The ECHO is published bi-monthly throughout the year by the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Club. You can access the online blog at: www.gertonecho.blogspot.com or pick up a paper copy at the Gerton Post Office. News is always welcome, pictures, too. Please send to editor Margaret Whitt at mwhitt@du.edu Photographers this issue: Margaret Whitt, Sylvia Sane, Shirley Boone, and Dave McDonald.
Officers for 2015-1016: President Margaret Whitt; Vice President Lynn Morehead; Summer Secretary Lana Roberts; Winter Secretary Sarah Gayle; Treasurer Sylvia Sane. Board members: Jean Bradley, Patty Tanner, Mac McAdams, Jim Earnhardt. Immediate Past President Jim Sane.
Two Top Honors Go to UHNGCC from
WNCCommunities Annual Awards Event:
Community of Distinction and Calico Cat
Sixty-Five communities located in western North Carolina participated in the 66th annual WNC Honors Luncheon at the Doubletree by Hilton in Biltmore on Saturday, November 7, 2015. This year WNCCommunities had a total of $36,900 to give to the 65 communities who filled out the annual report. $300 was given to each of 43 groups, naming them a "Participating Community." Twenty groups received $1,000 each, naming them "Community of Promise." Two clubs received the top award of $2,000 and the title "Community of Distinction." Bethel and UHNGCC were the recipients this year.
In recent years, UHNGCC has won the coveted "Community of Distinction" in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015. In 2013, we were a "Community of Promise. To take the top award four times in five years is most rare! For the present, the cash award of $2,000 has been deposited in the savings account until we make decisions about our next big project.
But UHNGCC did not rest with just the top prize, we also won the Calico Cat, a beautiful pottery cat piece of art. The Calico Cat has been awarded for the past 41 years to the group that has done the most to preserve, alter, change, add, improve their clubhouse. UHNGCC has won the Junior Calico Cat in 1994, 1995, and 2014. We won the BIG cat in 2002 and this year---a crowning reward for the completed kitchen! Please take a look at the cat in the newly cleaned (!) showcase in the service area beside the kitchen.
Interesting tallies this year from the 65 participating groups included 5,711 volunteers, 133,390 volunteer hours, and collectively the organizations raised from grants and fund raisers $480,000+. Those who support the clubs in rural western North Carolina, providing the cash prizes, include: Harrah's Cherokee, Biltmore Farms, Duke Energy, Mission Health, Farm Bureau, Carolina Farm Credit, First Citizens, and Wells Fargo.
Calendar of Events
January 12 and 13, Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Winter clean-up at the UHNGCC -- in preparation for the construction of the UHNG History Wall.
January 19, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish. Program: 2016 Budget Review and Approval and Housekeeping Duties
February 16, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish. Program: Gloria Anders on herbal preventions and remedies for colds and flu
President's Note
I want to start my thoughts in this new year by giving thanks to Jim Sane, for a good year of leadership in 2015, which included overseeing every detail of our long-awaited, completely renovated new kitchen. It is now hard to remember just how bad the old kitchen looked! As with the kitchen--and every other project the club has undergone--Jim didn't and couldn't do it alone. He had many people that gave lots of volunteer hours to get that job done. I give thanks to live in such a community.
On March 12 and 13, we are going to meet for our winter clean-up in anticipation of beginning our History Wall. We have some items that have been donated, and we plan to start with those, making our wall an ongoing WORK IN PROGRESS. As people see what we have, it is our hope that they will go home and bring back some pictures and stories that have been tucked away. We have talked about beginning the wall for some time, but we plan to actually move on it this winter. Please be checking to see what you might want to share. We plan to expand the History Wall beyond the community club to include the upper gorge.
I look forward to working with you again as we continue to live up to our designation as a COMMUNITY OF DISTINCTION. May 2016 be a good year for us all.
Margaret Whitt
A Story of Chairs....
Some years back the community center was filled with small wooden chairs. These chairs served the center and its people well for many years. Then...suddenly one day, we were playing Bingo and someone sat down and fell off the chair onto the floor. And it happened again...and again. It was time to do something. Lorri Erskine happened to notice a large number of chairs at Lake Lure that were awaiting a second life somewhere. She went inside and reported that the UHNGCC would LOVE to take those chairs off their hands. They agreed!
Next, we sold the wooden chairs; a popular restaurant in Black Mountain bought ten of them for $5 each. Others came by for a few more. We ran an ad in I WANNA. Mary Robinson offered her painting talents to dress some of them up a bit. Eventually, the wooden chairs were gone. Then Don Freeman brought his power washer to Margaret Whitt's home. A group gathered to load all the chairs onto a truck and brought them up to Chestnut Hills for a good cleaning. Then we took all 100+ chairs back to the clubhouse. We used them for the first time at our summer play.
Since that time, we have enjoyed the maroon plastic and metal chairs. They are larger than the wooden chairs, and they are comfortable. But if we wanted to ever re-do our pinewood floors, it would take a good deal of work to prepare each chair for a refurbished floor.
