Community Almanac

Bowling receives Chief Junaluska Award

Long-time Lake Junaluska supporter the Rev. Dr. Robert “Bob” C. Bowling is the 2020 recipient of the Chief Junaluska Award, an honor bestowed annually during Associates Weekend at Lake Junaluska.

The award honors outstanding service, community involvement and financial support of Lake Junaluska.

Mississippi native Bowling, a retired United Methodist pastor and district superintendent, first visited Lake Junaluska as a teenager. The 17- year-old youth director at Hattiesburg’s Court Street United Methodist Church, he was asked by the pastor’s wife to drive her and six young women to Youth Week at the Lake.

Years later, Bowling introduced his wife, Robin, to Lake Junaluska on their first wedding anniversary. They returned every year and eventually made it their second home before retiring to Georgia to be closer to family. The couple’s three children spent summers working at the Lake.

Bowling served the North Georgia United Methodist Conference for 40 years and received The Foundation for Evangelism’s Harry Denman Rev. Dr. Robert ‘Bob’ C. Bowling and Robin Bowling. Donated photo Evangelism Award in 2005. One example of his advocacy involves the campground at a time when its future was in doubt. Bowling worked to keep it open to accommodate the many young people who could only afford to visit the lake if they could camp there.

WCU offers emotional intelligence class

Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment will be offering an Emotional Intelligence workshop from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, online via Zoom.

The workshop will be taught by Betty Farmer, award-winning professor of communication at WCU and owner of Farmer Communications. High EQ in the workplace is essential. Research confirms that individuals who are higher in EQ are more likely to be successful and advance in their careers.

Registration fee for this workshop will be $139. For more information, visit pdp.wcu.edu and click on “For-profit and Nonprofit Professional Development Workshops.”

Grace Church receives $10,000 grant

Resourceful Communities, a program of The Conservation Fund, awarded $10,000 to Grace Church to meet emergent physical and mental health needs of unsheltered people in Haywood County.

Grace Church has been one of the Haywood County churches collaborating with the Open Door, the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition and others to provide emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic to high-risk individuals and families.

Resourceful Communities supports rural community organizations that work at the intersection of conservation, social justice and economic wellbeing. Grace Church’s Giving Garden had participated in one of their programs and was eligible to apply.

The grant includes funding for mobile mentalhealth and tele-health services through the purchase of Wi-Fi tablets for caseworkers to connect clients virtually with online health-care providers. Additionally, the grant will support food purchases for those in need served by Open Door and Pathways — $5,000 will go toward extending the motel stays for the previously unsheltered individuals.

Evergreen Foundation awards $300,000

The Evergreen Foundation board of directors recently awarded $300,000 in first quarter funding to eight agencies providing programs and services for individuals with behavioral health, substance use and intellectual/developmental disabilities. Grants were awarded: n Blue Ridge First in Families: $5,000 to assist with addressing unmet needs of individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the western counties. n Meridian Behavioral Health: $50,000 in continuation funding to support an integrated care pilot program at the Cherokee Health Department; $37,000 to provide crisis intervention services for students in Haywood, Jackson and Macon counties; $39,000 for continued support of the patient assistance program; $50,000 to support the Assertive Community Treatment program; $5,000 to purchase therapeutic training materials and $15,000 in bridge funds to support the Domestic Violence Offender program. n Eliada Homes: $56,000 to develop and train additional foster care and therapeutic foster care families. n Haywood Pathways Center: $15,000 toward funding case management services. n RENEW Bryson City: $2,000 to support the Recovery Rally in Swain County. n 30th Judicial District DV-SA Alliance: $1,200 to assist with costs of setting up an MDMA Assisted Therapy Clinic for individuals with PTSD. n Teen Challenge of the Smokies: $3,500 in funding to provide internships for their youth training program. n Center for Domestic Peace: $10,000 in bridge funding to support victims of domestic violence in Jackson County.

Applications from not-for-profit organizations are accepted on a rolling basis, with the next award cycle in September. Grant proposals are due by 5 p.m. Aug. 21.

Visit www.evergreenfoundationnc.org.

Haywood foundation awards grants

The Haywood Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees recently awarded $179,800 in grants to 10 agencies for health care needs in Haywood County. n KARE, Inc. — to support vital needs for programs that KARE provides to the community include victim services, parenting education, safety outreach programs provided to school age children. n Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency to provide critical dental care to indigent patients. n The EACH Initiative, Inc. to provide mental health counseling to adults and children in the EACH Program (Ending Area Child Homelessness). n Haywood Pathways Center to support one-full time family case manager. n Haywood Regional Medical Center Nurse Navigator Program to provide gas cards to needy patients. n Autism Society of North Carolina to provide a “Resource Library” so families can request autism resources, at no cost. n REACH of Haywood County to provide healthy snacks to seventh and eighth graders who are taught the “Safe Dates” Program. n Blue Ridge Health – Haywood to provide essential medical services for uninsured and underinsured residents. n Southwestern Child Development Nurse Family Partnership to provide books for the client to read to their children, toys to help the mother work with the child to promote developmental skills, purchase car seats, pack and plays, and diapers. n Haywood Christian Ministry to support a coaching program that gives clients goals and timelines to accomplish as they work toward becoming selfsustaining.

Visit www.haywoodhealthcarefoundation.org or call 828.452.8343.

Community Foundation awards scholarships

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently approved scholarships totaling $510,250 to 94 WNC students in 57 schools in 21 counties. More than 60 volunteers from the community worked to review applications and select recipients, some through Zoom meetings and online interviews.

Ashley Alvarez of Blue Ridge School, Camren Dalton of Highland School, Shawn Byfield and Sydney Rice of Smoky Mountain High School, and homeschooled student Sophie Biaso were awarded.

Scholarship endowments can have broad eligibility criteria or can be focused on a particular school or county, offered to students pursuing a degree in a stated field or available to those who will attend a designated college or university.

Learn more at www.cfwnc.org.

Haywood ministry celebrates 50 years

Haywood Christian Ministry is celebrating 50 years of serving the community. Funding HCM is truly a cooperative venture with direct financial resources provided through local churches, businesses, civic organizations, individual donors, fundraising events, estate donations, memorials, and grants. Since 1970, Haywood Christian Ministry has been a sustaining resource organization striving to improve the health, well-being, safety, and spiritual development for residents of Haywood County.

During 2019, HCM served about 25 percent of the Haywood County population, addressing the ever-growing poverty needs of our county, helping to spiritually and physically transform lives in the name of Christ. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, HCM ceased routine services and became an authorized food pantry for FEMA and Manna Foods. From March through June, food was provided to a total of 26,726 people and 7,869 cars and 254 buses came for food pick-up. HCM also earned the designation of the No. 1 food distributor in Western North Carolina.

HCM has canceled this year’s Annual Charitable Golf Classic and Gala Dinner, but continued support is vital to the organization’s efforts to meet the crisis and daily needs of the less fortunate. For golfers who regularly play in the tournament, HCM is asking a donation of $150, the normal tournament fee. In exchange, donors will receive a non-transferable gift certificate for a round of golf at Laurel Ridge Country Club or Waynesville Inn Golf Resort.