July 10, 2026
BY JOHN BAILEY
Olivia Millsaps was one big smile when she talked about her 3-year-old son’s reaction to the new playground at Family Care Center in Hickory.
“He will run from the apartment all the way down there. He loves it,” she said. “It’s someplace our children (two boys) can run off that energy. They didn’t have to stop being kids.”
Family Care Center serves homeless families with dependent children through an emergency and residential housing program. The agency offers physical, emotional, social and educational services to assist families in the transition to becoming self-sufficient.
To help support this mission, Family Care Center recently applied for and received a $1,000 grant through the Catawba County Youth Council’s annual Community Investment Cycle, in partnership with United Way of Catawba County. The Council’s goal every year is to support programs that have a lasting impact on local youth.
The new playground is part of an expansion of services at Family Care Center that includes six new apartments. Currently, there are 14 families at the Center with space for a total of 22. According to the NC Balance of State Continuum of Care Point in Time homeless count, there were 32 families with children facing homelessness in Catawba County in 2025, meaning they lived in a shelter, transitional housing or were unhoused.
“Our goal is to do what we can to help kids remain kids,” Family Care Center Executive Director Rachel Heck said.
Families experiencing homelessness often face daily logistical and financial barriers that make something as simple as going to a playground difficult, Heck said in the agency’s Youth Council grant application. For these children the absence of stable housing often means extremely limited access to safe outdoor play and social interaction.
“But we could not do what we do without the power of community,” Heck said.
Along with the Youth Council’s grant, Truist Bank stepped up as another partner and the major funding source. Truist also provided more than 100 volunteers to help build the playground which includes six new picnic tables (kid friendly), a new swing/slide set with a mini climbing wall along with an additional climbing structure.
They also took the time to help paint some of the apartments, trimmed bushes and put mulch down, Heck said.
For Family Care Center staff, these efforts are about more than just a playground. It’s about providing a sense of normalcy as they help families in crisis transition back into a stable home life.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do and this place has given us a second chance to figure that out,” Millsaps said. “Life hits you in different ways and you don’t think it’s going to be you until it happens to you.”
Millsaps had been a stay-at-home mom for three years by choice. Her oldest son started having seizures at 8 days old. Because of this, she didn’t want to send him to daycare. Eventually, his seizures stopped but Millsaps decided to continue staying at home to be with her children since anything she made would simply pay for daycare.
Then her husband got laid off from his job and the expenses started to build up until they faced eviction from their home. That’s when they connected with Family Care Center and found the resources needed to start rebuilding their lives.
“I thought I failed as a mother, but God’s blessed us by sending us here,” Millsaps said. “My son is nothing but joyful. He thinks of this place as his home now.”
Heck hopes in 20 years that's exactly how Olivia’s sons will remember Family Care Center, as a fun, safe place to live.
“They’re not going to remember the hardships. They’re not going to know it’s a homeless shelter. It’s just going to be a happy memory from their childhood,” she said.
Learn more about the United Way's other community outreach projects and partners at THIS LINK.
In the Photo, from left: Olivia Millsaps and Family Care Center Executive Director Rachel Heck at the agency’s new playground. John Bailey/Catawba County United Way