News

Southmountain Estates Participates in Dragon Boat Festival!

On Saturday October 13, the Southmountain Scavenger Beetles took part in the Annual Lake James Dragon Boat Festival!  This mighty team of 22 children, parents and staff of Southmountain Estates was chosen to be the Grant Team recipient from Walmart to participate in this great race.  The Healing Dragons of Lake James team guided the Scav…

Gingerbread House - Burke CAC - Celebrates its' 20th Anniversary

Southmountain Receives Grant for Southmountain Estates

Southmountain Children and Family Services is the proud recipient of a quite generous grant of $7,600 from the Camp Lake James Stewardship Fund and the Community Foundation of Burke County.  The grant will be used to make improvements to the homes at Southmountain’s Foster Community.  Two homes will receive new kitchen countertops …

Lake Hickory Adventures

On September 8, 2018, Chad and Lisa Burel, owners of Lake Hickory Adventures, along with their friends from Mountain View Baptist Church treated 13 of our children along with the Southmountain Children and Family Services’ Recreation Department staff to a fun-filled day on Lake Hickory. Our kids had a blast riding in their speed boat; tubing…

A New School Year Is Upon Us!

To the excitement of some children and the disappointment of others, regardless of how we feel about it--a new school year is now upon us!  This year, Southmountain has 37 children enrolled in Burke County Public Schools.   Twenty of our children are attending Glen Alpine Elementary, 9 students are attending Table Rock Middle School…

Back to School Picnic

Every year, prior to the beginning of a new school year, Southmountain Children and Family Services hosts a back to school picnic for our children, parents, staff, and school teachers and principals.  This year, we welcomed a great turnout from the schools, and it was a perfect opportunity for our children and their teachers to meet prior to …

Summer Adventure for Southmountain!

The children and staff of the Foster Community have had a very exciting summer. They spent the first summer outing zip lining on the Beanstalk Journey course, thanks to the generosity of Mike Fischesser and our generous host Jo Alberts.  For the next trip, they went to Hidden Creek Park, where they rode the water slide, swam in the pool, cano…

Southmountain agency grows again to establish better advocacy in the Toe River area

We are so pleased that Kayla Norville has recently joined our agency family in July as the Carolina Girl that has risen to shine.  Born and raised in Mount Airy, “Mayberry”, she is the first in her biological family to complete an undergraduate college degree.  It was during her Lenoir-Rhyne University internship experience with Catawba DSS that…

Catholic Heart Work Camp Helps Southmountain!

In mid-July, volunteers from Catholic Heart Work Camp arrived at Southmountain Estates for the third year in a row, to lend a hand. About 200 children and adult leaders from Catholic Heart Work Camp volunteered in Morganton that week, helping at a variety of organizations. Seventeen children and 3 adults worked for four days at Southmountain Estat…

Southmountain Receives Unifour Foundation Grant

Southmountain Children and Family Services would like to thank the Unifour Foundation for a recent grant of $3,800.  The Unifour Foundation is administered through the North Carolina Community Foundation, and this grant will be the third received from this Foundation.  The grant will be used for renovations to group homes at the Foster C…

Camp Lake James Hosts 2nd Annual School’s Out Celebration!

On June 8, 2018, the members and staff of Camp Lake James hosted the 2nd Annual School's Out Celebration for Southmountain’s Foster Community.  The event was held at Camp Lake James and about 60 children, parents, and staff from Southmountain Estate’s attended the event.  A buffet lunch was served for the children, while the foster parents enjoyed…

BYOP Awards Grant for Foster Community

The Burke Youth Organized Philanthropists, or BYOP recently awarded a grant to Southmountain Children and Family Services on behalf of the Foster Community.  The $1,000 grant will be used to purchase bicycles and roller skates for our children.  BYOP is made up of high school students who are focused on developing philanthropy skills as …

Shop Amazon!

To Support Southmountain Children and Family Services Southmountain Children and Family Services is now participating in the Amazon Smile Foundation program! You can support Southmountain by shopping at Amazon Smile! Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Southmountain Children and Family Services. How it wo…

Southmountain Staff Present at Local Forum

Five staff from Southmountain Children and Family Services contributed to the State of the Child/State of the Community Forum held in Boone, NC on April 17, 2018.  These staff gave three presentations including “Trauma-Informed Advocacy for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents” by Dr. Holli Sink; a presentation entitled “PTSD and Caring for Traum…

New Children’s Advocacy Center to Open This Summer!

Southmountain Children and Family Services will soon be expanding services and opening a new Children’s Advocacy Center!  Southmountain’s fifth Children’s Advocacy Center will be located in Brevard, provide services to Transylvania County, and is scheduled to open late Summer in 2018.  Southmountain will be further expa…

Welcome New Staff!

Over the past several months, Southmountain Children and Family Services has hired several new staff. New Clinicians at the Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) include Robin Todd-Hall at the Blue Ridge CAC, and Jennifer Gold who is now working as a Clinician at the Burke CAC. New staff at the Foster Community includes Alexandra Yancey, who is …