Each week, Xpress highlights notable WNC crowdsourcing initiatives that may inspire readers to become new faces in the crowd. This week features an album by Window Cat, a fundraiser to feed homeless veterans and a project that aims to help bereaved families through the death of an infant.
Appalachian Vintner’s annual holiday auction supports local children’s organizations.
Roxann Colwell knows the challenges of raising a child with special needs firsthand. Colwell, who has a 30-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, created the Family Support Network of Western North Carolina 15 years ago as a parent-to-parent support and mentoring program for caregivers of children with special needs. The organization offers a community resource guide, hosts support groups for families and establishes support networks for parents whose children have received similar diagnoses. From July 2012 to July 2013 the Family Support Network served 901 families.
At 8 a.m. on Monday morning, Mission Health’s new imaging center, Mission Children’s Radiology, opened its doors and began seeing patients. According to Dr. Bret Sleight of Asheville Radiology and Mission Children’s Radiology, the approximately 6,000 square-feet center has been quietly in the works for the last 4-5 years. (photo by Caitlin Byrd)
Six Asheville Tourists baseball players and Ted E. Tourist took a break from the diamond to visit kids at Mission Children’s Hospital on May 29. They played board games, built Lego houses and, of course, played a modified game of catch. (Photos by Caitlin Byrd)