NEWLAND — After an exhaustive search, Feeding Avery Families has signed an agreement to purchase land located on Old Vale Road, behind the Avery County Board of Education and WAMY
NEWLAND — Feeding Avery Families is taking its mission on the road. The community food bank, which provides meals and groceries to neighbors in need free of charge, has become
HIGH COUNTRY â Longtime Avery County resident and attorney Tom McMurray announced last week his intention to seek election for a seat as for 24th District Court Judge, representing Avery, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey and Madison counties.
McMurray, a Republican, is an attorney at Appalachian Law Center and has two decades of experience in the profession, received his Associateâs Degree from Guilford Technical Community College, a Bachelorâs Degree from Thomas Edison State College, and his law degree (JD) from North Carolina Central University.
After spending his first five years in practice in the Greensboro area dealing with cases involving bankruptcy work representing debtors, Tom and his family moved to Banner Elk in 2007, where he primarily has practiced family law. McMurray has been appointed to represent parents involved with Department of Social Services (DSS) cases in Watauga, Avery and Mitchell counties.
Editorâs Note: The following is the first in a multi-story series on Avery County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Brigmanâs experiences through his first school year in the district. This first installment highlights accomplishments while facing and meeting challenges the district envisions both currently and in the future.
NEWLAND â It would be a gross understatement to say that the past 14 months have been a difficult period in communities worldwide. As society has had to face the realities of a global pandemic that has enveloped virtually aspect of day-to-day living since its onset in March 2020, every walk of life in its own way has embraced the college basketball tournament adage of âsurvive and advance,â with the goal of emerging on the other side of COVID-19 and returning to as close a semblance of normalcy as possible.
NEWLAND â After one of the busiest seasons in the nonprofitâs history, Feeding Avery Families continues to expand its services throughout the community to help ensure that no one goes hungry in Avery County.
In order to accomplish this mission Executive Director Dick Larson and the many volunteers who contribute the organization have been working to expand the number of available community pantries to Lees-McRae College and the Williams YMCA, creating the new âBackpacks for Seniors programâ and becoming prepared for the upcoming summer food distribution.
â(The pantry at Lees-McRae) is available anytime the Student Center is open. Itâs available for anybody at anytime they have need for food. Weâll be supplementing that with some additional personal hygiene projects. We did put some in to begin with, but this is something we want to keep doing too,â Larson said. âItâs hard to believe when you think about it. How could students be foo