Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews

Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Programs For Youth And More At Perry Memorial Library

With National Library Week coming up, Perry Memorial Library Youth Services Director Melody Peters took some time to chat with WIZS’s Bill Harris on The Local Skinny! about the important roles libraries play in society.

Sure, they’re a place where you can go and check out books, but Peters said libraries provide so much more. And the Henderson library is ever-evolving to respond to the needs and wants of the community it serves.

“We’re meeting information needs,” Peters said, adding that those needs vary greatly from person to person. She said patrons feel they get “honest, unbiased advice when they come to the library.”

Whether it’s asking for help finding a resource or searching online for a particular document or website, librarians are always at the ready to assist patrons.

“Not everyone can do everything online,” she said. “They still need that guidance” that comes from one-on-one assistance. You know – the old-fashioned way. “You have to constantly evolve and adapt” to respond to the needs of your community, Peters added.

Perry Memorial Library offers a variety of programs for young people, including Life Hacks and Survival Skills, which offers middle- and high-school aged students workshops on everything from sewing a set of mittens to learning how poetry slams work.

And the upcoming Kids Connect session will feature a poetry workshop with Valerie Rodriguez. That program, geared for kids in grades K-5, will be held Tuesday, April 25 at 4:30 p.m.

Stargazers are invited to head out to the community house at Satterwhite Point Saturday evening for a special astronomy program that begins at 7:45 p.m. Weather permitting, there will be telescopes set up and pointed at the skies for participants to learn about constellations.

There will be plenty of activities inside, too, Peters said, just in case the skies are cloudy.

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ to learn more.

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SportsTalk: KVA Baseball Plans Alumni Game

A quick check of the gymnasium at Kerr-Vance Academy will find 20-plus state championship banners hanging there representing a variety of sports the school offers.  Six of those banners are for baseball championships. Those six championships began with the 2003 Spartan team.  While the ’03 team may have won a state championship perhaps their toughest opponent will come this Saturday when that legendary team will face off against the current KVA squad in an alumni fundraising game.

“It’s been in discussion since before Christmas of last year,” said Mike Joyner, KVA Athletic Director, on Wednesday’s SportsTalk. Joyner was approached by Robert Bowen and Tim Purvis, former members of the ’03 team, about the prospects of having the alumni game. “We have a full array of things planned,” Joyner added.

Bowen, Purvis and Joyner all worked together to bring Saturday’s game to the field at Kerr-Vance and money raised at the game will go back to the baseball program including some field improvements.

The 2003 team is now much older and Joyner said there may be some special rules in place to help the old timers out.

The game will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Kerr Vance Academy and admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children.

CLICK PLAY to hear SportsTalk with Mike Joyner!

 

TownTalk: The Help Center Helps Those In Need

Since Twanna Jones founded The Help Center in 2017, she has found that there are many opportunities to provide something to someone. But what she said her organization strives to do is to provide hope as well as help.

“It’s beautiful and sustainable when you give them both,” Jones said on TownTalk Tuesday.

Jones, the Help Center staff and its volunteers need only look across the street if they need reminding about the hope part: Rebuilding Hope is located just across Raleigh Road from the Help Center building.

Whether it’s the quarterly baby shower designed to provide single moms- and dads-to-be with some of the basics that they’ll need when a newborn is added to the household to the gleaning program that puts young people in farmers’ fields to help with the harvest, The Help Center North Carolina finds a place where help is needed and then goes about the task of filling that need.

Jones and her team serve Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin and Wake counties, and they offer different programs and services in each spot.

In Vance County, the emphasis is on food insecurity and keeping a diaper bank stocked.

There’s a home delivery program that just got started – a partnership with Door Dash. It’s designed for people with chronic health issues to have weekly food deliveries since they may not be able to get out to get groceries.

All of these programs require volunteers, and Jones said she’s always in the market to have more volunteers to come and help out.

The monthly food distribution is a big one in Vance County. More than 200 families are signed up to pick up food on the 4th Monday of each month.

Then, twice a month, the Help Center opens its doors for clients to choose their own foods instead of getting the pre-made bags. Volunteers are needed for this program, too.

Food distribution Wednesday.

“It takes all of us to work together,” Jones said, giving a nod to the existing agencies in the area that also provide support to the community. “Joining together…makes our community stronger, better and healthier.”

One gap the Help Center is working to fill is getting out into the rural community. The “mobile pantry” program brings food to folks who need it, but that food delivery is just part of the contact. Volunteers deliver food, but that is coupled with making safety checks on older adults, she said. “We wanted to get out into the community and connect with people.” To do that, “you start with food.”

Visit the website at http://www.thehelpcenternc.com to learn about all the volunteer opportunities and how to make donations, or phone 919.391.7300. The office is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Some of the immediate needs, in addition to volunteers, include donations of:

  • Bottled water
  • Gatorade
  • Baby diapers
  • Adult diapers
  • Pop-lid canned items
  • Peanut butter
  • Juice packs
  • Oodles of noodles
  • Breakfast bars

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Cooperative Extension with Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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TownTalk: Carolina United For Change Plans Scholarship Event

 

 

Carolina United for Change will host a scholarship event on May 20 at the Gateway CDC to highlight its scholarship opportunities at Vance-Granville Community College.

The organization isn’t even a year old yet, but co-founder Joseph Brodie and others have focused on its mission of supporting the poor and needy and protecting the rights of all people.

Brodie was on TownTalk Monday to talk about the two scholarships that have been established at VGCC.

Two $500 scholarships will be awarded, Brodie said. Applicants will be asked to submit a personal essay on the topic of gun violence. Carolina United for Change board members will review the essays and will select the winners. The scholarships were established in honor of Brodie’s son, who was shot and killed in 2017.

Brodie said VGCC Foundation Director Tanya Weary has been instrumental in helping get the scholarship going. She and other VGCC reps will be on hand at the May 20 event to share details about applying for the scholarship and for registering to become a VGCC student.

There also will be guest speakers, drawing for gifts and musical performances during the program, which is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Gateway CDC is located at 314 S. Garnett St., Henderson.

Brodie said he appreciates the collaboration with Gateway CDC, which is providing space to hold the event as well as technical assistance to the nascent organization as it continues to gain traction in the community.

He said he hopes to be able to have a centrally located space for members of the community to come to ask questions and seek assistance.

 

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Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Ant Baiting

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Maria Parham Cancer Center Welcomes New Nurse Practitioner

-information courtesy of Donna Young, Maria Parham Health Marketing & Communication Coordinator

Maria Parham Health has added a nurse practitioner to provide services at its Cancer Center.

Crystal Kaplan, MSN, RN, AGACNP has joined its staff as an adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner with 15 years of hospital and acute care experience, including three years as a hematology oncology nurse practitioner and hospitalist for Florida Cancer Specialists.

Maria Parham Health CEO Bert Beard welcomed Kaplan, saying her experience will be a valuable asset to add to the quality of care that patients receive.

“Maria Parham Cancer Center’s collaborative care approach, in our longstanding partnership with the Duke Cancer Network and Duke Cancer Institute, brings together the expertise and perspectives of providers from a variety of specialties and disciplines, and Kaplan’s extensive experience has given her a great breadth of experience in a wide range of procedures that people in our region need. This expertise will be important as Maria Parham Health works to make our community healthier.”

Kaplan is a cum laude graduate of Auburn University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She also holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University.