Women of Waynesville celebrates 10 years

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

In 2011, Nikki White and Michelle Briggs sat on a porch drinking wine, envisioning an organization by women, for the women and children of Waynesville. They conceived of a team of ladies that would assist the organizations and nonprofits on the ground, already doing the work to aid women and children in the community. Ten years later, Women of Waynesville has not only provided massive support to those existing organizations, it has also created its own philanthropy projects.

“It takes a lot of grit, determination and new ideas to create an organization and to see it through for 10 years,” said Executive Officer Katie Vanderpool. “We try to be constantly fluid and flexible; we don’t want to be stagnant. We want to keep supporting new ideas, ventures and projects.”

By its own terms, Women of Waynesville is an edgy and controversial organization committed to supporting the needs of the community. It is the only all women’s organization in Western North Carolina that functions the way it does — lots of wine and women empowerment. It is this “edgy,” inclusive way of serving the community that has brought so many women into the fold of WOW.

“We were invited to go to this fundraiser, the battle of the bands, that WOW was hosting,” said current WOW president Michelle Jacobs, recounting the night she decided to join the organization. “We went and watched this event and I saw all these crazy women running around with drinks in their hands and you could tell they just loved each other, and they loved what they were doing, and they were just cutting up and having a great time. I looked at them and I was like, ‘I have found my people.’”

Katie Vanderpool has been with WOW since the start.

“From the beginning, WOW always took pride in the fact that we were a group of women completely run by volunteer efforts and we supported anything that supported women and children,” said Vanderpool.

Since its inception, the group has supported local nonprofits by fundraising to provide financial support and volunteerism to provide the womanpower necessary to get things done.

“Maybe there was a small nonprofit and they just didn’t have the bodies, boots on the ground to be able to do stuff. WOW would come and provide volunteer help,” said Vanderpool. “Or it might have been a small organization and they just didn’t have the means to do a lot of fundraising, or they were based on grant writing, so we would hold larger, out-of-the-box fundraisers for them and then donate all the proceeds.”

With no operating budget, WOW can donate everything it fundraises. Over the years, WOW has also been able to create its own philanthropy missions, one of which was coined the “stealth mission.”

The stealth mission is intended to provide immediate social or financial assistance to women in need. WOW started this program because through their philanthropic work, they often heard about urgent needs in the community. Assistance provided by governmental and nonprofit organizations can take time, but women and children in dire situations rarely have time to wait.

“With those stealth missions we’re just helping to meet a need,” said Vanderpool. “We would hear about a need in the community, a mom was escaping domestic violence and needed help paying a down payment or deposit on a house, or somebody needed gas to get to a job interview — little things that would normally fall through the cracks. We would put together projects or funds for that situation, where they might not qualify through another partnering agency. Or they needed it within the next couple of days and couldn’t wait to go through the channels to have to fill out paperwork or interviews or other things that sometimes other agencies required.”

One key to making stealth missions work is WOW’s partnerships in the community. Information and understanding about who might need a stealth mission regularly comes from the very nonprofits WOW supports.

Over the years, WOW has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to several local organizations. The Battle of the Bands fundraiser raised $10,000 for Haywood Meals on Wheels. WOW has been a Women Build sponsor and volunteer team for five years and assisted the Ladies Level Up committee that raised $60,000 for a Habitat build that was entirely women-funded. The group is a regular volunteer force and sponsor for Haywood Pathways Center, partaking in its annual Empty Bowl fundraiser event.

WOW has supported both the Power of Pink 5k through the Haywood Health Foundation and the Girls on the Run of WNC. During one of Mountain Projects’ Share the Warmth Campaigns, WOW donated $4,000 that was matched by Champion Credit Union, creating an $8,000 impact through work with that community partner. One $500 donation to a peer support specialist in the local detention center provided for the purchase of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous recovery books and journals for female inmates.

The group has donated to the summer enrichment program at the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center, volunteered when the building needed repairs following a break-in. Two of WOW’s members have won the crown at the annual Haywood County Schools Foundation Mardi Gras Ball for raising the most money for the foundation that year. In total, WOW has raised $45,000 for the HCS Foundation. Additionally, WOW established the Lynda Chovan Memorial Scholarship through the foundation in memory of a founding member who passed away in 2017.

“She was on our board of directors and really had a heart for helping in the community,” said Vanderpool. “We lost her suddenly to a heart attack, so we developed a scholarship in her honor, and now we have the Linda Chovan Memorial Scholarship that we do fundraising for each year.”

Through this scholarship, WOW awards $2,000 each year to female graduating seniors in Haywood County who are pursuing a degree in the human services sector.

WOW doesn’t only project its helping hand outward. Central to its philosophy is the support and engagement of its own members. The group actively strives to empower the women who make up WOW, so that WOW can best serve its community. According to Vanderpool, most meetings begin with at least 30 minutes of social time, catching up, having a drink and checking in with each other before the ladies get down to business.

“Not only do we get to help women and children that are in emergency type situations, but we also support each other,” said Jacobs. “It’s been a substitute family for me in a lot of ways.”

“I attribute WOW to a lot of the reason that I stayed in Haywood County,” said Vanderpool. “I found a community of likeminded women who were supportive, nonjudgmental and welcoming.”