After the kitchen was finished, and after the success of two Gerton Teacup High Teas, in which we borrowed white tables and chairs from Lake Lure, and a gift from Billy Gaines of our first white rectangle table, we decided to go the distance. We watched carefully for sales at Sam's, so that we might use our collective dollars to the best possible advantage. On sale, we bought another five rectangle tables, bringing the total to six. Then we found another sale and purchased six new 60" inch round tables.
The board made a decision to give the maroon and metal chairs away if we could find a good home for them. Crab Creek Community Club was eager to have them. They came by in a truck on November 13 to collect the chairs. Before they left with their "new chairs," they were asked to honor the moral code of the chairs. At such time that they were ready to move on from these chairs that they not sell them, but instead, offer them to another organization for free. They agreed, and the chairs left UHNGCC to seat another group of people across the county.
Chairs bound for Crab Creek Community Center
Barbara Earnhardt performs the installation program for the new UHNGCC 2016 officers. From left: Barbara Earnhardt, Margaret Whitt, president; Lynn Morehead, vice president; Sarah Gayle, winter secretary; Sylvia Sane, treasurer; Jean Bradley, Mac McAdams, Patty Tanner, and Jim Earnhardt, board members, Also pictured are our new round white tables and chairs.
Diego and Eva decorate the club Christmas tree on Work Day.
Anastasia Walsh and Jim Earnhardt make fresh wreaths for the clubhouse doors.
Upper Hickory Nut Gorge History Wall
Beginning on March 12 and 13, we will hold our annual winter clean-up days. Along with moving things around and out!, we will also be organizing and collecting, displaying and arranging what we presently have of our history-- both personal and public--of our part of the Hickory Nut Gorge. Please bring historical items of our collective past for the enjoyment of all who live in Gerton.
Thanksgiving Dinner
We had 40 for our community Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday, November 17. We had a number of people who had never come before, others who were on their way South for the winter months, and still others who had not been at a meal in a long time. It was so good to see everyone and to break bread together at our brand new round white tables and to sit on our brand new white chairs. We had a feast of thanksgiving favorites, including the turkey and dressing. New officers were inducted by Barbara Earnhardt. Jim Sane reminded all that we will have our Christmas Greenery Work Day on December 1. The rest was just good conversation and much cheer---and a sense of gratefulness for Gerton.
Christmas Greenery Work Day
Jean Bradley, Shirley Boone, and Sylvia Sane gather fresh greens from the huge pile to assemble the greens that will go on each street sign on 74 A through Gerton.
Neighbors gathered on the cold and rainy morning of Tuesday, December 1, to both decorate the inside of the clubhouse and put together the fresh greens and red bows in the anticipation of the hanging on every street sign in Gerton. Jim Earnhardt and Anastasia Walsh made new wreaths for the front doors, while her children Diego and Eva decorated the tree. Lynn Morehead and Sarah Gayle wrapped the outside railings with garland. Doug and Margaret Colwell were first on the scene to drop off a load of greens. Jean Bradley and Lorri Erskine brought in another load, as did Jim Sane and Shirley Boone. We protected our new tables with dropclothes and the assembly line began. Someone suggested that we make additional greeneries to take to our neighbors who may be homebound. We assembled until every bit of the usable greens were turned into seasonal fashion. Shirley Boone made special bows for the greens that were to hang on our Welcome to Gerton signs.
On Thursday afternoon in the ongoing mists, Jim Sane and Jim Earnhardt took out the finished greens and hung them in at least three dozen locations. Join us next year if you want one for a road that does not exit off of 74A; you can make one for your road. Work Day is always as close to the first of December as possible and we leave the hangings up until the first of the new year. This tradition has been ongoing for over 20 years.
Christmas Party
John Sullivan Hathaway prepares to become Santa Claus at the annual Christmas party.
About 20 of us gathered on Tuesday, December 15, for our annual Christmas party of finger foods, of which there was a bountiful supply. After dinner, John Solomon Hathaway put on his Santa Claus hat and handed every person a present. When all had one in hand, we opened them. Then, table by table, we moved around the room and took a present away from someone, who had to give it up! Kind neighbors even brought special presents for the youngest members of the community. We closed out the evening by singing along with Dolly Parton--she couldn't be there personally, but she sent along a CD! Then we turned out the lights; those who had received flashlights as a gift turned them on, and by the light of the tree, we all sang "Silent Night" with Johnny Mathis.
We had a brief sharing of favorite Christmas gifts received as a child; several neighbors still had that special gift -- now over 50 years old!
Neighborhood News
Christmas Decorations in Gerton:
Bearwallow Baptist celebrates the Christmas season with wreaths and bows.
Lights on at the Anders' home.
For Visiting Guests: Esmeralda Inn has a winter special -- three nights for the price of two -- from January 15-March 31. Call 625-2999 for reservations.
Chimney Rock State Park has the following BIG news:
- Yahoo! We were one of Yahoo Travel's "Waterfalls, Caves, and Lakes - 50 Hidden Gems Across America
- Reopening of the Grotto, Subway and Pulpit Rock
NOTES From OUR LITTLE LIBRARY:
from Lake Lure: Thanks for doing this for the Gorge...Mary Ann Ransom. I will bring more books to leave!
from Tanja: Thank you for the wonderful books! My 11-year-old daughter would love to find some books for her, too, such as Nancy Drew, American Girl Magazines, etc.
