Our Mission & Purpose
To promote holistic well-being, community engagement, and self-reliance in rural communities. Our purpose is to educate, inspire, advocate, consult, counsel, and increase awareness in support of a better way of life.
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"Turning Shackles into Armor"
Open Tuesdays - Thursdays 10am - 3pm
224 W. College Street, Suite B., Warsaw, NC 28398
(833) 2RU-FREE (833-278-3733) or (910) 226-8138
Shackle Free is your community information and resource navigation hub.
Please donate today! We are always in need of canned food, nonperishable items, maternal/baby items, hygiene, and items for seniors and those living with disabilities.
Cash App: $ShackleFreeInc
WE ARE YOUR COMMUNITY VACCINE/PPE RESOURCE HUB!
Shackle Free is registered with DHHS as your community vaccine/PPE resource hub!
Need a FREE at-home test kit, masks, or PPE supplies? Stop by our office located at 224 W. College Street, Warsaw, NC Tuesdays - Thursdays from 11:00 and 3:00 p.m.
Need to locate a provider in your area?
Click below for more information on COVID-19, Flu, and other respiratory illnesses.
Shackle Free in national news....
Shackle Free Founder/CEO receives White House mention at ARPA Summit: Dr. Somava Saha - Director of Communities RISE Together, an initiative facilitated by the Public Health Institute and WE in the World joins the White House Workforce Development Summit, June 2022, to discuss the Communities RISE Together Initiative. At 4:00 of this playback, Dr. Saha mentions the work of Founder/CEO Chiquitta W. Lesene and The Shackle Free Buzz Initiative, a state-of-the-art communications tool, utilizing trusted barber/beauty institutions as community resource centers in rural communities in Eastern North Carolina. To date, Shackle Free has guided one hundred and one (101) Community Health Ambassadors through Duke Cancer Institute's Office of Equity & Community Engagement to be certified in cancer and diabetes, with more than half of those CHA's being barber and beauty professionals, trusted messengers naturally delivering resources from behind their chair. Congratulations Team Free, it is just the beginning!
What's all THE BUZZ about?
Welcome to "The Buzz," a groundbreaking initiative that transforms community barber and beauty institutions into vital hubs for discussing personal and public issues. Inspired by the GoodDaddies Fatherhood Initiative, we aim to enhance access to support families in rural areas by leveraging these trusted spaces. With over one hundred certified Community Health Ambassadors from the Duke Cancer Institute Office of Health Equity, we are leading the way in raising awareness about health issues like cancer and diabetes. Join us as we empower communities with meaningful conversations and essential resources.
Join us in our mission to enhance health and wellness across our communities! Our Community Health Ambassadors (CHAs) represent diverse regions including Duplin, Onslow, Pender, Sampson, Cumberland, Wake, and Mecklenburg Counties. With the anticipated challenges in the healthcare industry by 2030, it's crucial for our "trusted messengers" to unite and build community health teams. Click the button below to learn more about becoming a Shackle Free Community Health Ambassador or to partner with us on this meaningful initiative!
Team Free is on campus!
Oh, and did we mention that Free University, FreeU, home of Free the Frog, is coming soon?
Featuring our very own Community Health Ambassador and Digital Champion hybrid learning opportunities. Stay tuned!
Being "digitally comfortable" is no longer an option, but a social determinant of health. However, many still face barriers in access, installation, knowledge, design, and trust. With the emergence of telehealth, smartphone apps, and other digital health technologies to reduce barriers to care, to maintain patient-provider communication, and to promote disease self-management; literacy is key. Nowadays, there are no other options but to use digital devices on our jobs, to increase workforce development, for mobile banking, and other digital needs. We need to know how to efficiently use AI (artificial intelligence), because it's everywhere we go. Shackle Free understands and we are here to help close that digital divide. Coming soon, we will be sharing some important information on our digital champion initiative and what that means for you. Stay tuned.
On Campus Activities...
UPCOMING EVENTS & GALLERY
Click below to stay tuned to our blog and newsletter (coming soon) for information on upcoming events and opportunities available in your community! We suggest that you also download our app and subscribe to our site to check out our new e-newsletter!
In order for us to best serve you, we would like to know what needs to be done. Please complete this short well-being survey to let us know!
CEO Lesene provides ROMA (Results Oriented Management & Accountability) Training to a group of community action professionals in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Shackle Free's Camp Unity Team walks against poverty in the Annual Warsaw Veterans Day Parade.
CEO Lesene provides ROMA (Results Oriented Management & Accountability) Training to a group of community action professionals in Winston-Salem, N.C.
COMMUNITY HEALTH AMBASSADORS ARE VITAL!
A disabled African American male between the ages of 50-65 presented to the Warsaw office requesting assistance. Shackle Free’s Community Health Ambassadors conducted a holistic wellness assessment and determined that his needs were: food, housing, utilities, transportation, clothes/personal hygiene items. Participant stated that his landlord is refusing to make necessary repairs to the home that he is living in and the conditions of the home are inhabitable. He stated that he could see through the floors, rats and other rodents are able to get inside the home, the bathroom was leaking therefore causing an increase in his monthly utility bill. Shackle Free CHA’s assisted the participant in securing safe, affordable housing at a local apartment complex;
provided him with household items, food, clothing, and other basic necessities. Now that he has been given a hand up instead of a hand-out, he can now focus on his health and continue to work with his assigned Shackle Free CHA on the other goals that he has identified in his Success Toolkit! 🙂
A single young mother, who has a child with disabilities, presented to the Warsaw office seeking assistance with food and housing. She stated that she was actively looking for a place to live because she had been living with someone and was at risk of being homeless soon. The participant was able to secure housing ; but did not have the financial means to pay her first months rent and deposit to move in. With help from the holistic assessment and resource navigation provided by Shackle Free Community Outreach Community Health Ambassadors; this participant was able to secure the funds to help with her first month’s rent helping her to break the shackle of homelessness. Shackle Free CHA’s also helped this family connect with an organization closest to her for food, considering that she doesn’t have her own means of transportation. Her assigned CHA continues to help her to reach other goals from her Success Toolkit by providing hope, encouragement, and support to assist her and her child in becoming holistically healthy! With this type of support, this young mother can redirect her focus on setting and reaching her goals and her family’s overall health and wellness.
