Canton church to revist roots

St. Andrew’s-on-the-Hill in Canton is commemorating the bicentennial of Haywood County with a special homecoming celebration on July 20.

St Andrew’s began as a mission around 1906 when Champion Paper & Fiber Co. began operations in Haywood County. It started in a tent in the company town known as Fiberville and then moved into a Mission House. The congregation evolved and adapted services in various locations until construction began on the present building on Academy St. in 1921.

Built with indigenous river rock and surrounded with incredible mountain-inspired stained-glass windows, the building’s design is one of the most architecturally interesting buildings in WNC.

Church members and friends went to the former Sunburst community on the East Fork of the Pigeon River to gather rocks for the church by hand. They were delivered to town on Champion’s railroad flat cars and hauled up Academy Street in horse-drawn wagons. The historic process was followed by a celebration of great fellowship and food.

In honor of Haywood County’s bicentennial, the St. Andrew’s family is turning back the clock on July 20. A service at 10 a.m. will be given using the 1892 Episcopal Prayer Book liturgical practices that were used 85 years ago at the first Holy Eucharist in the building. The event will be followed by a covered-dish homecoming celebration of great fellowship and food.

The church is located at 99 Academy Street.

Haywood Builders goes green

Haywood Builders Supply in Waynesville has achieved Certified Green Dealer status after its staff participated in voluntary educational training and testing on good green building techniques and green product choices in lumber and building materials.

The Certified Green Dealer Program was created under the auspices of LBM Journal, a national trade magazine serving the lumber and building material industry. The program is based entirely on demonstrated understanding by lumber dealer personnel of “best practices” building science and green building basics. A lumberyard or building material dealer location can become a Certified Green Dealer if 75 percent or more of its sales personnel view a series of Web-based training videos (and pass seven tests and a final exam) about building basics, green building, and green building products.

This training program is the first of its kind in North America to provide lumber and material dealer personnel with educational information about green building basics, and it requires that participants take rigorous tests to demonstrate knowledge of green building techniques and green product choices.

HRMC seeks input

Haywood Regional Medical Center has formed a Community Relations Council to provide feed back on what the hospital could be doing better and to help the hospital more effectively address the public’s concerns.

The Community Relations Council will also serve as public ambassadors and spokespeople on behalf of HRMC.

The first move of the new council was to send a message to hospital employees to “hang tight,” assuring them that the community supports the hospital. Their next message was one to hospital administration to be transparent and keep the public informed of what’s going on.

The council said it will provide updates about key issues, such as the progress of the search for a new CEO and future affiliations for the hospital.

The council has met twice. Members include Claire Amason, Joan Barnes, Melissa Burnett, Lana Lambert, Laura Leatherwood, Bo Prevost, Janice Roush, Jeff Schumacher, Otis Sizemore, Jean Stokes and Donna Powers-Willson.

Members have agreed the community wants the hospital to survive and thrive, and wants reassurance that HRMC will continue to be available to provide health care to the community.

To join the council, go to www.haymed.org or contact rtindall@haymed.org or 828.454.9339.

Haywood Hospice to benefit from golf gala

Sign-up is underway for teams and sponsors in the 17th annual Charitable Classic Golf & Gala benefiting the Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation. The golf gala will be held Sept. 2 and 3 at Waynesville and Laurel Ridge country clubs.

Money raised during this year’s gala will support the new Hospice Center and the Foundation’s general endowment fund. Sponsors may specify their support to either or both projects.

The new Hospice Center will be a first for Haywood County. The cost of constructing the new building will be provided entirely through philanthropic funds. Support from the gala will be added to the $1.1 million contributed over the past three years and will bring the project closer to the $1.5 million needed to begin the bidding and construction phase.

The Foundation’s general endowment provides funds to cover various needs and requests of the hospital, from programs for patients to state-of-the-art technology.

Last year’s Golf & Gala, which attracted 161 sponsors, 382 golfers and 89 volunteers netted more than $125,000 for the Foundation. Because of the current pressing needs of the hospital, the Foundation hopes to exceed that amount this year.

Since 1991, the Foundation has raised $10 million has been provided to help support the most pressing needs of HRMC.

Sponsorships ranged from $500 to $10,000, which include various packages of golf slots and gala tickets. Individual golf slots may be purchased for $140 each, which includes two gala tickets. Individual gala tickets may be purchased for $40 each.

Women will play at 1 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Waynesville Country Club. Men will play at 8 a.m. or 1 p.m. Sept. 3 at Waynesville Country Club and noon at Laurel Ridge Country Club. Format is Captain’s Choice for two-person teams.

For more information call the Foundation office at 828.454.9340.

Weigh in on watershed plan

The town of Waynesville is seeking input on a Forest Stewardship Plan devised for the town’s 8,600 acre drinking watershed.

The watershed is permanently protected from development through a conservation easement initiated by the town. The conservation easement allows for forest management, however, which could include selective harvest of timber as long as it wouldn’t jeopardize top water quality of the streams that feed the drinking water reservoir.

The Forest Stewardship Plan, if and when it is adopted by the town board, will guide what forest management activities may take place within the watershed. The town is collecting the opinions of residents through a survey. The survey gathers specific comments on the plan, its goals, and the process by which it was developed.

The full plan is available online or at town hall. The survey is open to everyone, takes 6 to 8 minutes to complete, and can be found online at www.townofwaynesville.org. Paper copies can be picked up at Waynesville Town Hall, the Hazelwood satellite office, and the Recreation Center. Surveys are due back by July 31.

WCU seeks prestigious Carnegie designation

Western Carolina University is seeking official recognition of its emphasis on community engagement and its link to engaged teaching, research and service.

Under the leadership of Carol Burton, assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate studies, and Gary Jones, associate professor of computer information systems and economics in the College of Business, WCU is applying to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for designation as a “community-engaged” university.

The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as “the collaboration between higher education institutions and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national and global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.”

A formal designation of WCU as an engaged university would acknowledge the university’s ongoing work with various partners to identify and address issues of significance to the region and the state, said Chancellor John W. Bardo.

“Our faculty members continue to excel in teaching, research and service,” said Bardo. “They welcome opportunities to apply traditional scholarship in innovative ways.”

As part of the application process, a group of faculty and administrators recently met to discuss whether the university formally recognizes community engagement through campuswide awards and celebrations, whether students have a leadership role in engagement activities, how many “for-credit” service-learning courses are offered and how engagement is integrated into the university curriculum.

Updates about the process will be posted on the university’s Web site www.wcu.edu/engagement beginning in July. The application is due Sept. 1, with results scheduled to be announced by the foundation in December.

For more information contact Burton at 828.227.7497 or burton@wcu.edu.