 Dollar General’s Grand Opening a Huge Success - Candler, NC - According to the employees at the newly constructed Dollar General Store on HWY 19-23 at I-40, Exit 37 at Georges Branch, people were lined up all around the building at 6:30 Saturday morning to take advantage of the early bird shopping deals. The original store located in the Valley View shopping Center closed in mid July. For the past several years Dollar General has been one of the largest donors to the Hearts With Hands public service programs particularly the food assistance programs for the food bank and children oriented programs such as “School Tools” and “Bakpak Bunch.” Jennifer Bidou, Manager, stated, “We like to help Hearts With Hands because we know where the donations are going.” Hearts With Hands Executive Director Bill Bradley presented a certificate of appreciation to Bidou on behalf of Hearts With Hands.
Volunteer - "At least I can help this way." West Asheville resident Jessie Mae Moore has made hundreds of “salvation  bracelets” for Hearts With Hands to distribute to children at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair. The spry, ninety-year old who is recovering from recent hip surgery stated, ”At least I can help this way” as she maneuvered one of the beads onto the woven cord to assemble one of the bracelets.
Aside a minor hearing difficulty, Mrs. Moore answered questions concisely as Hearts With Hands Executive Director Bill Bradley and Debbie Mitchell, Hearts With Hands Marketing Director asked. She [Mrs. Moore} advised she was saved at age 8 and has always attended church. She is a member at Calvary Baptist in west Asheville and is able to attend each Sunday. Jackie Evans, her caregiver, states that Ms. Moore didn’t have full-time care until recently when she was walking her dogs and was involved in an automobile collision resulting in the broken hip. Evans advised the opportunity to help Hearts With Hands had “brightened her up” and she was excited about being able to help.
Please visit the Hearts With Hands booth at the NC Mountain State Fair and get information on volunteering and the agencies programs or call the office at (828)667-1912.
 Coke Cares - Asheville- Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated (CCBC) located on Clayton Road in Skyland collected over 2,000 pounds of food and delivered it to Hearts With Hands for its Bakpak Bunch™ program. The food drive is a result of the Coca-Cola national community stewardship program entitled “Coke Cares.” Sherry Cook, Office Assistant at the Clayton Road facility acted as spokesperson for the group and did a taped interview with local ABC affiliate, WLOS. Hearts With Hands Executive Director Bill Bradley stated, “Hearts With Hands is extremely grateful for the donation and the “Coke Cares” program is a natural fit with the work Hearts With Hands is doing throughout western North Carolina. We look forward to partnering with these fine folks on many of our established programs.” The following associates were instrumental in making the food drive a huge success along with other members of the stewardship committee of CCBCC.
Hearts With Hands Responds to Myrtle Beach Wildfires -
Wildfire has destroyed over 20,000 acres and well over 100 homes were either destroyed or damaged. Over 2,500 residents have been evacuated and  two shelters are open. Hearts With Hands is deploying an advance team to the area to assist with damage assessment and will be transporting relief supplies into the area.
According to Hearts With Hands Executive Director Bill Bradley, “According to our sources in the area and information furnished by the S. C. Department of Emergency Management, this fire has potential to get much worse due to predicted weather conditions and ensuing winds.”
Despite Dreary Weather and Troubled Economy; Plenty of Heart for Area School Kids - Once again the residents of western North Carolina prove their generosity by breaking very ambitious goals. Western North Carolina’s homegrown disaster relief charity, Hearts With Hands began collecting and distributing
 food for underprivileged school children who only have food when school is in session over eighteen months ago. The Hearts With Hands program, aptly named “Bakpak Bunch™” mounted a food collection campaign called “Stuff-a-Bus.” With the help of Asheville Radio Group, Inc. (Ken Ulmer and Tammy Jones) of the “Ken and Tammy Morning Show,” Ingle’s Supermarkets, Eblen-Kimmel Charitable Group, Buncombe County Schools, Charlotte Street Computers, WLOS/WMYA TV, and UPS the group launched a two-day food drive at four local Ingle’s Supermarkets. The participating Ingle’s stores were Weaverville, Erwin Hills, Black Mountain, and Skyland. WOXL, (96.5, “the mix”) featured live broadcast both Friday and Saturday directing listeners to visit one of the participating Ingle’s to assist Hearts With Hands with a motivated goal of collecting 20,000 pounds of food in two days. The goal could be reached with a combination of food donations and financial donations to purchase food. Participants were also enticed by Ingle’s Markets to help meet the goal with the chance to register for five, one-hundred dollar gift cards.
Folk in western North Carolina once again proved their generosity by not only meeting the goal but by exceeding it. Officials at Hearts With Hands stated they had received food donations in excess of 22,000 pounds and monetary donations of over $10,000. According to Hearts With Hands Executive Director, Bill Bradley, “The food collections of 22,000 pounds and additional food we will be able to purchase will net the program a total of about 30,000 pounds. This should get us through the upcoming break and we should be able to assist the schools who have already applied and are waiting for assistance. Of course we are extremely grateful for all the help and success of this food drive, but there are schools throughout all of western North Carolina with children who are struggling with the same problem; we need to help them as well.”
 Second Graders Help Abroad and Locally- Asheville -Mrs. Powell's second grade class at Claxton Elementary recently found themselves in a quandary. They wanted to conduct a community service project for Darfur, but many of them had heard President Obama recruiting volunteers to help their local community. They decided to do both. They collected money for Darfur and food for the Hearts With Hands Bakpak Bunch Program. The program yielded almost 200 pounds of food which will help provide food for the 800 plus children being helped through the Hearts With Hands program. Hearts With Hands Assistant Director Mike West and Richard Calloway, Operations Director met with the class and talked with them about how important it was to help others and thanked them for their participation.
Hearts With Hands Earns Award - Taste of the South was founded in 1982 from a dual desire to bring some "southern hospitality" to Washington, D.C., and establish a fund-raiser for needy charities. The Committee is comprised of an executive board and three members from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia.As the event gained popularity instead of just being a gala affair, it was proposed that the event start sponsoring a charity from each state. House and Congressional representatives from across the state of North Carolina vote to choose a charity that is making a significant contribution to the state and beyond with emphasis to charities that the award would be significant to.
Hearts With Hands was chosen to be the recipient of the award for the state of North Carolina for this year.
According to Tara Pardue Lackey, Chairman of North Carolina’s Dixie Fund Charity, the award winners can expect media coverage and the affair usually raises $15,000 to $20,000 for the designated charity. Pardue-Lackey indicated that Congressman Heath Shuler, former Senator Elizabeth Dole, and Senator Richard Burr, Congressional Hosts for “TOTS” all had a hand in awarding Hearts With Hands this year.
The banquet is scheduled for May 17, and Hearts With Hands executive director, Bill Bradley stated, “We are quite honored to have been chosen as this year’s recipient and I plan to go to Washington, not only to collect the money, but to explain the problems and seek solutions to some of the hardships North Carolinians are currently facing.”
|
