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Friends of Laurel Park gift covers repair of historic wall

Hendersonville Life

Metal detector seeks owner of gold wedding ring

Metal detecting hobbyist Denny Foresman hopes a groom out there somewhere will retrieve a wedding ring that he found at a soccer field at Sandhill-Venable Elementary School in Asheville.   Read Story »

Henderson County Life

Author on philanthropy keynotes MLK Unity Breakfast

Valaida Fullwood, author of the award-winning author of Giving Back: A Tribute to Generations of African American Philanthropists, will be the keynote speaker at the 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 15, at the Blue Ridge Conference Hall at BRCC.A North Carolina native and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fullwood received the prestigious McAdam Book Award, which recognizes “the most inspirational and useful new book for the non-profit sector.” Fullwood will have limited copies of her book available for purchase at the event and will autograph copies. Giving Back is $36.50. Breakfast will begin at 8 a.m. with the program directly following at 9 a.m. Though a ticketed event, the Unity Breakfast is open to the public. Tickets are required and can be purchased at the door or at Community Foundation of Henderson County, 401 North Main Street, Suite 300. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 5-12. For information call 828-697-6224.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Life

Holiday skating returns this week for second year

Holiday skating returns to downtown Hendersonville on Tuesday and continues through New Year’s Day.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Life

LIGHTNING REVIEW: Playhouse show channels meaning of Christmas

In 1857 lithographer Nathaniel Currier offered his accountant, James Ives, a partnership in his printmaking business. With their simple, hand-colored lithographs of Victorian Christmas scenes, Currier and Ives soon became the keeper of the Christmas tradition for many Americans.   Read Story »

Henderson County Life

Special needs vendors to sell crafts Saturday

More than 35 special needs children and adults from Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina will display and sell their crafts at a special expo from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Henderson County Athletics & Activity Center, 708 S. Grove St. The event is being coordinated by Special Needs Sports of WNC in an effort to let the athletes (and others who may not be athletes) show off their talents to the community and raise some extra funds during the holidays. There is no charge to display or to attend, and organizers hope for a great turnout to support the special needs population. “We’re still getting calls from people every day wanting to participate, even people who have never participated in our sports league, and we won’t turn anyone away, even on the day of the event,” said Donnie Jones, executive director of Special Needs Sports. “Now we need the community to come out and do their holiday shopping with us.” Items for sale include artwork, crafts, lotions, baked goods, soaps, decorations, signs and more. Everything has been handmade by the “vendor” and the event is not intended to be a fundraiser for the organization. Proceeds from the sales will be kept by each seller. The event is co-sponsored by Four Seasons Rotary Club, which supports Special Needs Sports through financial and in-kind donations, as well as Henderson County Parks and Recreation Department, which is donating the space. “We’re excited to help promote and support this event for our special needs athletes,” said Tiffany Ervin, past president of the Four Seasons Rotary Club. “Several of the kids would bring their artwork to the baseball games this summer to show it off, and we wanted a way to spotlight their talents to others. Baseball season ended in October, and we won’t start basketball until January, so this is a great way to keep them active during the ‘off-season’ and help them make a little extra spending money at the same time."   Read Story »

