Those who donate with The Blood Connection, the non-profit community blood center, are directly impacting the lives of people in this community; people like children battling cancer, or a neighbor suffering from Sickle Cell Disease.  Those people rely on community blood donors every day to ensure lifesaving blood products needed for treatments are available in local hospitals.  That is why TBC is partnering with local and national organizations to shed light on Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Sickle Cell Awareness Month.

Both causes have a close tie to blood centers, as blood products are vital for the treatment and management of these diseases.  TBC’s September campaign will give community members an opportunity to double their donation by donating blood to the community and donating their reward points to organizations that support childhood cancer and sickle cell patients.

TBC is also looking for organizations, companies, and groups to host blood drives to benefit these causes.
Blood drive coordinators can pick local chapters and organizations, and TBC will make a monetary donation
per donor. To speak with a TBC representative about hosting a blood drive in September, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host and fill out the form.

Enjoy a more productive day by meeting prospective customers at the start of your day. You may find a strong referral source, a new vendor, the perfect client, or simply get a foot in the door for connecting again later at another Chamber event. AM Power Hour is great if you are an early-bird or can’t make our after-hours networking events.

This AM Power Hour is Hosted by Mountain Credit Union, with a homemade country breakfast!

Registration is required to attend.

The WNC Farmers Market is the premier destination for buying and selling the region’s best agriculture products directly from farmers & food producers to household & wholesale customers in an environment that celebrates the region’s diverse culture, food & heritage.

House of Operation:

WNC Farmers Market: 24/7, 361 days a year market access for farmers
Office: Monday- Friday, 8am-5pm
Market Shops: 7 days a week, 8 am-5 pm
Wholesale and Truck Sheds: 7 days a week

Financial Empowerment for Women

Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World® – Building Resources for a Better Life. YWCA’s Getting Ahead program aims to provide financial empowerment for low-income women of all ages and backgrounds to make choices that positively impact themselves, their families and their community.

Knowledge is Power

A series of “kitchen table” discussions that investigate the causes of poverty, the hidden rules of class, and resources needed by all. Participants will assess individual situations as well as the condition of our community to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

“Going through the program made me realize that I wasn’t in this by myself. I was surrounded by people just like me who were humble enough to say ‘I need help.”

“The class has re-shaped my thinking process- the way I approach situations as possibilities, not obstacles”

Participants Receive

• Childcare and meals at each session
• A $20 stipend for each session attended
  Received once the program is completed
• A workbook to keep track of learning and personal goals
• One-on-one case management for 18
  months to support personal success
• Transportation support is available

• The Council on Aging of Buncombe County was formed in 1964 to address the needs of seniors in our community
• We provide essential support to people over 60 who need assistance with food, heat or a/c, and health care
• Our volunteers make this work possible– consider joining us today!

Our Mission Statement: Promote the Independence, dignity, and well-being of adults through service, education, and advocacy

We are looking for volunteers to work with low-income Medicare recipients as an unbiased, knowledgeable guide, providing education and assistance with navigating through the application process to help them receive much-needed assistance with the following programs:

• Medicare Part D Extra Help/Low-Income Subsidy (LIS)
• Medicare Savings Programs
• Medicaid
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly known as Food Stamps)
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)

The safety of our clients is our highest priority. Here’s what’s required for this role:

• Clear criminal background check and driving record.
• Minimum $100,000/300,000 in auto liability coverage.
• Orientation and training with the Council on Aging.
• A reliable vehicle that will pass NC safety inspection.

Additionally, we are very flexible and will work with your schedule.

Who would make a strong candidate for this volunteer role?

• You care about seniors and want to support those who need help most
• A resident of Buncombe County, NC, or a nearby town.
• Someone willing to learn basic education about the Benefits Enrollment Center (BEC) and what benefits are available for lower-income Seniors.
• Someone willing to receive education about outreach, what larger events entail, and how to assist with these events.
• Someone willing to travel around Buncombe County and set up a table at outreach events, educating the community on the services offered at Council on Aging and the Benefits Enrollment Center.
• Someone able to assist clients with benefits applications and maintain awareness of changes to income guidelines.

