the judges to see who can call themselves the champion. SRNC Poetry Slam has three rounds; each poet performs a piece, and judges score on a scale of 0.0-10.0. At the end of the rounds, the scores are added together, and the poet with the highest score is crowned the winner. While the judges score stand, if the crowd is unhappy with the score, they are encouraged to verbally show their disappointment in the judge (a nice booo). As always, the identities of the judges are kept secret from the participating poets until event night, not only building the excitement of the night but keeping the slam fair from any hometown biases.
Battling it out this year for the top prize are linguistically talented individuals from North and South Carolina, Michigan, Florida, and Virginia.
Law Bullock, Fayetteville, NC
Bryan Beechaum, Richmond, VA
Marley Quinn, Greensboro, NC
Ul Obasaki, Detroit, MI
Maze, Orlando, FL
Devon Taylor, Charlotte, NC
Shay Black, Greenville, SC
Azar King, Greenville, SC
Daniel Garwood, Detroit, MI
Laraya, Williamsburg, VA
RJMC, Detroit, MI
Sara Fox, Charlotte, NC
Sahn, Greenville, SC
Hosting this year’s slam is Jacksonville, Florida-based multi-talented poet and artist, Moses West.
“Known for blending poetry, hip-hop, and storytelling, Moses has been a longtime voice in Jacksonville’s open-mic and performance scene and is a poetry slam champion. His work reflects Jacksonville’s culture, community, and the power of creative expression.”
At the heart of the SRNC Poetry Slam is the equally talented LeJuane Bowens. Bowens founded the slam 14 years ago and has grown it into the experience it is today, with more to come.
“Fourteen years of bringing poets together, creating space for writers to be heard, building community, and giving people a reason to believe that poetry belongs here. What started in 2012 has grown into something much bigger than a slam. It’s a piece of Fayetteville’s creative history, and I’m proud to still be building it,” Bowens stated with humble pride.
Everything Bowens does is intentional, even down to the location of this year’s event, choosing the only Arts Integration Charter School in Cumberland County, The Capitol Encore Academy.
“I think it’s been a really meaningful collaboration because TCEA understands something that I’ve always believed: the arts aren’t an extra. They’re part of how we learn, how we communicate, and how we understand the world around us. For SERNC to be hosted in a space that actually centers arts integration is important to me. I’ve spent years building this slam because I wanted poets to have a place to grow, and TCEA gives us an opportunity to connect that creative energy with young people and education. That’s bigger than just hosting an event. That’s community building, and that’s the kind of work I want to continue doing.”
This is a vision that his sponsors clearly see. Sponsoring this year's slam is Poetry-N-Motion, Inspired Ink Creative Consulting and TCEA.
Tickets are still on sale online at https://bit.ly/4xR8ugI. Tickets will also be available at the door, but there will be a price increase on the day of the event. Grab tickets, because this is going to be an epic showdown.
(Photo: The Southeastern Regional NC Poetry Slam is a premier event for spoken word in the area. This year, the Slam will be hosted by Moses West. Photo courtesy of SERNC)
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