Triangle North Adds Scholarship To VGCC; Local Grant Cycle Open Until June 18

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The Triangle North Healthcare Foundation has made a $25,000 donation to create a Presidential Scholar Award at Vance-Granville Community College, which will result in a $1,250 scholarship given to a student each year, beginning in fall 2021. This is the fourth scholarship established at VGCC by TNH.

“We are grateful for the foundation’s longstanding commitment to supporting VGCC,” said VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais. “This new scholarship will help excellent students who are training for careers in healthcare, and in other rewarding fields.”

TNH Foundation provides support to the community through scholarships and grants to agencies and organizations that strive to improve health and wellness in the four-county area. The deadline for submission of letters of interest is June 18, according to TNH Foundation Executive Director Val Short.

Anyone interested in applying for funding during this grant cycle should contact the foundation at 252.430.8532 or email at info@tnhfoundation.org  to schedule a meeting.

A regional healthcare grantmaking organization based in Henderson, NC, Triangle North Healthcare Foundation was established in 2011, following the merge of Maria Parham Medical Center and Duke Lifepoint.

The foundation seeks programs and projects that will provide positive results in one or more of the five focus areas: child well-being, chronic disease, mental health and substance use disorders, nutrition and physical activity and reproductive health.

The link to the foundation’s online grant portal is available at the website:  http://www.tnhfoundation.org.

The Local Skinny! Jobs in Vance

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The H-V Chamber of Commerce and WIZS, Your Community Voice, present Jobs in Vance for June 8th, 2021. The Chamber compiles the information, and it is presented here and on the radio. Contact the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce at 438-8414 or email christa@hendersonvance.org to be included.

 

Maria Parham Health Center

Jobs Available: Registered Nurses for Medical and Surgical Units – day and night shifts available

Contact Person: Stephanie Fox

Method of Contact: If you are interested, please call 919-482-3479 or email Stephanie.fox@lpnt.net

 

Servpro of Franklin, Vance & Granville Counties

Jobs Available: Service Technicians – They work to provide fire, water and mold cleaning and restoration to homes and businesses.

Contact Person: Nicole Conley

Method of Contact: Apply in person at 260 Industry Drive or email office@servpro-fvg.com for an application.

 

Turning Point Community Development Corporation

Jobs Available: Program Coordinator – this is a part time, hourly position for 20 hours a week. Pay is $16.00 – $18.00 an hour. Some remote work is available and some weekend work may be required. Qualifications are: Program Management 1 year required. A Bachelor’s Degree is preferred and a valid Driver’s License.

Contact Person: Chalis Henderson

Method of Contact: To apply go online to Indeed.com or email resume and cover letter to info@turningpointcdc.org.

 

Turning Point Community Development Corporation

Jobs Available:  Instructional Assistant – This is a contractual position. The hours are Monday – Friday 7:30 am – 5:00 pm. Pay rate is $15.00 an hour. Qualifications are: Associate’s Degree is preferred and 2 years of childcare, education or youth programming is preferred. STAFF MUST WEAR MASK WHEN WORKING WITH CHILDREN.

Contact Person: Chalis Henderson

Method of Contact: To apply go online to Indeed.com or email resume and cover letter to info@turningpointcdc.org.

 

Manpower

Jobs Available: Material Handlers, Assemblers, forklift drivers, production workers and packers. We have openings in the Henderson, Oxford, Louisburg and Youngsville areas that do not require any previous manufacturing experience.

Contact Person: Jackeline Hernandez

Method of Contact: If you are interested, please call 919-693-6150, text #IWantTheJob to same number, email Jackeline.hernandez@manpower.com or apply directly to website @ www.Manpower.com

 

Belk Stores

They are having a job fair June 12th from 11am – 3pm at the store’s location, 350 N. Cooper Drive, Henderson

Contact Person: Chris Tilley

 

Legacy Human Services

Jobs Available: Director of Mental Health Services – This part-time position serves to administratively and clinically manage the mental health line of business which includes: The ADP Center, Warren Street Group Home, and Burnette Road Apartments.

Substance Abuse Aide – This part-time position serves as a presence and a resource within the adult male substance abuse halfway house.

Full Time or Part-time Direct Support Professionals (DSP) for our group homes which are 24-hour residential facilities serving adults with Intellectual / Developmental Disabilities in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren Counties. These positions are for every other weekend and require sleepover.