Flat Rock Life

Leaders pitch Mud Creek greenway to replace Kanuga bike lanes

Elected leaders negotiating a scaled-back widening project on Kanuga Road have endorsed a separate greenway along Mud Creek to replace bike lanes they want scratched from the road project. Henderson County Commissioner Bill Lapsley, Hendersonville City Council member Steve Caraker and Flat Rock Village Council member John Dockendorf said in interviews last week that the three of them pitched the idea during a meeting last month with NCDOT Division 14 Engineer Brian Burch, the top-ranking state transportation official for the 10 western-most counties. During the meeting, Lapsley, Caraker and Dockendorf came up with a compromise idea of running a separate greenway along a city sewer line easement that follows Mud Creek. Mud Creek runs from Jackson Park, under South Main Street and White Street and behind the new Publix site on Greenville Highway (where the city owns a piece of property). The creek crosses Erkwood near Kanuga, runs along the bottom of the Crooked Creek and English Hills subdivisions and crosses Little River Road near Berea Church Road. “Hopefully the county will approve a feasibility study that will show that we’re not completely throwing the bike-ped community under the bus,” Dockendorf said. “I’m hoping this is an elegant compromise and not an ugly compromise.” On Monday night, commissioners did just that, after Lapsley described the meeting with Burch and urged his colleagues to endorse the greenway study. “From my standpoint, I’m not an ardent bicycle rider but I understand there are a lot of folks that are,” Lapsley said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to mix bicycle transportation and pedestrian transportation in close proximity to vehicles. I think that’s a disaster waiting to happen. If you have sidewalks, get them as far from the roadway as you can. If you have bicycles get ‘em as far away from the vehicle as you can. In that case what do you do? Greenways.” County planners estimated a study of a mile-long corridor from the Publix site to Erkwood Drive wold cost $50,000. The county plans to apply for a $40,000 NCDOT grant. Henderson County could match put up the required 20 percent match of $10,000, although commissioners asked whether the city of Hendersonville might participate in some way in the project. Caraker is scheduled to talk about the negotiations with the NCDOT to trim the Kanuga widening project and also the Mud Creek greenway idea. Although the three elected leaders said they talked only in general terms about the path, all left the meeting in support of the idea and got a tentative buy-in from Burch. When they asked whether the NCDOT could fund the greenway as part of the Kanuga widening project, Burch said no; it would be a separate project. That could be significant because bike lanes would come out of the NCDOT highway funds; the state agency's funding of separate greenways generally require a 20 percent local match. “We’ve got to get it funded the same we’ve been doing with the Oklawaha Greenway and other projects,” Laplsey said. “He said, ‘I don’t think DOT would have any objection to that.’” Caraker credited Lapsley with the idea. From his background as a civil engineer, Lapsley knew about the sewer easement running south along Mud Creek. “So he suggested we put a walking path on top to offer a consolation prize to those folks that were disappointed with losing a bike path on Kanuga,” Caraker said. Lapsley then suggested the county take the lead to apply for a grant for a feasibility study. The process has to be fast-tracked because applications for that pot of greenway money need to be submitted by Dec. 31. After Henderson County applies for the grant, the proposal would go next to the French Broad MPO, the regional planning agency that prioritizes road improvement projects. “We’re not committed to building it,” Lapsley said. “We’re committing to have a study done and a year from now if it all makes sense we could apply for funding to build it.” Lapsley, Caraker and Dockendorf all serve on the county Transportation Advisory Committee. On that board and on their own elected positions they have heard months of protest from residents opposed to the $20 million Kanuga project from Church Street to Little River Road that would expand the road to as wide as 64 feet. From from Hebron Road to Erkwood Road, initial plans showed a 5-foot sidewalk, a 4-foot bike lane and 11-foot center turn lane. The Hendersonville Lightning reported two weeks ago that Burch had agreed to the elected leaders’ appeals to shrink the widening footprint by eliminating bike lanes. Another potential compromise, Laplsey said last week, is a “valley curb” instead of traditional curb and gutter. “It’s flat and it has a V in it and a car can actually drive through it,” he said. “So what happens is that in effect it replaces the drainage ditch so now you’ve eliminated a traffic hazard. It provides drainage capability of the ditch but it also provides additional width for the road.” Although a valley curb would not replace bike lanes, it would give riders more room if they choose to use Kanuga. “You’ve in effect given the bike rider 4 to 5 feet more width than he has today to ride and the car can ease around him,” Laplsey said. On behalf of the city, Caraker suggested that a greenway could pass through city-owned property behind the Publix site and then follow the city sewer easement along Mud Creek. “If the Ecusta Trail ever got built that ends up near Ecusta trail,” Caraker said. That led to talk of a larger plan that would extend a Mud Creek greenway from the White Street-Greenville Highway area to Jackson Park. Separately, in yet another big transportation project in the pipeline, the NCDOT has plans to redo the entire Greenville Highway-Spartanburg Highway intersection. A Mud Creek greenway should be part of that discussion, Lapsley said. “I think now is the time to do it,” he said. The feasibility study should add the Jackson Park link so local officials and engineers can “figure out how we could pass a greenway through that whole area.” The elected leaders cautioned that the study itself is only a first step and that many hurdles remain, including private property concerns and funding. “In the perfect world we’d be able to connect Flat Rock and Estate Drive and Gracewood and English Hills and Crooked Creek and a lot of the other residents and come out at the Chadwick corner,” Dockendorf said. “It would be a nice transportation corridor. It wouldn’t keep the mopeds off Kanuga but it would give biking and pedestrian access to a lot of people without taking a lot of front lawns and stone walls on Kanuga.”   Read Story »

