Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
The Mast General Store welcomes Columbia Sportswear’s partnership for this year’s Share the Warmth campaign. During the month of November, Mast General Store is collecting gently used coats, jackets, sweaters, and blankets to share with our neighbors
who need them. Columbia will make their own donation of coats and jackets to be shared with
our community organizations.
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- Donate $25+ and get a day pass to the WNC Nature Center.
- Donate $50+ and get an animal sticker and a day pass.
- Donate $100+ and get an animal tracks necklace, animal sticker, and a day pass.
- Donate $250+ and get a a guided tour of the Nature Center with animal enrichment for two people, plus the necklace, sticker, and day pass. PLUS, you’ll be entered to win a chance to go on habitat with red pandas Leafa and Phoenix in 2023!
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Help Us Meet the Need This Holiday Season
Round Up Campaigns & Community Events
We are so grateful to all of our partners who are helping us during this critical time by providing various ways for people to get involved and help provide meals for neighbors this holiday season. Read through the list below to find out ways you can get involved. - Food Lions Feeds (11/9 – 12/12): Food Lion stores will be hosting Food Lion Feeds, which is an in-store food drive program where customers have the opportunity to purchase and donate a Food Lion Feeds for the Holidays box of food that will be donated to MANNA FoodBank.
| The fall season is a time when many of us gather with our friends, families and loved ones for a variety of holidays and seasonal festivities. Often, these celebrations center around food, making it out of reach for so many people struggling to afford groceries, especially this year, with rising food costs making even a holiday turkey a distant luxury. Right now, MANNA and our partner network are still serving 68% more people than before the pandemic – many who are needing a hand for the first time. |
Now more than ever, MANNA FoodBank is dedicated to filling as many holiday tables as possible, and you can help us give thousands of households the gift of a holiday, of one less struggle, and a helping of hope. Please join our Virtual Turkey Drive – where we can stretch your donation further to get turkeys, hams, and holiday foods of all kinds for our neighbors across 16 western North Carolina counties. Together, we can make the holidays happen for the people who live and work right here at home, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. |
Make A Wish Come True This Holiday Season
Ready the hot cocoa and pull out your decorations; it’s time for another holiday season. As you begin your holiday preparation traditions, remember to visit the Buncombe County Wish Trees! This year we are offering two opportunities to spread cheer throughout the community:
Foster Care Wish Tree
Each year children in foster care and young adults participating in Extended Foster Care in Buncombe County submit a list of wishes they would like for the holidays. Signing up to sponsor a child or young adult is easy! Just follow the link below and select the child or young adult you would like to sponsor. After signing up, you will receive email confirmation that provides a copy of the wish list and all the instructions for drop off. We are taking extra precautions due to COVID-19 so be sure to read the follow up email in its entirety.
Direct Questions to Amber Cook
[email protected]
(828) 250-5824
The Wish Tree- Fulfilling Wishes of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities
There are a lot of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities in Buncombe County in need of connection this holiday season. Show a Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities how much you care by sponsoring them this holiday season. Signing up to sponsor a Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities is easy. Just follow the link below, select the Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities you would like to sponsor, and check your email for confirmation, a reminder of what your Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities would like this holiday season, and drop off instructions. We are taking extra precautions due to COVID-19 so be sure to read the follow up email in its entirety.
CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR AN OLDER ADULT OR AN ADULT WITH DISABILITIES
A note from HHS
The holidays can be hard for a lot of people, children in foster care, older adults, and adults with disabilities in particular. Holidays are a time when family and friends gather together, show support for one another, and shower each other with love, kindness, and generosity. Each year, we have an opportunity to deliver the holiday spirit to children in foster care, older adults, and adults with disabilities through our wish tree gift drives. The expressions of joy and excitement on our clients faces as we deliver their gifts reminds us of the true meaning of the holiday season, connection. Yes, the gifts are nice. But the real gift is knowing that someone loves and cares. That is what we deliver to our clients. Thank you in advance for your generous sponsorship.
