Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews

Schools Provide Support To Students Facing First Weekend At Emergency Shelter

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The 70 or so children who have spent this week with their families and others at a local shelter face their first weekend away from the place they once called home.

The situation is certainly not ideal, but Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett told WIZS News earlier Friday that district staff has put together some activities for the children to help get through the next couple of days when they’re not in school and things are far from “normal.”

“For the weekend, we are providing totes with art supplies, reading materials, board games and indoor/outdoor physical education items,” Bennett said.

On Monday, about 40 families moved to a shelter that was set up in the gym on the former campus of Eaton Johnson Middle School.
They had been extended-stay residents at a hotel located on Parham Road – some for longer than a year.

Earlier this week, Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott said she was encouraged to see the community support as churches, schools and city and county leaders have rallied to create a caring network for the families who had to move to the shelter.

Henderson City Manager Terrell Blackmon said the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is in charge of the shelter, with the cooperation of Vance County. The city’s role is limited and one of support to NCDHSS and other agencies in charge, Blackmon explained. “Our role at this point is to be an advocate for the families and to ensure that the motel remains closed for occupancy until the owners mitigate the violations at the property and bring it into compliance with the state building code.”

The city issued a zoning violation in addition to various fire code violations, Blackmon said, the majority of which are related to the state building code, which falls under the county inspections department.

The circumstances have been challenging, to be sure, but Bennett said that the district has worked to provide food, transportation and more to the children who attend Vance County Schools and their families.

“All of the VCS students who are staying in the shelter are still attending school- we have rerouted our buses to ensure they are picked up and delivered back to the shelter each day,” Bennett said in an email.

Members of the district’s Students Services team members are helping the shelter to get the children off to school in the morning and to greet them up on their return in the afternoon, she said.

The Student Behavioral Health Team is working with parents to identify new clothing that has been donated for the children, and breakfast and lunch are provided at no charge each day.

“Students who are displaced are identified as McKinney-Vento and additional resources are being added when needed.  The district has also had a social worker, nurse and counselor at the shelter each day this week to support the families and help connect them with community resources,” Bennett explained.

“We are there to support in any way we can,” Blackmon said of the city’s response to the situation. But, he added, “the services currently most needed by these families at the shelter are provided by the state, county and local nonprofit agencies.”

 

A.R. Perry Inc. Named Chamber’s 2023 Small Business Of The Year

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Over its more than 100 years, A.R. Perry, Inc. has provided vital services to the community and its residents. First established to repair Corbitt buggies and farm equipment, it went through a period that handled scrap metal and more before evolving into a glass repair and replacement service.

Of the many employees that have worked at Perry Glass (as many locals know it), owner Richard Davis said there have been 8 sets of brothers, 4 sets of sisters, 5 sets of fathers and sons, 3 sets of mothers and daughters, 3 sets of mothers and sons, and 2 sets of fathers, sons and daughters.

Gives new meaning to a family-operated business, doesn’t it?

But since Davis’s grandfather, A.R. Perry, first set up shop in Henderson, there have only been 2 married couples who have worked together. One of those couples is Richard and Mariana Davis.

They joined other Chamber of Commerce members and board representatives at a luncheon, during which A.R. Perry Inc. was named 2023 Small Business of the Year.

Chamber Board Chair Margier White introduced the winner, calling it a company that provides “top-notch glass products and installation,” as well as commercial oxygen for welding.

Perry and his brother-in-law were the only employees when they launched their business, but the company creates lasting personal relationships with its customers in the local area and beyond to keep the company vibrant.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perry Glass installed countless plexiglass and glass protection barriers throughout the community – often free or at-cost. And it’s not unusual for Davis himself to answer “glass emergencies” nights and weekends.

The company volunteers throughout the community to provide their professional services to make repairs or to donate to local events. The Davises are very involved in various aspects of their church, The Church of the Holy Innocents and are instrumental in the upkeep and preservation of historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williamsboro.

In remarks at the awards ceremony, Davis said it’s an “extreme honor” to be recognized as the Small Business of the Year.

It hasn’t always been easy, he said. In fact, it has taken lots of work to stay viable. “There are some tough days – years – in a business like this,” he said.

“I’m here because all of you are here,” Davis said. He recalled the heyday in Henderson – when like textile mills and Rose’s Stores kept smaller companies like Perry Glass busy. “They fed us business – from all over the state and all over the Southeast…that’s what Henderson people did – they took care of their own,” he said of those big corporations that called Henderson home.