Saluda Life

Saluda depot receives $20,000 grant to support 'Train Tales'

The Saluda Historic Depot has been awarded a $20,000 incentive grant from the Polk County Community Foundation to support the depot’s mission in 2018. “Having met the requirements for the 2017 PCCF grant, we are excited to announce that the Foundation trusts our hard work and has awarded us another incentive grant for 2018," Judy Ward, chair of the Saluda Historic Depot board, said in a news release. "This grant will make it possible for us to continue the growth in operations of the Saluda Historic Depot and museum. This support by PCCF hallmarks the importance of the depot to the Saluda community, its heritage, and as a tourist destination." "Grants like this one from the Polk County Community Foundation along with individual donations, sponsorships, and fundraisers is key to helping us reach our financial goals,” added treasurer Bruce Hunt. “Saluda Train Tales has grown in popularity and we are pleased that the Polk County Community Foundation will be the sponsor for this monthly event,” says Mary Meyland Mason, secretary of the board. The grant will be used for administrative expenses and specifically a new security system, lighting, video recording of Saluda Train Tales and other improvements. The Saluda depot sits on historic Main Street at the crest of the steepest mainline standard gauge railroad in the United States, and is a contributing structure on the National Register of Historic Places in the listing for the Saluda Main Street Historic District. A group of citizens formed a 501(c)3 non-profit and purchased the building in June 2016, and has created a railroad and heritage museum to celebrate and memorialize the town’s railroad history and its beginnings. The museum is open 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-4 p.m. Sunday. It features seasonal exhibits, Saluda Grade “O Grade” Diorama and “G Grade” train dioramas of the different railroad eras in Saluda. There are also running videos of trains that came up the Saluda Grade and a gift station. Admission is free and voluntary donations are always appreciated. The Saluda Historic Depot is located at 32 W Main Street, Saluda, NC 28773. For more information, please contact Judy Ward at 828-674-5958 orjudyward@charter.net or Cathy Jackson at 828-817-2876 or cathy@saludalifestyles.com.   Read Story »

