MANNA’s mission is to involve, educate, and unite people in the work of ending hunger, and an important part of this mission is advocating for those living in and experiencing the effects of poverty. As a non-partisan organization, dedicated to sharing information about the issues affecting the people we serve together, MANNA does not endorse political parties or candidates. We simply ask people to work with our elected officials to make legislation that works for us all, and makes our region, our state, and our country stronger from the ground up. If you are interested in receiving advocacy-related emails from MANNA FoodBank, please follow link. By clicking here, you are signing up to receive information from MANNA about ways you can use your voice, and actions you can take, to help work towards our vision of a hunger-free Western North Carolina.

The “SAY THEIR NAMES” display at The Oak Street Gallery lists the names of more than 60 Black Americans killed by police officers and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Music.

It brings us all together. 

Today, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act. We need you to contact your elected representatives through SaveOurStages.com asking them to support this bill.

The Save Our Stages Act provides Small Business Administration grants for independent venues, promoters, and festivals affected by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. These grants offer at least six months of financial support to keep us afloat, pay employees, and preserve a critical economic sector and our ecosystem for communities across America.

Through SaveOurStages.com, more than 1 million emails have been sent letting all 538 members of Congress know that constituents want to keep independent venues, promoters, and festivals alive.

Please help us and continue to push. 

Call, Email, Write, Shout!  

Help us to get the Save Our Stages and RESTART Acts passed.

PLEASE CLICK BELOW NOW 

to contact your legislators and help #SaveOurStages

www.SaveOurStages.com

This link will automatically populate with your Senators and Congressional Representative based on your zipcode.

Thank you so very much for your continued support!

FIND INFO AT:  https://www.lwv.org/blog/100-days-and-100-ways-get-ready-election-day?utm_source=MonthlyHighlights&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=July2020

Calling all families! If you visit the Museum with children and/or participate in the Museum’s family programs (or might in the future!), we want to hear from you. As we transition family programs to virtual or small-group in-person formats, we need your feedback to create a model that will work for you this fall. We’re giving away a FREE guest pass to one of the first 50 people to fill out the survey.

Find locations around Buncombe County working hard to feed our community.

FOR STUDENTS: text FOODNC to 877-877 to locate nearby free meal sites. The texting service is also available in Spanish by texting COMIDA to 877-877.

View meal sites by geographical area, day of the week, and/or service type offered.

Compassion Camp is a four day event for adults and children where we create a community of people who learn, play and celebrate together, empowered to then send each other back into the world to spread these seeds of justice and love. Our time together is designed to foster community among the growing number of people in Western North Carolina and beyond who are passionate about living and promoting compassionate consciousness. Located at Earthaven Ecovillage, it is an opportunity to have fun, enjoy ourselves, learn together, and connect deeply in a beautiful natural setting.

Compassion Camp is inspired by the life and work of Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, the creator of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). We believe that the theory and practice of NVC is a life-changing tool for cultivating compassion in our hearts, communities, and the world. In addition to NVC, other topics may include: social justice, ecology, circling, restorative circles, healthy relationships, feminism, families and children, eco-sexuality, community, economics, and authentic movement.

https://masks.com/pages/the-great-american-mask-drive-by-masks-com?fbclid=IwAR0AR-vhz0_JXmFMEKFZS-3sNE1PldWPahS7LK-uPP4QtvyIXAvJzuEvOB8

Buncombe County Public Libraries have free wifi hotspots available outside any library building. To use the wifi, look for the LibraryGuest network and use the password readmore. The wifi is available all day every day, whether the library is open or not. Please observe all Buncombe County social distancing and gathering requirements while using the wifi. Questions? Call (828) 250-4700 or email [email protected].

Are you looking for ways to support teachers and students of
Henderson County Public Schools as they return to learn in a virtual setting? The Henderson County
Education Foundation (HCEF) is responding to the current climate and offering mini-grants ($500) to
support innovative and remote learning. This grant program will provide an opportunity for teachers to
enhance their virtual classrooms.
The community can support the grant initiative through sponsorships and/or donations. With a goal to
raise $20,000, HCEF will be able to offer at least 40 grants to Henderson County Public School teachers,
grade levels, and departments. Sponsorship levels include a Super Spring Sponsor ($3,000) that provides
at least six mini-grants for teachers or a Spring Sponsor ($1,000) that provides two mini-grants. Each
sponsorship will also include recognition benefits. General donations of any amount are always
welcome. Visit the HCEF website for a complete list of sponsorship details and how to give –
www.hcefnc.org/ourwork/springfund.
Henderson County Public School individual teachers, grade levels, teaching teams, and departments can
apply for grants up to $500. Innovative remote learning includes technology (hardware and software
applications), e-books, educational licenses or subscriptions, and manipulatives/kits for students. The
grants application is due by 11:59 PM August 19, 2020, and all recipients will be notified by August 31,
2020.

As families are looking to start the 2020/2021 school year with remote learning, Henderson County Public Schools is addressing the need of families without access to internet in their homes. Families without internet access can request hotspots from HCPS. Spanish form available.

Child Care Hotline Available to Help Families with School-Age Children Find Care Families have experienced an interruption in child care plans due to the COVID19 pandemic and North Carolina has responded with a hotline that can help connect families with child care options. Families and caregivers in need of child care for children up to age 12 can call the child care hotline at 1-888-600-1685 to be connected directly to care options in their community that meet their families’ needs. As of Aug. 10, there are about 30,000 slots available for school-age children in licensed child care programs across the state.