If you want to help make a difference in the lives of real people right here in western North Carolina, we would love to welcome you on board as a volunteer.

Old Kentucky Home -The Thomas Wolfe Memorial

American Novelist Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)

Considered by many to be one of the giants of 20th-century American literature, Thomas Wolfe immortalized his childhood home in his epic autobiographical novel, Look Homeward, Angel. Wolfe’s colorful portrayal of his family, his hometown of “Altamont” Asheville, North Carolina, and “Dixieland” the Old Kentucky Home boardinghouse, earned the Victorian period house a place as one of American literature’s most famous landmarks.

House tours are offered daily at half past each hour. Last tour leaves at 4:30 pm.
Group tours by reservation.

Adult – $5.00
Student (ages 7-17) – $2.00
Adult Group (10+) – $2.50 each
Student Group – $2.00 each
6 & under – Free

Hours of Operation

Bender Gallery is excited to present “A Clear Choice,” a solo exhibition of stunning abstract sculptures by internationally recognized master glass artist Karsten Oaks. “A Clear Choice” opens on Saturday, September 3rd with an artist’s reception with Oaks present from 6 – 9 PM, and runs through September 25th. Using specialized optical glass, Oaks creates sculptures that bend light and color via their unique forms. Reminiscent of graffiti marks, his forms are instantly recognizable and are made with meticulous perfection. When viewing, a discernible object often appears from a momentary perspective creating a vision that allows the viewer to connect on a more personal level with the piece. This mystery inspires a deeply personal relationship between viewer and object and sets Oaks’ work apart from that of his contemporaries. We hope to see you there!

Mon – Sat 10 – 6 Sun 12 – 5

Giving blood is a simple thing to do, but it can make a big difference in the lives of others.  Asheville Outlets is teaming up with the American Red Cross to host a mobile blood drive on Friday, September 9. The donation drive will be held in parking lot behind the food court. Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/give and entering the sponsor code AshevilleOutlets. All Blood Donations are tested for COVID-19 Antibody.

The Autumn at Oz Festival is the largest Oz festival in the world! A combination of your standard festival with arts & craft, handmade trinkets, memorabilia, & food vendors, it also includes a completely immersive theatrical experience where guests are engulfed into the classic story as you travel into the Gale Kansas Farm, through the tornado experience, and down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. Along the way, meet all of your favorite characters for photo opportunities, see many live performances, and shop for your favorite Wizard of Oz Memorabilia.

The park will be debuting several new components to its immersive walkthrough theatre experience at this year’s Autumn at Oz event including:
Brand new costumes for all main cast members curated by Project Runway Season 1 runner-up, Austin Scarlett.
A restoration of the original 1970s psychedelic artwork inside the interactive “Kansas Twister” scene.
8 enchanting performances along the Yellow Brick Road
The recently-developed Over The Rainbow overlook, showcasing a breathtaking 5-state view.
The refurbishing of one of the park’s original metal balloon set pieces which serves as the park’s only ride.

Guests can also anticipate:
Photos & autographs with characters
Extraordinary sets, including a hand-implemented poppy field, adorned with over 4,000 fake poppies
Live performances by veteran actors
Face painting
Food vendors
Merchandise

YWCA of Asheville is a nonprofit organization working to bridge gaps in education, health, childcare, and earning power for women and families in the Asheville region. The mission of the YWCA of Asheville is to eliminate racism; empower women; and promote peace,  justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

The YWCA indoor pool hosts a comprehensive Aquatics Program with activities for all ages, abilities, and interests.

Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities 

• Join the fun in the pool as a swim assistant. Help children and adults learn the basics of floating, kicking, breathing, and diving.
• Support the Aquatics Program with behind-the-scenes administrative work or on-the-deck supervising

Time Commitment

• Flexible time commitment

Volunteer Requirements

• Background check

“LIFE ART LIFE William Bernstein 50 year retrospective” exhibition August 6-October 9, 2022 at the Toe River Arts’ Kokol Gallery, Spruce Pine, NC, features the paintings and glass of this artist who has been on the forefront of the studio glass movement.

Graduating 1968 from the Philadelphia College of Arts and just married, Bernstein moved to Penland School of Crafts to be their second glass resident artist from 1968-70. He was a co-founder of the Glass Arts Society (GAS) that formed to bring together the glass community so people could work together and learn from each other. Receiving numerous awards, fellowships and grants, he has exhibited internationally and has artwork in many private and public collections. Bernstein has lived most of his professional life in the rural Celo community of Yancey, North Carolina along with his family and artist wife, Katherine Bernstin. This retrospective provides a great opportunity for one to imagine a life surrounded by art.

This has been not only been a year-long process of curating pieces for an exhibit, but a lifetime of making art that connects with all things about one’s life. Bernstein’s work in glass and paint showcases just that: his family, his pets, friends, his environs, his moods and so much more. A life well-lived in creating art. More on Bernstein Glass www.bernsteinglass.com

William Warmus (A Fellow and former curator of Modern Glass at the Corning Museum), writes for the exhibition catalog, “Bernstein is a minimalist whose style is based upon the dedication to the concepts of honesty, modesty, and humility. It has a feel of its surroundings and of the people of the region.”

The Toe River Arts Kokol Gallery is located at 269 Oak Avenue, Spruce Pine, NC 28777. The exhibition dates: August 6 – October 9, 2022. Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10:30 – 5:00 pm. 828-765-0520, www.toeriverarts.org

Public receptions on Fridays: August 12 and October 7, both 5:00-7:00 PM. Artist gallery talk Friday, August 12, 4:00 pm. The exhibition travels to Cary Arts Center November 30 – January 21, 2023.

Coinciding with the United Nations’ Year 2022 as the Year of Glass and the 60th Anniversary of the Studio Glass Movement, this has been made possible by Toe River Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Cary Art Center, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, the Blumenthal Foundation, and Mountain Electronics in Micaville, NC.

Tracey Morgan Gallery is pleased to present Uncharted, a joint exhibition by multiple-disciplinary artists Georgia Deal and Tom Ashcraft. Incorporating both individual and collaborative works, the exhibition will in-clude wooden and cast bronze boat sculptures, prints on hand-made paper, and photographs, all centered around ideas of physical and psychological transitions.

The isolation of the pandemic and the ensuing global geo-political tumult compelled Deal and Ashcraft to re-examine their studio practices. The individual and collaborative works in this exhibition reference a liminal space, that transitional point between “what was” and “what’s next.”

For Deal, the pandemic afforded time to examine ideas of solitude and anticipation and her work echoes the imagery brought on by that period of stasis. Ashcraft’s sculptures, selected versions from his collection of 200+ handmade wooden boats, gather ideas of migration, observation, scale, and object-making. Their col-laborative piece, Uncharted, undertakes these overlapping themes, dealing with both the psychic and antici-patory nature of movement, especially when that movement is only possible through imagination

Deal and Ashcraft each conduct significant individual studio practices and have been committed to the ethic of collaborative art for over 35 years. They are core members of Workingman Collective, founded in 2005 as a cooperative group of artists and other professionals whose membership and objectives evolve to fit each new project. They are interested in process, invention, chance, and the public.

Georgia Deal is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Printmaking and Papermaking Program at the Corcoran School of Art & Design of George Washington University in Washington DC. Her work is in multiple collections including the Philadelphia Museum, the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Yale University Library. She currently lives in Asheville, NC and is proprietor of the papermaking studio, Swannanoa Paper.

