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Tuesday, 22 September 2026
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Written by Tiffany Haywood
The Sept. 26 5K at Cape Fear Botanical Garden helps fund educational opportunities for military spouses and children through Friends of Civil Affairs.
You show up before the sun has fully settled into the morning. You check in, stretch, hydrate and get ready to go, focused on the miles ahead and the finish line waiting at the other end. What you may not realize is that while you are preparing to accomplish one goal, your decision to show up could help someone else accomplish theirs.
That is what makes the Around the World Run more than a race.
For Friends of Civil Affairs, every registration, sponsorship and donation helps build the scholarship fund that supports spouses and children in the Civil Affairs community as they pursue their educational goals.
The Around the World Run returns Sept. 26 at Cape Fear Botanical Garden, bringing runners, walkers and supporters together for a 5K that raises money for the Friends of Civil Affairs Scholarship Fund. The live race is also part of Fayetteville’s 48th International Folk Festival, placing the fundraiser inside a weekend centered on community and culture.
“There’s a tangible effect here — that an individual actually benefited, a family benefited financially because somebody participated in this race,” Friends of Civil Affairs President Ernie Sirvas said.
Friends of Civil Affairs, also known as FOCA, supports active-component Civil Affairs soldiers and their families. The organization supports leadership and organizational programs, works to strengthen soldier and family welfare and morale, promotes the active-component Civil Affairs community, administers scholarships and recognizes excellence within Civil Affairs professional military education.
“We’re here for one purpose — to support soldiers,” Sirvas said.
Since around 2007 or 2008, FOCA has awarded more than $140,000 in scholarships. According to Sirvas, approximately $60,000 has also gone toward family-readiness efforts supporting Civil Affairs battalions, while the organization currently distributes roughly $15,000 to $20,000 in scholarships each year.
Those numbers tell a bigger story than what happens during one morning at the Garden.
The race may last a couple of hours, but the money raised continues working long after the course is cleared and the runners have gone home.
For a nonprofit, finding a way to build community while also raising money for the work it exists to do matters.
Money raised comes through race registrations, sponsorships from Fayetteville-area businesses and direct donations to FOCA. The race website says the scholarship fund awards merit- and need-based scholarships to spouses and children.
For FOCA, one of the ways that support continues to grow is through the Around the World Run.
“We’ve done a run for so many years, and that is probably one of our highest revenues,” Sirvas said.
The people who can help support those scholarships are not limited to the military community.
“Everybody can run,” Sirvas said.
That accessibility is one reason the event is held at Cape Fear Botanical Garden rather than on Fort Bragg. Sirvas said hosting the race at the Garden makes it easier for the broader community to connect with the organization and the families it serves.
Race morning reflects that open-door approach.
The in-person 5K is timed, with chip timing available. The route begins at Cape Fear Botanical Garden and uses a mix of road, Cross Creek Linear Park Trail and Cape Fear River Trail. Sirvas described the atmosphere as informal, with a wide range of participants and an event that generally moves from setup through completion within a couple of hours.
“It’s just a lot of fun to run,” he said.
Behind that fun, though, is a lot of work.
Sirvas participates virtually, but on the morning of the live race, he is usually helping make the event happen. He and other board members may be stationed at turnaround points, helping with water, checking the course or stepping into whatever role is needed behind the scenes.
It takes people on the course and people behind it.
The runners and walkers bring the energy. The board members and volunteers help create the experience. Together, they help move the fundraising forward.
The live 5K begins at 8 a.m. Sept. 26 at Cape Fear Botanical Garden. The current in-person registration fee is $45 and increases to $50 beginning Sept. 25. Virtual 5K and 10K options are $40, with virtual registration closing Sept. 23. Registration for the live race remains open through the 8 a.m. start. Racers can register at https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Fayetteville/AroundtheWorldRun
A runner may leave Sept. 26 with a finish time and the satisfaction of completing the course.
Somewhere beyond race day, a Civil Affairs spouse or child may move closer to an educational goal because a community showed up, registered, donated and kept the scholarship fund moving.
That is where the Around the World Run goes farther than the finish line.
(Photo: Participants in the Friends of Civil Affairs Around The World Run in 2024 near the finish line at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. The run is a fundraiser for scholarships to help out Civil Affairs families, and is a part of the International Folk Festival held in downtown Fayetteville. Photo courtesy of Friends of Civil Affairs)
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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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