WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- A nonprofit celebrating 40 years of service to the community is working to get more people vaccinated.


What You Need To Know

  • Urban Ministries of Wake County is celebrating 40 years of service in the community

  • The organization is offereing COVID-19 vaccines at the Open Door Clinic

  • With the Delta variant spreading, Urban Ministries is reintroducing COVID-19 testing

Urban Ministries of Wake County has been offering food, shelter and medicine to the community since 1981. The clinic services around 1,500 uninsured adults each year, and the pharmacy fills over 39,000 prescriptions annually.

"We treat our clients as if they're neighbors," said executive director Dr. Peter Morris. "We treat them as if we may be in that same position one day with them."

In partnership with NeighborHealth Center, Urban Ministries is offering vaccinations on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. With the Delta variant spreading, Dr. Morris says they are reintroducing COVID testing on Fridays from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Morris says the 40 years of service has helped them build relationships.

"We're developing a trust between ourselves and our neighbors in need," said Morris. "So that when we offer an immunization clinic and when people come, they're overcoming the hesitancy that comes from years and years of mistrust from individuals who have treated them poorly."

With the pandemic hitting North Carolina for over a year and a half, Morris says he has seen need grow.

"If you don't like what we do, don't give to us. Give to someone," said Morris. "Give to a nonprofit who you respect. Call me and I'll tell you who to give to if you have a cause that you're particularly enamored with, but give. Because there are neighbors who are in need worse during this pandemic and the pandemic isn't over."