It is fitting then that to celebrate 10 years of service, WOW will be partying down with current and past members, as well as community partners.

“For me, I am most proud of the way we show up for each other as members and how we show up in our community,” said Jessi Stone, current WOW member and past president. “As an all-volunteer organization, we understand how important it is for our volunteers to be supported so that they can support others. I truly believe you can’t pour from an empty cup and so we’ve created this culture of sisterhood and volunteerism that you won’t see in other organizations. That’s what sets us apart and makes WOW more like a family.”

For more information about WOW visit womenofwaynesville.org.

Over its 10 years, Women of Waynesville has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for local causes. Donated photo

Jackson to fund 8 positions for Sylva Fire Department

HANNAH MCLEOD

STAFF WRITER

With increasing call volume, fewer volunteers and an expected continuation of growth in town, Sylva’s allvolunteer fire department is in need of paid personnel.

This budget cycle, the town submitted a request to the county for funding of that personnel and the county has decided to pay for eight positions in what will become a combination department with paid staff and volunteers.

“The thing about volunteers right now, there’s a lot of people that do it, but their employers pretty much got out of the mode of letting anybody leave to go to fires,” Fire Chief

Mike Beck told county commissioners at a

March 10 meeting. “Used to be, 20, 30 years ago it wasn’t a problem, now it is. That’s why a lot of people don’t volunteer at fire departments, they can’t. They’re not allowed to. We used to have a waiting list to get into the department, that’s not the case anymore. You have to go out and hunt people, and then you’re lucky if you get anybody.”

The town of Sylva contracted with

Brigade Consulting, LLC to determine an appropriate staffing model for its fire department. The report gave multiple options for the department but ultimately recommended a 24/72 shift with 11 full-time employees.

County commissioners considered funding eight or 11 paid positions for Sylva Fire.

Eight firefighters would require 24/48 shifts for those employees.

However, at a May 12 budget work session, several Sylva commissioners considered withdrawing their request altogether, citing two main concerns — if the county chose to fund 8 or fewer personnel, this would not be enough firefighters to support a healthy staff; and a future county commission may decide to no longer fund

Sylva’s fire department, leaving the town to foot the bill for this essential service.

Commissioners were also concerned that it was too close to the budget deadline to work those details out.

“That’s where we’re coming from. We want to hold the county to this and have some real guarantees that moving forward, in the future, for whoever knows how long, that the Sylva Fire Department is going to be w funded,” said Commissioner Ben Guiney at i the time.

Sylva Fire Chief Mike Beck had the chance to speak with the board before it gave its final direction to the town manager, and he pleaded that the board not rescind its request but accept funding for 11 or eight paid personnel, whichever the county is willing to do.

“I feel like if we get started, then in future times if things pick up, they’re going to pick up all through the county,” Beck said. “By funding us now, that helps them with mutual aid and insurance rates throughout the county.”

Commissioner David Nestler asked Beck why he would want to rush ahead with eight paid staff members when the report from Brigade Consulting made it clear that Sylva Fire Department already needs 11 paid staff members.

“Because I feel like we should accept what they’ll give us right now so we can get started,” said Beck. “In the future, if call volume keeps going up, they will start funding Cullowhee more, us more and some of the outlying parts, increasing staff. But you have to start somewhere and that’s what I’m looking at here. We’re pretty far into it now to back out.”

Following its budget work session, the final direction given to town staff by the board was to accept the funding for any amount of paid personnel eight or above.

During a May 26 Sylva Board of Commissioners meeting, Town Manager Paige Dowling informed commissioners that the county commission had settled on funding eight paid personnel for the Sylva Fire Department. This will cost the county an additional $643,212 on top of funds it already provides to the Sylva Fire Department for a total of $1,074,290.

Commissioners asked town staff whether this funding level would be a set amount for a specified amount of time that the town could count on.

“We need to make sure that the amount stays the same or higher next year,” said Commissioner David Nestler.

“The amount is not specified,” said Dowling. “What the county is saying is, they funded this annual contribution every year and the payment on the building, so it’s not going to be a set amount and they don’t want to tie it to a number of people, but each year we will let them know what our needs are and hopefully they can fund them for us. If not, the town will come up with how to fund that in our budget. It’s an agreement to fund the fire department and for them to help with the costs.”

Commissioner Guiney noted that the Sylva Fire Department is the busiest in the county.

“There are at least some of us on the board that feel like eight is really not enough to provide excellent fire protection to our citizens,” he said. “So hopefully the county hears this and realizes that they’re going to have to keep looking at this to make sure that they continue to help us to provide excellent fire service to the Town of Sylva.”

Ultimately, the town board approved the county’s funding level for paid personnel for the Sylva Fire Department unanimously.

The Green Energy Park and Full Spectrum Farms have partnered together to offer introductory blacksmithing classes to children and adults with Autism.

Each class lasts 30–40 minutes, and students can choose one of three projects to forge!

• These classes are offered at no cost to participants. All costs are covered by a generous grant from The Warner Fund

• Ages 8 + are welcome to join in

• No experience necessary

• The next class in this series will be held on Saturday, June 11th

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. To sign up for a class, contact Erin McManus at Full Spectrum Farms 828/293-2521

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