Our Virtual Angel tree is up for this holiday season. This gift tree provides our broader YWCA community a path to join us as we aim to support our program participants and their families with a holiday season full of love and support.
If you would like to adopt a family this holiday season please click here or email Taleese Morrill in our Programs team to get the details of how you can fulfill a family’s holiday wish.
If you prefer please select a gift from our Amazon wish list by December 1st, 2022. Gifts from the list will be mailed directly to our building and will be sorted and distributed by our YWCA elves. All items on the list have been selected by the families and are items they are wishing for or are in need of this holiday season.
All gifts must be ordered by December 1.
Programs Served by the Angel Tree
MotherLove
YWCA’s MotherLove program supports pregnant and parenting teens throughout Buncombe County. Our goals are to help young parents to stay in school and graduate, access higher education and vocational training, develop the skills and knowledge needed to become strong parents, and delay another teen pregnancy.
Getting Ahead In a Just Getting By World
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.
Early Learning Program
YWCA’s Early Learning Program provides 5-star childcare for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Our experienced and compassionate teachers not only provide exceptional care for little ones, but also prepare young children to succeed cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally. We prioritize families using childcare vouchers or caring for children in the foster care system.
Empowerment Childcare
The YWCA provides up to 12 hours of free childcare per week for parents who are in transition, continuing their education, accessing social services, or looking for employment. ECC works closely with the Family Justice Center, Buncombe County Health and Human Services, A-B Tech, Green Opportunities, and Mary Benson House.
One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat. As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country. Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.
In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation. Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger. Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.
TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels. With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.
Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.
The Mast General Store welcomes Columbia Sportswear’s partnership for this year’s Share the Warmth campaign. During the month of November, Mast General Store is collecting gently used coats, jackets, sweaters, and blankets to share with our neighbors
who need them. Columbia will make their own donation of coats and jackets to be shared with
our community organizations.
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- We are so grateful to all of our partners who are helping us during this critical time by providing various ways for people to get involved and help provide meals for neighbors this holiday season. Read through the list below to find out ways you can get involved.
- Whole Foods’ Round-Up Campaign (11/30 – 12/20): Whole Foods shoppers are invited to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar. Whole Foods will also match a donation to MANNA when a customer buys a locally made product.
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What makes a place idyllic?
Start with an emerald river that flows from ancient mountains. Add an abundance of living creatures that co-evolved over millennia. Bring in humans who honor their place in the interconnected web. And rebuild a vital stream that supports us all.
Your support and engagement helps ensure the health of this watershed for the ages! We can’t do it without you.
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Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
WHAT THEY DO: We permanently protect and steward our region’s most beloved natural areas. When you support local land and water conservation, you ensure our lands, our water, our wildlife and our farms will be there for future generations. SAHC is committed to creating and supporting equitable, healthy and thriving communities for everyone in our region.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
- Donate $25+ and get a day pass to the WNC Nature Center.
- Donate $50+ and get an animal sticker and a day pass.
- Donate $100+ and get an animal tracks necklace, animal sticker, and a day pass.
- Donate $250+ and get a a guided tour of the Nature Center with animal enrichment for two people, plus the necklace, sticker, and day pass. PLUS, you’ll be entered to win a chance to go on habitat with red pandas Leafa and Phoenix in 2023!
-
Help Us Meet the Need This Holiday Season
Round Up Campaigns & Community Events
We are so grateful to all of our partners who are helping us during this critical time by providing various ways for people to get involved and help provide meals for neighbors this holiday season. Read through the list below to find out ways you can get involved. - Food Lions Feeds (11/9 – 12/12): Food Lion stores will be hosting Food Lion Feeds, which is an in-store food drive program where customers have the opportunity to purchase and donate a Food Lion Feeds for the Holidays box of food that will be donated to MANNA FoodBank.
