CUE Center for Missing Persons marks 32 years of helping families

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons is marking 32 years of helping families search for missing loved ones.

On Saturday, the nonprofit held a community event to raise awareness of missing-person and unsolved homicide cases while celebrating more than three decades of service.

The event featured food, music, vendors and activities for children.

CUE founder Monica Caison said the organization had already raised more than $4,000 before the event officially got underway.

“All the money we raise in any event that our organization does, we raise for the search,” Caison said. “We don’t raise for a particular case. We raise it for the search. We have no paid employees. So, all of our money goes straight to the victim on the ground, whether it be billboards, reward money, receive reward money.”

One of the families CUE has supported in recent years is the family of Ebonee Spears, who has been missing for a decade.

Ebonee’s mother, Harriet Rivers, said she is grateful for the work CUE continues to do and hopes answers will eventually come.

Rivers remembers her daughter as someone who was always smiling, energetic and full of life.

“Always smiling,” Rivers said. “Always energetic, on the go. Just a love for life.”

If you would like to donate, or learn more about the organization, you can head to their website here.