DURHAM, N.C. — One in five families in North Carolina struggled to feed their families and pay for their homes during the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Since the pandemic, many families have continued to struggle to pay for food, homes and mental health services

  • The Exchange Family Center is working to support families with parental counseling, mental health support and financial aid

  • Last week’s pickleball fundraiser is helping them expand and support their program

A study from the Casey Foundation, a research company that provides solutions to help strengthen families, showed 16% of households didn’t have health insurance, and 21% of parents were struggling with mental health. In the years that have followed the pandemic, many organizations have begun fighting to improve these issues.

One of those organizations, The Exchange Family Center of Durham, hosted a pickleball tournament fundraiser to support their mission.

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in America. People who play it love it for the exercise, competition and community. That makes it a great way to get people to support a great cause. The Exchange Family Center supports parents as they raise their kids, helping families with parental counseling, mental health support and financial aid.

“Parenting is really hard,” said executive director Leah Santibanez. “Raising a human being is a really difficult and important task, and all of us need help doing that at some point.”

Santibanez has been with the organization for 11 years. She said she’s seen a lot of changes since the pandemic.

“Working with parents to help support their kids is always been my passion,” Santibanez said. “The just the level of family's needs have really escalated in the last couple of years.”

During the pandemic, kids were at home, school was virtual, parents struggled financially and there was very little community connection. Santibanez said The Exchange is trying to create that network.

“When parents are able to talk to other parents that have children around the same age or who have been through the same thing,” Santibanez said. “That's so important for them to feel confident and capable of doing this really, really hard job of being a parent every day … A fundraiser like this? Every little bit supports the work that we do.”

The Exchange Family Center is hosting another fundraising event in the fall season. “Return to Play” will be an adults-only casino and virtual reality game night. You can register for the event on its website. 

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the next fundraising event will be held during the fall season.