Info Session On 4-H Poultry Project Set For Feb. 21

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The spike in egg prices has gotten everyone’s attention lately. Just a couple of years ago, a dozen eggs cost less than $1. Today, that same dozen will set you back close to $5 – or more.

Inflation, coupled with avian flu outbreaks affecting the poultry industry, are the chief culprits, analysts say.

Could this price surge create more interest in backyard flocks? Maybe so. And that’s just fine with local 4-Hers, who are getting ready for the 2023 poultry show and sale.

Children ages 5-18 are invited – with their parents – to join a Zoom meeting on Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. for an information session about the upcoming Four County Poultry Show and Sale.

Participants will get 10 birds to raise, show and then sell at auction. The auction proceeds go to the participant and the local 4-H group. Trophies and awards will be given.

Register at https://go.ncsu.edu/4countypoultry2023 or contact your county extension agent or 4-H agent.

The Local Skinny! St. Paul’s Lutheran Food Minsitry

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The kickoff event for the “Feeding the 5,000” food ministry is set for this Saturday, and Corey Brooks, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church near Ridgeway, said volunteers will be ready to serve a hot meal between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

“Come in, sit down, have a hot meal…and enjoy a time of fellowship,” Brooks said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny!

During the colder months, the meal will be served in the church fellowship hall, but when the weather’s nicer, the plan is to “meet people where they are” and go to different places in the community to serve food.

Thanks to funding from the Mid-Atlantic Lutheran Mission and other local folks interested in helping with food insecurity issues in the community, Brooks said the project has taken shape.

He also said a “Blessing Box” is built and ready to be installed across from the Norlina post office. The weather hasn’t cooperated for installation, but Brooks said it should be up and running by the weekend.

The idea is simple: “Take what you need and leave what you can,” Brooks said of the box, which will be stocked with food items. And Bibles, too.

“We’re excited to have others from other churches in the community that are going to help and volunteer to make this come together,” Brooks said of the meal program. They are brothers and sisters in Christ, he said, “here to serve our neighbors in need.”

Monetary donations can be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, with “Feeding the 5,000 food ministry” in the memo line.

The church is located off the Ridgeway-Drewry Rd., 114 Poplar Mt. Rd., Norlina, NC 27563.

 

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TownTalk: Maria Parham Recognizes Employees During Leapfrog Event

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People working in hospitals hear the word “contagious” and their minds may go straight to thoughts of how to react to an adverse medical situation.

But during a celebration Wednesday at Maria Parham Hospital, the mood was nothing but positive as staff and other officials took time to honor employees for their hard work and dedication to their jobs and to celebrate receiving an “A” safety rating from Leapfrog, a hospital watchdog agency.

It was Cancer Center Director Kimberly Smith who used the word “contagious” to describe the attitude and positivity of Efia Kearney, who was honored as Employee of the Year.

Kearney works in the Emergency Department, and she is always picking up extra days to help out. “She provides a positive outlook for Maria Parham,” Smith said, reading from some of the comments on the nomination form. “She is our ace-in-the-hole to solve needs,” read another nomination.

Top left frame – Efia Kearney and Kim Smith; Top center – Josh Banks

Smith herself was presented a director award, along with Josh Banks, director of facilities management.

In remarks to the group, both Smith and Banks spoke about the high level of teamwork involved in getting their jobs done each and every day.

Stephanie Allen, director of quality and patient safety, attributes the Leapfrog “A” rating to the same teamwork across the hospital. “It’s something for us to be very proud of,” Allen said during the gathering.

The hospital previously had earned “B” ratings from Leapfrog, and CEO Bert Beard said this is the first “A” rating.

As a community hospital, Maria Parham doesn’t have the size or resources that other, larger facilities enjoy, but it “can still be excellent and give quality of care,” Beard said.

Eight out of 70 Lifepoint facilities earned an A rating from Leapfrog, Beard noted. Just over 1 in 4 of the 2200 hospitals rated by Leapfrog received an A rating.

“Once you set the bar this high, you want to keep it there,” said Allen.

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Tobacco Trust Fund Grant Cycle Open To Receive Proposals Through Mar. 3

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The Tobacco Trust Fund Commission’s grant cycle is open and is now accepting grant applications through Mar. 3, 2023. Access the application, guidelines and other information about the funding opportunity by clicking here.

