Nucor donates to Darlington County Free Medical Clinic
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
A generous $100,000 donation from Nucor Darlington last week will ensure that many patients of the Darlington County Free Medical Clinic continue to receive care.
“It’s incredible, the effort and expense they are willing to support so they can give the funds to the community. That’s literally their goal, to help the patients,” said Kathy Baxley-Hancock, director of the Free Medical Clinic. “Their drive has so much to do with the integrity and the character of the people that work here at Nucor, and the belief they have in what we’re doing.”
For sixteen years, the Free Medical Clinic has provided medical care and prescription drugs to needy patients who otherwise might go without. In 2015, the Clinic provided over 900 patient/physician visits and 579 specialist referrals, and their pharmacy provided 7,075 new prescriptions.
Ian Deeks, day supervisor at Nucor, said the company’s annual donation to the Free Medical Clinic – a tradition dating back more than a decade – started with more modest fundraiser proceeds of about $3,800 in the first year, but the company’s commitment to building their May charity event has paid off with strong participation from employees and vendors, even during an less-than-stellar year for the steel industry.
Nucor’s fundraising effort added a bit more fun this year. In addition to the annual employee/vendor dinner, silent auction, and golf tournaments, they staged a sporting clay shoot at Moree’s Sportsmans Preserve that proved so popular and entertaining that it will likely become a regular part of the spring charity drive weekend. The 2016 event took place May 24 and 25, with the golf tournaments staged at The Palms and The Traces in Florence.
“We had about 64 people participate in (the sporting clay shoot)… and about 168 people in both golf tournaments, so we filled up both courses. We’re out there having fun, but the end result is we raise some money,” said Deeks. “And the steel market is looking better for Nucor, so we’re hoping that next year we can raise the bar even more.”
Nucor employee volunteers at this year’s events included Jacob Adelman, Dale Anderson, Wade Baker, Edwards Barrett, Melissa Bonnoitt, Eddie Cotten, Terry Diggs, Tad Driggers, Grant Etheredge, Ray Evans, Stacy Evans, Kelly Fedewa, Rudy Gainey, Cindy Graham, Billy Grant, Ryan Green, Angela Hamilton, Rachael Harding, Jackie Helms, Heather Huggins, Brent Jernigan, Ronnie Johnson, Tammy Kelly, James Kizziar, Robert Nesselrode, Brantley Norris, Mary Odom, Andrew Schless, Prather Silverthorn, Wanda Springs, Zachary Stroman, Mary Wiggins, Paul Woodham, and Rick Young.
The Free Medical Clinic of Darlington County has clinical facilities in Darlington at 203 Grove Street, and in Hartsville at 500 West Carolina Avenue. For more information, call 843-398-0060 in Darlington and 843-332-0422 in Hartsville.