Tom Ashcraft’s diverse practice is rooted in object-making, public and participatory artwork. He and Work-ingman Collective have exhibited and produced work in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Design Grant and a Ford Foundation Fellowship, among others. He recently completed a student / artist collaborative work “Public Practice” which was a three-year course focused on creating two permanent artworks for the US Embassy in Niamey, Niger, commissioned by Art in Embassies, US Department of State. Ashcraft is currently based in Asheville, North Carolina and is the MFA Director and Distinguished Professor at the School of Art + Design, Western Carolina University.

Useful and Beautiful: Silvercraft by William Waldo Dodge features a selection of functional silver works by Dodge drawn from the Museum’s Collection. Organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Whitney Richardson, associate curator, this exhibition will be on view in the Debra McClinton Gallery at the Museum from February 23 through October 17, 2022.

William Waldo Dodge Jr. (Washington, DC 1895–1971 Asheville, NC) moved to Asheville in 1924 as a trained architect and a newly skilled silversmith. When he opened for business promoting his handwrought silver tableware, including plates, candlesticks, flatware (spoons, forks, and knives), and serving dishes, he did so in a true Arts and Crafts tradition. The aesthetics of the style were dictated by its philosophy: an artist’s handmade creation should reflect their hard work and skill, and the resulting artwork should highlight the material from which it was made. Dodge’s silver often displayed his hammer marks and inventive techniques, revealing the beauty of these useful household goods.

The Arts and Crafts style of England became popular in the United States in the early 1900s. Asheville was an early adopter of the movement because of the popularity and abundance of Arts and Crafts architecture in neighborhoods like Biltmore Forest, Biltmore Village, and the area around The Grove Park Inn. The title of this exhibition was taken from the famous quotation by one of the founding members of the English Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris, who said, “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Not only did Dodge follow this suggestion; he contributed to American Arts and Crafts silver’s relevancy persisting almost halfway into the 20th century.

“It has been over 15 years since the Museum exhibited its collection of William Waldo Dodge silver and I am looking forward to displaying it in the new space with some new acquisitions added,” said Whitney Richardson, associate curator. Learn more at ashevilleart.org.

Passion begets passion, beauty begets beauty…..this is thought that is in professional photographer, Monica Stevenson’s, mind every moment she spends
at Red Bell Run. The photographs for this exhibition are inspired by Mary Adams, the owner of Red Bell Run, affection for and dedication to the animals and plants that thrive at her equine sanctuary.  As with much of Monica’s work, she leans heavily on her own collaborative spirit and the generous nature of her artistic partners–Preston Wainwright, floral designer, Thomas Ignatius and Sean Smith, both illustrative designers, to support some of the exhibit’s featured works. The resulting pictures included in this show, photographed with a large format digital camera and hand printed,  display an abundance of beautiful details– flowers, leaves, illustrations, textures, colors, dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, expressions, shapes, movement, fur, teeth, limbs–all the things that make up the natural world that is Red Bell Run.

Hosted by: The Buddhist Studies Institute

FREE – ONLINE – 30 MINUTES – DAILY
🌺Guided meditation support and community🌺

🌸Stabilization and Liberation:
In order to liberate our minds– we need stable calm.

🌸Consistency & Commitment:
Stabilizing in calm clear presence takes consistent training.

🌸Support & Community:
Daily Meditation is a container and support for your meditation focus.

Expand your meditation circle- join us online any day or every day!

Formerly known as 100 Days of practice to support a Tibetan Yogis tradition to practice 100 days in the winter, this has now been expanded to continue daily. To learn more and register: https://buddhiststudiesinstitute.org/daily-meditation/

oin us at Burntshirt Vineyards Hendersonville Friday, 9/9 for live music from Asheville fiddler and violinist Sandy Herrault! Sandy is a classically trained violinist who performs regularly at area venues, weddings, and events.  Her style is unmistakably her own, encompassing Pop, Classical, Celtic, Gypsy, and other genres. Come on down to the Burntshirt Vineyards Winery and Tasting Room this Friday from 3-6 PM for an afternoon of fantastic musicianship and wine tasting! We can’t wait to see you!