Contact Person: Laura Newton

Method of Contact: If you are interested, please come by our office at 626 S. Garnett Street in Henderson for an application or call 252-438-6700 ext. 204 for more information.

 

Some of these businesses are present or past advertisers of WIZS.  Being an ad client is not a condition of being listed or broadcast.  This is not a paid ad.

 

Grace Ministries

Grace Ministries Doing Benefit Sale of Ground Turkey

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We’ve been asked to announce Grace Ministries’ ground turkey sale for this weekend.

Grace Kids is raising money for a youth outreach trip. Founder Jamie Elliott wrote to WIZS News and said, “June 12th we will be selling Butterball ground turkey. One 10 pound (container) for $15 or two 10 pound (containers) for $25.”

All the proceeds, Elliott said, will be for the youth outreach trip.

Call Jamie Elliott at 252-204-3617 or Bobby West at 252 432 7124.

Maria Parham Practice Opens Second OB-GYN Office In Henderson

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Maria Parham Physician Practices opened a second office in Henderson for women’s care on Thursday, June 3. The new clinic, Maria Parham Women’s Care, is located at 568 Ruin Creek Road, Suite 001. The other office is located in Oxford, and CEO Bert Beard said the new clinic expands the medical group’s footprint for OB-GYN services in the area.

“Maria Parham Health is committed to expanding access to healthcare for women in all stages of life,” Beard, stated in a press release. “Last year, our hospital received national recognition for Newsweek’s Best Maternity Hospitals, and this year, we are excited to expand our footprint for OB-GYN services with our newest practice location in Henderson offering local access to great women’s care.”

Maria Parham Women’s Care provides a comprehensive range of services and procedures including routine checkups, general gynecological care, urinary incontinence treatment, minimally invasive gynecological surgery, prenatal and postnatal care for mother and baby, as well as menopausal management. The providers deliver babies exclusively at Maria Parham Health in Henderson.

Providers are: Kayla Cagle-Colon, MD; Emma White, DO; Janice Martinez, CNM; Karen MacLean, CNM; and Alyson Ringle, CNM.

To schedule an appointment, call 252.492.8576 or visit MariaParhamPhysicianPractices.com.

(Maria Parham is an advertising client of WIZS Radio and WIZS.com. This is not a paid ad.)

The Local Skinny! City Council Public Hearing Lynne Avenue at Dabney Drive

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A notice from the City of Henderson has gone out indicating the City Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 14, 2021 at 6 p.m. regarding the much-discussed area, the Lynne Avenue at Dabney Drive intersection.

The notice indicates a recommendation to build a cul-de-sac on the east side of Lynne Avenue in order “to close Lynne Avenue from Dabney Drive.”

WIZS News is working to learn the origin of the recommendation and other details.

Questions or comments concerning the public hearing may be made during the meeting or submitted to the City Clerk, Esther McCrackin, no later than 3 p.m. on Monday, June 14. Email emccrackin@ci.henderson.nc.us or call City Hall at 252.431.6000.

At the July 13, 2020 Henderson City Council meeting, members voted to deny the second request in two months to rezone residential properties located at 1337 and 1343 Dabney Drive at the corner of Lynne Avenue.

According to that meeting’s agenda, Hill Dubose, a commercial/industrial developer from Greensboro, NC, requested to rezone the properties located at the corner of Lynne Avenue from an OIA (Office Institutional “A”) District to a B-2A Highway Commercial “A”) District.

Councilwoman Melissa Elliott told WIZS News after that July 2020 meeting that four citizens spoke at the virtual public hearing, including two in favor of rezoning who had “a financial interest” in the matter and two 30-plus year residents of the Lynne Avenue neighborhood who spoke against.

The council denied the request citing issues with potential hazardous traffic in the area associated with a then-proposed fast-food restaurant.

Elliott said at the time, “I want to express that we on the Council are for redevelopment, economic development and bringing job opportunities to our area.”

As it was last year and in previous years when other traffic calming measures were placed, including the adding of stop signs on the lower half of the street, the effect on Lynne Avenue’s residents remains top of mind.

TownTalk: VGCC Adult Learner Program Helps Students Return To School To Complete Degree, Program

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Vance-Granville Community College is one of five community colleges across the state selected to participate in a pilot program designed to help students return to school to complete their post-secondary education.

VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais told John C. Rose on Monday’s Town Talk about the Adult Learner program and how myFutureNC and the John M. Belk Endowment are providing support to bring students back to school who left without completing a degree or certificate.

“We’re excited to be a part of this,” Demarais said, adding that the program objective complements VGCC’s vision of being “a catalyst to strengthen communities.” Helping people prepare for fulfilling employment and life-long careers is what VGCC is all about, she said.

The myFutureNC program is a statewide nonprofit organization focused on educational attainment and is the result of cross-sector collaboration between North Carolina leaders in education, business and government.

The adult learner program will work to remove barriers to education. VGCC strives to make education meaningful, but “meaningful is in the eye of the beholder,” she said. “We have to prove that meaning – we’ve got to connect people to careers…to see what they could do to use their strengths, abilities and talents.”

“We’re not getting a pot of money,” she explained. “We are getting so much more than money – we’re getting access to services that have shown they work to move the needle” to improve achievement.

Part of the program will include development of a marketing strategy to help craft the message and then get that message out to the public. One particular data tool will be especially useful, Demarais said. It will be used to identify those former VGCC students who have some college credit but haven’t completed all the requirements to get a degree or certificate.

“We need to call these folks back and … make it easy to help them finish what they started,” she said.

Through the adult learner program, Demarais said she hoped to see some results as early as 2022. “If we can increase the number of people 25 and older to come to college, that’s a leading indicator,” she noted.

It will take some creativity to reach  the 25- to 44-year-old group, who must “be able to juggle work and family life, and school life,” she said. VGCC will have to provide flexible options, making sure that the education is efficient – even shoring up and refreshing knowledge that hasn’t been used in awhile.

The adult learner program will evaluate the credits that students already have completed and determine exactly what is left to complete the course of study and get certificates of completion for programs or degrees.

An additional resource is the Second Chance Scholarship, Demarais noted. Students lose access to federal Pell Grant money if they weren’t successful with previous courses. “The only way to get (access) back is to take a class,” she said. But that takes money, which the student may not have. The Second Chance Scholarship can help.

For so many of these students, “life got in the way,” Demarais said. “We need to make it easy for them to finish what they started.”

(For full broadcast audio and details click play.)

 

Vance County Tourism

July 4th Fireworks at Kerr Lake Will Move to Sept 4, 2021

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The fireworks display and gathering that typically takes place on Kerr Lake July 4th weekend has been moved to Labor Day weekend, specifically Saturday, Sept 4th at Satterwhite Point.

Vance County Tourism Director Pam Hester said, “It was not practical to have it. … The Board voted to move it.”

The reason is a deadline that needed to be met, which included deposits for the fireworks, came before CDC guidance changed concerning covid and before Governor Roy Cooper relaxed state mandates.

In addition, the North Carolina Parks Service is short staffed, which was going to make it very difficult to have the necessary manpower in place to host a large event at Satterwhite Point.

As of the time of this publication, Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks is planning fireworks on July 3rd, and Cokesbury is planning fireworks for July 10th.  More details as we get closer.

Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen

McMillen: Social Services Renovation “Coming Together Nicely” For A Late Summer Move-In

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Work to transform a former middle school into updated office space for the Vance County Department of Social Services is well underway, and County Manager Jordan McMillen said despite a couple of hiccups, the project is on budget and “coming together nicely.” Move-in dates have been pushed back until late July or August, he added.

Among McMillen’s comments and observations to WIZS News earlier this week, he noted that the renovation project at the former Eaton Johnson Middle School campus is wrapping up – “nearly all of the final finishing touches are currently being completed,” he said.

The flooring has been installed, painting is complete in all but one area, furniture has been installed and the building portion of the project will be nearing completion over the next few weeks, he predicted. The inside work on the building should be finished by mid- to late June – that’s only a couple of weeks behind schedule, he said.

“Contractors ran into unsuitable soils in the parking lot area which delayed most of the site work approximately two months,” McMillen said. Work on the parking lot has resumed after completion of soil testing from outside agencies and, barring weather delays, should be finished in mid- to late July.

Commissioners will hear at their meeting Monday about several change orders that will be recommended, all dealing with HVAC and minor modification in the part of the building that will house the Senior Center.

At this point, the project is about $231,000 under budget, so the change orders – totaling just more than $107,000 – could be absorbed without affecting the overall cost.