| The fall season is a time when many of us gather with our friends, families and loved ones for a variety of holidays and seasonal festivities. Often, these celebrations center around food, making it out of reach for so many people struggling to afford groceries, especially this year, with rising food costs making even a holiday turkey a distant luxury. Right now, MANNA and our partner network are still serving 68% more people than before the pandemic – many who are needing a hand for the first time. |
Now more than ever, MANNA FoodBank is dedicated to filling as many holiday tables as possible, and you can help us give thousands of households the gift of a holiday, of one less struggle, and a helping of hope. Please join our Virtual Turkey Drive – where we can stretch your donation further to get turkeys, hams, and holiday foods of all kinds for our neighbors across 16 western North Carolina counties. Together, we can make the holidays happen for the people who live and work right here at home, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. |
Make A Wish Come True This Holiday Season
Ready the hot cocoa and pull out your decorations; it’s time for another holiday season. As you begin your holiday preparation traditions, remember to visit the Buncombe County Wish Trees! This year we are offering two opportunities to spread cheer throughout the community:
Foster Care Wish Tree
Each year children in foster care and young adults participating in Extended Foster Care in Buncombe County submit a list of wishes they would like for the holidays. Signing up to sponsor a child or young adult is easy! Just follow the link below and select the child or young adult you would like to sponsor. After signing up, you will receive email confirmation that provides a copy of the wish list and all the instructions for drop off. We are taking extra precautions due to COVID-19 so be sure to read the follow up email in its entirety.
Direct Questions to Amber Cook
[email protected]
(828) 250-5824
The Wish Tree- Fulfilling Wishes of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities
There are a lot of Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities in Buncombe County in need of connection this holiday season. Show a Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities how much you care by sponsoring them this holiday season. Signing up to sponsor a Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities is easy. Just follow the link below, select the Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities you would like to sponsor, and check your email for confirmation, a reminder of what your Older Adult and or Adult with Disabilities would like this holiday season, and drop off instructions. We are taking extra precautions due to COVID-19 so be sure to read the follow up email in its entirety.
CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR AN OLDER ADULT OR AN ADULT WITH DISABILITIES
A note from HHS
The holidays can be hard for a lot of people, children in foster care, older adults, and adults with disabilities in particular. Holidays are a time when family and friends gather together, show support for one another, and shower each other with love, kindness, and generosity. Each year, we have an opportunity to deliver the holiday spirit to children in foster care, older adults, and adults with disabilities through our wish tree gift drives. The expressions of joy and excitement on our clients faces as we deliver their gifts reminds us of the true meaning of the holiday season, connection. Yes, the gifts are nice. But the real gift is knowing that someone loves and cares. That is what we deliver to our clients. Thank you in advance for your generous sponsorship.
Our Virtual Angel tree is up for this holiday season. This gift tree provides our broader YWCA community a path to join us as we aim to support our program participants and their families with a holiday season full of love and support.
If you would like to adopt a family this holiday season please click here or email Taleese Morrill in our Programs team to get the details of how you can fulfill a family’s holiday wish.
If you prefer please select a gift from our Amazon wish list by December 1st, 2022. Gifts from the list will be mailed directly to our building and will be sorted and distributed by our YWCA elves. All items on the list have been selected by the families and are items they are wishing for or are in need of this holiday season.
All gifts must be ordered by December 1.
Programs Served by the Angel Tree
MotherLove
YWCA’s MotherLove program supports pregnant and parenting teens throughout Buncombe County. Our goals are to help young parents to stay in school and graduate, access higher education and vocational training, develop the skills and knowledge needed to become strong parents, and delay another teen pregnancy.
Getting Ahead In a Just Getting By World
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.
Early Learning Program
YWCA’s Early Learning Program provides 5-star childcare for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Our experienced and compassionate teachers not only provide exceptional care for little ones, but also prepare young children to succeed cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally. We prioritize families using childcare vouchers or caring for children in the foster care system.
Empowerment Childcare
The YWCA provides up to 12 hours of free childcare per week for parents who are in transition, continuing their education, accessing social services, or looking for employment. ECC works closely with the Family Justice Center, Buncombe County Health and Human Services, A-B Tech, Green Opportunities, and Mary Benson House.