Henderson County Life

Season of Giving: Retiring later, boomers are getting around to donating

For causes they are passionate about, baby boomers in Henderson County are generous not only with their time but also with their money, to the extent their pocketbook allows. “Boomers – that’s what carried us,” said Jeff Miller, remembering back to 2006 when he founded Blue Ridge Honor Flight. The flights to Washington, D.C. honored the Greatest Generation – veterans of World War II – but it was their boomer-aged children and friends who donated the money to make it happen. Either “they have a passion” for helping veterans, Miller said, or they are military veterans themselves. “They very often merge. It’s a commitment to honor those that did serve in the military.” Most of the money raised for the first flight “came from individuals and families in the baby boomer generation. Lots of checks” and cash in small amounts, Miller said. “We raised $133,000 in the first six weeks of forming Honor Flight – none of it was corporate money. You can sponsor a vet for $300.” “Boomers have always been a very generous generation,” Miller said. “They always figure out a way to give a little bit.” Between the years 1946 and 1964, 76 million babies were born, creating the population surge that has had a major impact on society, the economy and culture. In Henderson County, more than 40 percent of the population is boomer age. And while the leading edge of boomers has turned 71 and have passed what is considered the common retirement age in the United States – 67 – many are still working, part-time if not fulltime. In a presentation to the Association of Fundraising Professionals of WNC this fall, First Citizens Wealth Management noted that in 2005, there were more than 80 million boomers in the workforce. If they had plans to retire by 65, those plans changed in 2007 with the Great Recession. In 2011, an Associated Press survey showed that more than 60 percent of boomers lost value in investments because of the economic crisis, 42 percent had decided to delay retirement and 25 percent thought they would never retire. “They have a very different income stream than our parents,” said Kimerly Hinkelman, executive director of the Pardee Hospital Foundation. “Boomers are more cautious. There is uncertainty with Social Security and Medicare. There are no givens. How to outlive their expenses is their biggest worry. Boomers moved around a lot in jobs and there are no pensions. The financial resources that they have to give charitably are quite different. They are not in a position at age 65 or 55 to be making large charitable donations.” But that doesn’t mean boomers are stingy. “Our donors are baby boomer and older,” said Lutrelle O’Cain, executive director of the Blue Ridge Humane Society. “It’s across the board in donations. They are very consistent donors. (Some) have been giving $20 a month for years. And then there are large one-time gifts that come out of the blue.” “I am consistently amazed at the generosity of people – their extreme generosity, not the size of the gift,” O’Cain said. “We get the sweetest, most caring notes from people. Lots of times the gifts are anonymous … Every single penny adds up. This is a very generous community, from the corporate side, too.” She said greatest number of donations comes in to the Humane Society in the last two months of the year, which has helped the agency meet its budget every year. This year’s budget is $1.160 million, she said. She also noted the effect of a better economy – more adoptions. This year the Humane Society has had 1,200 successful adoptions – 100 more than in 2016, she said. Cultivating relationships with donors is crucial, nonprofit leaders know, and they develop those relationships through special events, volunteer opportunities and delivering on their mission. Alice and Bob Betts began donating to the Park Ridge Health Foundation several years ago because of their personal experience with the hospital. “Park Ridge Hospital is a special place,” Alice said. “They were so, so kind” to family members who were patients. “Park Ridge has always been there when we needed them. Its deeply religious beliefs and practices are not what you find in many hospitals.” Park Ridge is one of 45 hospitals in the Adventist Health System, one of the largest, not-for-profit Protestant health care systems in the country. The donations that she and Bob have made to the hospital’s foundation reflect their appreciation of the hospital’s caring medical staff and its focus on all her family’s needs. “Park Ridge Hospital is an exceptional hospital for this community,” she said. United Way of Henderson County finds that “many of the younger boomers are still working and still choose to give to United Way through payroll deduction if their workplace offers that opportunity,” said Denise Cumbee Long, executive director. “Retired boomers tend to make one-time gifts on an annual basis, and some contribute stock or solicit matching funds from their former companies. We focus on retaining our boomer donors after they retire and keeping them engaged as contributors and volunteers.” “Many boomers are not only generous but also want to know their contributions are being used wisely and well, so they appreciate our model of careful vetting of the programs and partner agencies that receive United Way support,” she said. “Some also tell us they like the option to designate to community causes that are particularly close to their hearts. We find boomers to be thoughtful and strategic about their philanthropy.” “Many of our leadership donors ($1,000 or more annually) fit in the Baby boomer and the older retiree generations. Our leadership donors contribute over $522,000 each year to United Way and their donations make up about one-third of our total campaign revenue,” Long said. In 2016, United Way raised $1.46 million that it distributed into the community, including funding grants to 39 community service programs. How to honor donors is a challenge for nonprofits. “Recognition? They don’t necessarily want that,” said Sherri Holbert, director of the Park Ridge Health Foundation. “It’s just about generosity and giving. They don’t want us to spend a ton on recognition. But we want to be good stewards and we feel that they must be thanked for their generosity.” “They want to know … how they can make an impact,” she said. “They want to feel valued and good. They want to feel like they make a difference.”     Read Story »

Flat Rock Life

LIGHTNING REVIEW: 'Little Shop' is big fun at Playhouse

It’s a plant-eat-human world out there and love might be the only thing to save us. Or not. One thing’s for sure, there is not one of us immune from the temptation to do about anything to impress our crush. Will it be homicide or herbicide? That is Seymour Krelborn’s burning question.   Read Story »

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