Connecting with her community is something that comes easy to JéWana Grier-McEachin. She is a community health worker at heart and so are all the employees and volunteers at the Asheville Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement (ABIPA) where she serves as executive director. Everyone at ABIPA is devoted to bridging the gap between their community and health and social services.
Since 2006, Helping Inspire Gifts of Hope, Trust, and Service (HIGHTS) has been providing at-risk youth the possibility of a new future. Often entering the program during their most challenging times, these young adults encounter a supportive community of caring adults, all ready to assist in any way possible.
Volunteering and community service are often driven by a passion for connecting with and helping others. Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) embodies this spirit by transforming the concept of service into a well-established organization that creates lasting relationships with those they help. ABCCM is a coalition of non-denominational churches with a volunteer base of over 300 people…
Churches are often the first to identify a community need, as was the case with Trinity Presbyterian Church in Henderson County. In 1988, members identified a pressing need in their community: a lack of safe housing for families. Responding to this need, volunteers started addressing minor home repairs for families facing financial constraints.
Like many rural community organizations, Haywood Christian Ministry (HCM) was founded to prevent friends and neighbors from falling through the safety net. Over the past 50 years, the faith-based organization has evolved from a volunteer crisis line to one of Haywood County’s largest nonprofits offering food, clothing, and housing assistance for those in crisis.
As a secondary math and science teacher in Graham County, Misty Shope has helped a lot of students learn critical life skills. But over the past 21 years, her students have taught her a thing or two as well. Like how difficult it is to learn when you don’t have enough food to eat. Or why you must miss school when you are waiting for your hand-washed clothes to dry.
Sonya Jones has never been one to pass up an opportunity. In fact, it was an important skill for someone who, growing up, experienced hunger in a community known for its fertile farmland. But Sonya’s wasn’t the only family struggling to make ends meet. Approximately 20% of adults in Western North Carolina are food insecure.
Many of us can say that our parent or grandparent was our first teacher. They were also likely our first caregiver, cook, driver, activity coordinator, and playmate. Those are a lot of responsibilities. And each one draws on a different set of skills and resources, which is why the Children & Family Resource Center (CFRC) was founded more than 25 years ago in Henderson County.
Many of us would be excited to discover a box of chocolates, but this was not the case when Chasity Poteat Rice discovered large quantities of them during a visit to a food pantry when she was director of Burke County United Way. Her first reaction was to get angry; her community needed access to healthy food, not candy. But she quickly realized that the pantry was simply sharing what had been donated—chocolate and lots of it.
It has been said that recovery is hard work. This is especially true for those recovering from mental health and/or addiction challenges. For these individuals, success often depends on being able to access both medical treatment and a robust array of social supports.