A holiday toy drive conducted by off-duty Law Enforcement Officers and firefighters who fill patrol cars with gifts donated by the community for kids in need this Christmas. The 28-hour event will take place at The Well and all donations will go to families in the local area.
Drop off unwrapped, newly purchased toys for the LEO Santa Toy Drive, where the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and Greenville Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) will be on hand for live demonstrations. Donations will be collected curbside outside of the GSP International Airport Box Office from 6:00am on December 1 until 10:00am on December 2.
The LEO Santa Toy Drive is part of The Well’s Serving Together: Arena’s Giving Experience (STAGE) program that supports the community through special events and community engagement initiatives.
Ingles Magical Christmas Toy Drive begins Thursday., Dec. 1 from 5 a.m.-7 p.m. at Ingles (151 Smokey Park Hwy.), and continues through Dec. 2 from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. and Dec. 3 from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Donations are for new, unwrapped toys, books, and clothing.
For the second consecutive year, Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville (HCCA) and Grateful Bread will team up to host a Winter Coat Drive to benefit our local community. Guests, community members, and more are encouraged to bring their lightly used and recently cleaned jackets, coats, and related winter apparel to the HCCA Box Office during business hours (Tuesday-Friday, 10a-4p) or during active event times until December 22nd. Grateful Bread will also be hosting a special pop up coat drive event on December 10th in front of the venue for the Christmas Jam.
TBC is once again partnering with local Outback Steakhouse restaurants to host blood drives across North and South Carolina. TBC is thankful for our partners at Outback who amplify the importance of blood donation and encourage community members to roll up their sleeves and donate blood.
The Blood Connection’s mobile donation units will be at fourteen select Outback Steakhouse locations across North and South Carolina on December 1. As a thank you for helping save local lives, all donors will receive a $20 eGift card, redeemable for an Outback eGift card, plus a coupon for a free Bloomin’ Onion.
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- We are so grateful to all of our partners who are helping us during this critical time by providing various ways for people to get involved and help provide meals for neighbors this holiday season. Read through the list below to find out ways you can get involved.
- Whole Foods’ Round-Up Campaign (11/30 – 12/20): Whole Foods shoppers are invited to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar. Whole Foods will also match a donation to MANNA when a customer buys a locally made product.
|
|
- Donate $25+ and get a day pass to the WNC Nature Center.
- Donate $50+ and get an animal sticker and a day pass.
- Donate $100+ and get an animal tracks necklace, animal sticker, and a day pass.
- Donate $250+ and get a a guided tour of the Nature Center with animal enrichment for two people, plus the necklace, sticker, and day pass. PLUS, you’ll be entered to win a chance to go on habitat with red pandas Leafa and Phoenix in 2023!
-
Help Us Meet the Need This Holiday Season
Round Up Campaigns & Community Events
We are so grateful to all of our partners who are helping us during this critical time by providing various ways for people to get involved and help provide meals for neighbors this holiday season. Read through the list below to find out ways you can get involved. - Food Lions Feeds (11/9 – 12/12): Food Lion stores will be hosting Food Lion Feeds, which is an in-store food drive program where customers have the opportunity to purchase and donate a Food Lion Feeds for the Holidays box of food that will be donated to MANNA FoodBank.
| The fall season is a time when many of us gather with our friends, families and loved ones for a variety of holidays and seasonal festivities. Often, these celebrations center around food, making it out of reach for so many people struggling to afford groceries, especially this year, with rising food costs making even a holiday turkey a distant luxury. Right now, MANNA and our partner network are still serving 68% more people than before the pandemic – many who are needing a hand for the first time. |
Now more than ever, MANNA FoodBank is dedicated to filling as many holiday tables as possible, and you can help us give thousands of households the gift of a holiday, of one less struggle, and a helping of hope. Please join our Virtual Turkey Drive – where we can stretch your donation further to get turkeys, hams, and holiday foods of all kinds for our neighbors across 16 western North Carolina counties. Together, we can make the holidays happen for the people who live and work right here at home, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. |