The North Carolina Forest Service is accepting tree seedling orders as part of its annual sale.

Each year, the NCFS Nursery Program produces millions of quality seedlings for nearly 50 species of conifers, hardwoods and native understory plants, including eastern and Carolina hemlock seedlings, as well as an expanded selection of genetically improved third cycle loblolly pine seedlings.

How can you order tree seedlings from the NCFS Nursery Program?

• Tree seedlings can be ordered from the online seedling store at www.buynctrees.com.
• Tree seedlings can also be ordered by phone at 1-888-NCTREES (1-888-628-7337).
• Tree seedlings can be ordered using the order form found in our current catalog. Complete the form and mail to Seedling Coordinator, 762 Claridge Nursery Road, Goldsboro, NC 27530.
• A user-friendly catalog is available at the “Tree Seedlings & Nursery Program” link located at www.ncforestservice.gov. Catalogs are also available at local NCFS offices located in all 100 North Carolina counties. Inside the catalog, landowners can find information about the types of tree species, quantities and costs to order. Each tree description includes information about ideal planting locations and whether a species is typically used to benefit wildlife, restore habitats or as marketable timber.

Distribution of tree seedlings will occur December through mid-April, depending on weather conditions. Seedling orders can be shipped to one of 12 distribution centers statewide for a small fee or via UPS for a charge. Seedling orders are also available for pickup from the NCFS Claridge Nursery in Goldsboro or the Linville River Nursery, near Crossnore. For information on planting trees, people are encouraged to contact an NCFS county ranger. Contact information for your local NCFS county office and nursery locations is available at www.ncforestservice.gov/contacts.

The Blue Ridge Business Growth Awards (companies in business over 3 years) and Rising Star Awards (companies in business less than 3 years) will be presented to Chamber member businesses that experienced growth in 2019 through quality management, inventiveness, old fashioned hard work and courage. Companies can be recognized for employment growth, revenue growth or a company. Click below for online applications:

BLUE RIDGE BUSINESS GROWTH AWARD   RISING STAR AWARD

Pardee Hospital Foundation is pleased to honor women in our community for sharing their story of courage, determination, and will as they have faced cancer and other diseases in their lives and in the lives of their families. Each year Women of Hope are honored as part of the Foundation’s Women Helping Women annual celebration. Nominees must be local residents. Preference is given to nominees who have survived any women’s health crisis (breast cancer and other cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis, to name a few), and who have received their treatment at Pardee UNC Health Care. Nomination forms are available online or in person at: Pardee Hospital Foundation office 561 Fleming Street, Hendersonville, NC 28739 Deadline for applications is September 1, 2020. Contact the Pardee Hospital Foundation office with any questions, 828-233-2700.

What:  Local musicians, singers, callers, and technicians have given us joy as they shared their love of music and dance with us.  We now ask our community to return that joy as they struggle financially during this difficult time by donating to our “Spread the Joy” fundraiser.

Who:  All donations will be paid directly and equally to local talent.  Your contributions will support local callers, musicians, and technicians who participated, a minimum of 4 times, either in the past year (March 2019 – March 2020) or were scheduled in the near future (March – June 2020) for OFB events and who indicated a financial need to the OFB Board.

When:  The OFB will distribute donations on a regular basis while dances continue to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so please give early and often. Consider donating the price you would have paid for admission to the dances for you, maybe several friends, and remembering that the dances were cancelled back in early March.

How:  Click the link below to donate via Paypal and please add the note: “Spread the Joy fundraiser”. Donate conveniently via your credit card, debit card or your Paypal account.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PYS3WHNV76CWA&source=url

The State Board of Elections and N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles now offer certain online voter registration services for existing DMV customers

If you are a DMV customer with a N.C. driver’s license or DMV-issued ID, you may now register to vote or change certain parts of your registration online. 

Using this service existing DMV customers may register to vote, update their voter registration address, or update their party affiliation. They may not change their name.

This is a standalone service that does not require the user to complete a DMV transaction (such as duplicate or license renewal) at the same time.

There is no fee for voter registration services.

Voter registration applications submitted fewer than 25 days before an election will not be processed until after the election. You may still register to vote in person using same-day registration in your county during the early voting period.

We need your help to raise $20,000 to fully fund our Preservation Grant program for 2021.  Donate to this program before the end of August and have your gift matched by our Board of Directors up to $5850!  Over the last two years, this program has succeeded in expanding our reach in our underserved communities, but there is so much more to do.  With events like the Time Traveling Gala canceled and the impact of COVID-19 on giving, your support is more important than ever.  Now is your chance to double your impact and help us continue this work!

Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. The Legacy of Congressman Lewis and Voting Rights

http://participate.lwv.org/c/10065/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13972&utm_source=ActionAlert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=080620

On the 55th Anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we take this opportunity to think of the work of giants and those before us who have created the foundation on which we stand. As we commemorate this historic day for voting rights, we look back at the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, and his tireless fight and advocacy for voting rights and justice for Black people across the country. 

Congressman Lewis presided over the historic House vote in December 2019 for the Voting Rights Advancement Act. To fully honor his legacy would mean to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate and restore protections for voters in a critical election year.

 The protections outlined in the Voting Rights Advancement Act will: 

• Re-establish preclearance coverage for states and localities with a history and pattern of discrimination in voting
• Provide preclearance nationwide for states and localities with substantial minority populations to enact voting changes that have historically contributed to voter suppression, such as changes in methods of election and cuts in polling locations
• Create greater transparency and public notice for last-minute voting information changes, such as polling location changes and ballot information