Federal, state and local governments can apply for grant funding, as well as economic development groups, educational institutions and nonprofits

Individuals can also apply, but the commission’s executive director, William Upchurch, Jr. said trust fund officials encourage individuals to work with a cost-share partner: NC AgVentures at N.C. State University, AgPrime at the University of Mount Olive, and WNC AgOptions at WNC Communities. Upchurch said that the Tobacco Trust Fund is open to talking with folks who have questions about the grant cycle and its cost-share partners.

The Tobacco Trust Fund grant cycle focuses on the priorities of community economic development, skill and resource development, increasing farm profitability, diversification of crops and development of natural resources. They look for projects that support the following outcomes: farmers assisted, jobs created and retained, acreage impacted, new crops planted, funding leverage and new education opportunities.

The trust fund commission was created in 2000 to assist current and former tobacco farmers, former quota holders, persons engaged in tobacco-related businesses, individuals displaced from tobacco-related employment, and tobacco product component businesses in North Carolina that have been affected by the adverse effects of the Master Settlement Agreement.

Vance Charter School Lottery 23-24

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Applications to enter the Vance Charter School lottery for 2023-24 are being accepted through Feb. 28, according to information from the school’s board of directors.

The application can be found at www.vancecharter.org, said board member John Sossamon. The website also has a link to a list of questions and answers regarding the lottery process, among those being that no paper applications will be available; applications will be completed online.

The lottery will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Mar. 4.

Parent information sessions will be held at Vance Charter School on Jan. 31 and Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. The school is located on 2090 Ross Mill Rd.

TownTalk: Wayne Goodwin Talks About NC DMV

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Granville County has been without a license plate agency for a few months now, but DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin says the process is underway to have an office open again soon.

Goodwin spoke with John C. Rose Wednesday morning on TownTalk and provided an update on this and other topics, from the Real ID program and DMV kiosks to the increased use of electric vehicles in the state.

The DMV office where folks get their driver’s licenses are state agencies, staffed with state employees, Goodwin explained. But the license plate agencies – LPAs – are operated by private contractors with state oversight.

“Occasionally, we’ll have a license plate agency close,” he said, usually because the contract is up and isn’t renewed for one reason or another.

Goodwin said the state has received applications and in currently in the process of choosing a new contractor.

Conducting business online is a popular way to avoid the wait times and sometimes long lines for anyone who needs to transact their business in person. Visit www.myncdmv.gov to renew driver licenses, renew plates and more.

But Goodwin said North Carolina is exploring placing service kiosks that can be accessed any time of the day for those who don’t want to use the online services.

“We’ve decided to do what a few other states are doing,” Goodwin said, in exploring the use of kiosks – standup machines that can provide certain DMV services to the public.

“Be on the lookout for that,” he said, adding that about 20 will be rolled out in grocery stores and other public locations in the near future to test the public’s interest in using them.

Smartphones are figuring into the world of DMV, too.

Some states are implementing mobile driver licenses as a way to cut down on identity theft. North Carolina is exploring that idea, too, he said.

As for the Real ID, Goodwin said “folks on the federal level decided it’d be best that the deadline be pushed back two years…which gives folks more time to become compliant.”

It’s an idea that came about as a result of the 911 attacks, but it is not a requirement.

A gold star in the upper right corner of the driver license certifies that the person has provided the necessary documents that verify identification.

Summit ways to better prepare ourselves for the future.

As for the increased use of electric vehicles in the state, Goodwin said it really boils down to two things: customer demand and what the automobile industry decides to provide consumers.

More EVs means more charging stations as well, and Goodwin said he would anticipate more charging stations popping up.

 

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Youth Programs Happening Perry Memorial Library

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Chocolate fondue. Sewing on a button. Legos.

Not necessarily what you’d associate with a library.

But Melody Peters, youth services director at Perry Memorial Library says all these things – and more – are available for library patrons.

From Mother Goose Story Time on Thursday mornings to Life Hacks sessions, Peters said the library offers something for everyone.

“We use every square inch” of the library, she said. “It’s wonderful.”

The Legos club meets on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. The Survival Skills class helps participants with things like sewing on a button.

Take the recent Survival Skills session that focused on sewing on a button. One participant took the new-found knowledge and said she was going to go home and sew the hole in her bunny. And not only that, she’d be able to sew the hole in her blanket and even the hole in her mom’s coat. Now that’s a survival skill, taken to the next level.

The library has its own spaces to hold classes like the Survival Skills class, but the adjacent Farm Bureau Room also is a space that community groups can reserve.

“It is certainly a gift to have a room accessible to the community for different programs,” Peters said.  “It’s amazing,” Peters said, of the community space.

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