Today, you’ll find A.R. Perry in the Mobile community of Henderson. But when it was in the scrap metal business, there also was some property on Ruin Creek Road, Davis said.

In those days, there were no fences to keep people out – or inventory in, he said. “People would come in and get pieces of iron, pieces of cars,” and then bring them back to Davis’s Uncle Vernon.

He knew where the scrap had come from, Davis said. But, “he’d always buy it back from them.”

TownTalk: Beard Discusses Rural Health Care

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Maria Parham Health CEO Bert Beard said the state of health care in this area is in a pretty good spot these days. That doesn’t mean that rural hospitals like Maria Parham don’t continue to face challenges, but Beard said hospitals in other markets are facing some of the same things.

Beard was a guest on Thursday’s TownTalk to discuss some of the trends that he’s seeing from his vantage point.

Medicaid expansion, he said, is allowing more uninsured or under-insured residents access to health care. The number of new enrollees is about half a million, approaching the prediction of about 600,000 in North Carolina.

“We’re lagging a bit in Vance County,” he said, but health care professionals at MPH as well as Granville Vance Public Health and others are always looking for new enrollees.

With rising costs and the constant demand to find qualified health care employees, Beard said the Medicaid expansion “has given us a lifeline that we desperately needed.”

Beard said he and his colleagues knew hospitals were headed down a path to a health care provider shortage, but the COVID-19 pandemic hastened that process. Without adequate staff, some small hospitals simply couldn’t afford to keep the doors open, which only brings more challenges to the rural areas they serve.

“Services are going away that are vital,” he said. One of those is maternal services. It’s critical that expectant moms be within, say, an hour of a hospital that provides those services, for the safety of the mom and the child.

When he spoke at the April 23 “state of health care” forum sponsored by the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, Beard said top on people’s minds was the mental health crisis that is so often in the news.

He looks forward to the Emergency Department’s Safe Space project that has received funding and said it will transform how patients in crisis can be managed when they come through the Emergency Department.

Mental health issues are multi-dimensional and under-resourced, Beard said, noting that psychological issues are often entangled in social issues and substance abuse, which exacerbate the problem.

“We’ve got to be more deliberate in how we invest in that,” he said. Public-private partnerships like MPH behavioral health services in Louisburg is something that Beard said he is quite proud of.

Whether through collaboration or providing quality health care by Duke physicians and others, Maria Parham is poised to keep patients across the region it serves top of mind when it comes to community care.

It must be a mutually supportive relationship, however, Beard said. When you seek care, seek local care first.

“It’s more important than ever,” he said, that “when people have good available local health care, that they choose it – the alternative is that health care goes away if it’s not supported locally.”

“We’re working every day to get better every day. That comes with a mutually supportive relationship with our community.”

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Cooperative Extension With Jamon Glover: Biting, Pt. 3

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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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Crossroads Christian School

SportsTalk: Crossroads Baseball, Soccer And Golf In State Playoffs

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Soccer, baseball and golf are all representing Crossroads Christian in the state playoffs, keeping Athletic Director Scottie Richardson a busy man, but he found a few minutes to talk about his teams on Wednesday’s SportsTalk.  “Our baseball team has won its first playoff game in school history and its first trip to the elite eight,” Richardson said. “We have a young team and the sky is the limit,” added Richardson.  Next up is the top seeded Lawrence Academy. “The pressure is on them,” Richardson said of Lawrenceville.

In soccer, Crossroads has also advanced to the elite eight by defeating Oakwood. They play again on Friday at Crossroads with game time at 4 p.m., weather permitting of course.  The rain has been difficult this week.  “We spent five hours to get the field ready,” Richardson said.

Richardson also is keeping his eye on the golf course where Crossroads’ Merritt Cogdill will represent the school in the state tournament Monday and Tuesday of next week in Greensboro.

 

SportsTalk: KVA Looking To Advance In Playoffs

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Kerr-Vance Academy’s baseball and soccer teams have begun the playoffs.  Mike Joyner, KVA athletic director, was on Wednesday’s SportsTalk and said both teams got off to a great start in the first round with the soccer team defeating North Hills Tuesday 1-0 and the baseball team winning 10-0 in six innings, also against North Hills.  “The kids step it up a notch in the playoffs,” Joyner said.  The season has been a challenge for KVA. “The schools we play against are significantly bigger,” Joyner added.

