A Macon County husband and wife already providing financial support of the Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee and its effort to expand the range of artists represented in its galleries are now backing the endeavor in a new way — through a gift of artwork from their personal collection. 

Franklin residents William Banks Hinshaw and Robin Markle Hinshaw recently donated a total of 18 artworks and artifacts to the holdings of WCU’s Fine Art Museum, Mountain Heritage Center and Tali Tsisgwayahi Archaeological Collections and Curation Facility.

Each year, children in foster care in Haywood County move between homes carrying little more than what they can fit in a bag, often leaving behind the everyday items that provide comfort, stability, a sense of belonging and a sense of identity. The Haywood County Republican Party wants to ease that transition by collecting essential supplies and small personal items to ensure those children have what they need as they navigate an already uncertain chapter in their lives. 

Bill and Alice Hart know each other’s stories by heart, have been known to finish each other’s sentences and share an obvious trait — the calm satisfaction of having led purpose-filled lives. 

The seeds of that satisfaction began the old-fashioned way — through courtship. William “Bill” Hart, of rural Buncombe County, met Alice Huff, of Sylva, 67 years ago at Western Carolina Teachers College.

A weekend rally organized by Hands off Haywood commenced with the presentation of a $2,500 check to Haywood Christian Ministries in Waynesville, highlighting a direct link between protest activism and local hunger relief.

Hands off Haywood organizer Mary Ford told the crowd that demonstrators have faced insults and “more middle fingers since March than we have in our entire lives” while taking to the streets on a weekly basis earlier this year but said the group’s focus has remained on democracy and community support.

Gary Carden has accomplished a great deal in his life. But by his own estimation, none of it compares to his most recent endeavor — donating a treasure trove of books to the Jackson County Public Library that took him a lifetime to collect. 

The garden gnomes stared at me from our cluttered carport, dirty and bored, no blooming flowers to observe or tomato vines to tickle their bellies. I was holding on to them well past their desire.  

Sunny sea-level Savannah, Georgia, is known for a lot of things — historic colonial beauty, low country cuisine and a wide-open bar culture that benefits from/endures one of the nation’s few open container laws — but it also has a rich musical legacy that locals are now using to help victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. 

The North Carolina Conference of the Global Methodist Church has made a transformative donation of $150,000 to Mountain Projects, demonstrating their commitment to aiding communities in need. 

Judy and Ed LaFountaine, wife and husband, are the 2024 recipients of the Junaluska Leadership Award, an honor bestowed annually during Associates Celebration Weekend at Lake Junaluska, which was held recently at the new Warren Center. 

This July, the American Red Cross continues to stress that blood and platelet donors are critically needed to support lifesaving transfusions this summer.