I see my co-workers gathering on weekends to prepare and deliver food boxes. I see the manager of Haywood Public Transit shopping for eggs and bananas to deliver to the homebound. I see the Senior Resource Center doing a drive-through Thanksgiving lunch, and I see my neighbors cooking and delivering holiday lunches to the Towers. Many people are doing good things to help others, and I’m so grateful to see this kindness and generosity  — it warms my heart and brings tears to my eyes every time. 

This Christmas the greatest gifts I’ve received are the people I work with every day and the recognition of the generous hearts of mountain people in action, supporting the most vulnerable among us.

As we wrap up this most unusual and challenging year, please continue to support nonprofit agencies and the important work we do. Every day we face food insecurity, rental evictions, children who need clothes, seniors who are unable to afford heat and medicine and sick people unable to transport and care for themselves. Nonprofits are in the business of helping others and your financial contributions help us bring peace to people with immediate and dire needs. 

Thank you for the gracious generosity this community has shown the most vulnerable in Haywood and Jackson counties. Those on the front lines of providing for basic human needs and support services will continue to deal with the pandemic long after the masks come off.

This is my story for 2020 — community gratitude, generosity and love.

Patsy (Dowling) Davis, 

Executive Director, Mountain Projects

Waynesville