The KVA soccer team will play Pungo this (Wednesday) afternoon, weather permitting and the baseball team will have to wait on the winner of the Halifax vs. Ridgecroft matchup to know when they will play next.

 

Home And Garden Show

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On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Beekeepers May meeting
  • Soil Samples
  • Cicadas
  • Squashbugs
  • Fruit Trees

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Shriners Fish Fry Today; Get Plates Until 7 PM

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WIZS was live at the 60th annual Shriners Fish Fry today during the 11 a.m TownTalk segment. Come get some fish today until 7 p.m. 

Today’s THE Day, if you’re a member of the Tri-County Shrine Club. Or, if you’re someone who is planning to drive out to the annual Fish Fry. Today’s the day. Come get your fish between now and 7 p.m.

Take-out plates are ready now and the cars are lining up to get plates of perfectly battered and fried fish, complete with cole slaw, potato salad and hush puppies.

If you’ve got a ticket, great, but if you don’t, no problem. Shriners will happily take your $10 in exchange for a plate.

It’s all for a good cause – proceeds go to Shriners Children’s Hospital and burn centers.

Orders of 10 plates or more were delivered to places of business who called.

“Buy a fish plate to support Shriners Hospital,” Billy Currin said in an interview. He said they’d gotten about 600 lunch orders by 11:30 or so, and Vernon Mustian – taking a break from the fryer – said there’s plenty of fish for all.

Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame was out in the take-out line first thing and encourages everyone to come out and get some fish for a great cause. As someone who had been a burn victim himself as a young person, the result of a tobacco barn that blew up, he said, “Any time I can volunteer, I do my best to do it.”

Shriner Sherby Slaughter found himself under the tent on Fish Fry Day, taking money and tickets while plates get loaded into vehicles.

“They gave me a sit-down job, so I’m just where I need to be,” Slaughter said. He has offered his property for the past several years to host the Fish Fry, which has proven to be a perfect spot to get vehicles through the line safely and efficiently.

Slaughter said he is happy that he is able to provide the location – “anything we can do for the crippled and burned child,” he said.

One of those people shuttling plates of piping hot fish to the pick-up area is Dale Dancause, who said he’s been involved with Masons and Shriners for about 15 years.

“It’s all about the children,” he said, adding that his association with these two groups was “the best thing I ever did in my life.”

 

Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Library

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Make plans now to take part in the Summer Reading Program kickoff at Perry Memorial Library – summer sounds far away, but it’ll be here before you know it! And Melody Peters and others at the library are ready to help readers young and not-so young find time to dive into a good book.

The reading program, “Adventure Begins at Your Library,” kicks off Tuesday, June 18 from 4 to 6pm. and there’s something for all ages, Peters said on Tuesday’s The Local Skinny!

There will be reading logs available to help readers keep track and earn badges and prizes for different levels of achievement throughout the summer, Peters said. But it’s not just for how many pages you can read, she added. “’We’ve gotten really creative…to keep everyone engaged over the summer and avoid the Summer Slide.”

Added bonus to the kickoff event: The first 200 people to show up get a Pelican Snoball free!

If recent program successes are any indication, the summer program will be another one “for the books” – pun intended.

The most popular program from last year involved some visitors from the Vance County Animal Shelter and Peters said she’s happy to report that some furry friends will return to the library on Tuesday, June 25 for a special program.

In advance of this visit, the library has placed a donation bin to collect items for the shelter animals. Food, toys, bedding, kitty litter – whatever you’d like to bring, the shelter will appreciate, Peters said. “We hope we can hand them what we’ve collected that day,” she said.

Another successful event was the tea party and book sale, which  drew 60 people to the library – on a Sunday, Peters said. “Everybody was blown away,” she said. The Friends of the Library sold some books, too. Peters said she plans to make this an annual event, thanks to the positive response.

She’s heard from some library patrons that sometimes it’s just too tough to get to programs during the week, so the library is going to roll out a Family Story Time in the summer for those families who go in many different directions in the course of a normal weekday.

She’s planning to have one in June and one in July on a Sunday at 3:30 p.m. – that way, it will be after church and lunch and before dinner and getting ready for the work week again.

“We’re trying it out and we’ll see how it goes,” Peters said.

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ to learn about the different programs and activities offered at the library.

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