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‘Remarkable’ Enloe students are raising $175,000 for health care access. How to help.

A group of Enloe High School students has taken on the mission of improving access to healthcare for Wake County’s many uninsured adults.

The Enloe Charity Ball, an annual event organized by the Raleigh magnet school’s student council, is trying to raise $175,000 by Saturday to support Alliance Medical Ministry. It’s a partnership that the Raleigh nonprofit says will raise the money needed to provide comprehensive medical care to more uninsured adult workers.

“The Enloe Charity Bell is pretty remarkable that students can raise so much money and be so committed and so passionate for an issue that’s a big issue for our community,” Pete Tannenbaum, the executive director of Alliance Medical Ministry, said in an interview. “They’re tackling community problems at the age of 17 and 18, and that’s fantastic.”

The Enloe Charity Ball has become a major local force in the fundraising world. Since the first ball in 2004, the annual event has raised $1.3 million for local nonprofit groups.

Last year’s ball raised $160,000 to support Haven House Services. That nonprofit helps young people who are experiencing homelessness, in a crisis or in trouble at home, school or in the community.

The goal is to present a $175,000 check to Alliance Medical at the 17th Annual Enloe Charity Ball, which will be held Saturday at Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.

Competitive selection process

It’s become a highly competitive process to be picked as the ball’s new annual recipient. Tannenbaum said Alliance Medical applied several times in the past before being chosen this year.

The Enloe Charity Ball received 17 applications this year, as well as letters of interest from other nonprofit groups.

The Enloe students didn’t have to look far for Alliance Medical Ministry, which is only a mile away from the school’s campus in East Raleigh.

“We know plenty of our patients are parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles of students at Enloe,” Tannenbaum said.

Damarion King, vice president of logistics for the Charity Ball team, said Alliance Medical stood out because health care is such an important issue. King said helping the group means they’re also helping their fellow Enloe students have strong, healthy families.

“Their mission aligns with trying to find post-pandemic normalcy,” Adam Burchell, Enloe’s student body president, said in an interview. “They have a lot of equity in their team. It not only reflects the Enloe student body but the Southeast Raleigh community.”

Enloe High School student council member Alex Dick washes greens while volunteering at the Alliance Medical Ministry’s farm outside their clinic in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.
Enloe High School student council member Alex Dick washes greens while volunteering at the Alliance Medical Ministry’s farm outside their clinic in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.

Keeping people healthy

Last fiscal year, Alliance Medical served 2,149 patients — 85% of whom were Hispanic or Black. The majority of their patients have two or more chronic diseases, such as diabetes or pre-diabetes and hypertension.

In addition to providing primary medical care, Alliance Medical offers pastoral care, counseling, mental health services and wellness classes.

“If we can keep people healthy, we can keep them out of the emergency room and we can keep them providing for their families,” Tannenbaum said.

Tannenbaum said the $175,000 from Enloe will be one of their largest gifts of the year. He said it will allow Alliance Medical to expand its services, including offering after-hours care.

The need for expanded services is great, Tannenbaum said, because more than 115,000 adults in Wake County don’t have access to Medicaid or health insurance.

Nora Miller, head of farming and wellness at Alliance Medical Ministry, right, instructs Enloe High School student council members Alice Campbell, Cathy Deng and Destin Tan on what they need to do with the mustard greens Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Enloe students volunteer at the Alliance Medical Ministry’s farm outside their clinic three to four times a week

Health care inequities

In addition to organizing the Charity Ball, Enloe student leaders have spent hundreds of hours volunteering at Alliance Medical. They’ve worked in their clinic, their wellness classes and their community garden.

“I really believe that through service we can uplift and engage the community,” Chloe Johnson, vice president of publicity and communications for the Charity Ball team, said in an interview.

Johnson said working with Alliance Medical has also helped expose the students to inequities in the health care system.

The partnership has also exposed the students to the concept of social determinants of health. It’s defined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes.

For instance, Tannenbaum said so many of their patients have diabetes or pre-diabetes because they live in a food desert where there aren’t healthy food options.

Burchell, the student body president, said students have learned how your ZIP code has a major impact on your life expectancy, especially if you live in a wealthy one.

“If you’re born into a ZIP code with less need of upper mobility, you no longer see that health care is a social determinant,” Burchell said.

How to donate

Go to www.enloecharityball.org/ for more information on the Enloe Charity Ball, including how to donate money and buy tickets. The ball is Dec. 10 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday at Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh.