Fundraisers: November 2007 Archives
This Christmas season, Timara McCollum, the Table's executive director, is encouraging everyone to give a little time to helping make holidays for those in need. She's joined by the Table's newest addition: Kitchen Manager Samantha Crawford, who joined the Table in August.
Crawford's role is to take whatever donations, Table garden produce and stocked items are available and magically create delicious, nutritious home-cooked meals for hundreds of people. The Table has served more than 100,000 hot meals since its inception in 1999.
She also coordinates the volunteers and garden workers who serve, clean, cook, cut desserts and wash dishes during special events and the four-times-per-week meals.
"I've made stuffed peppers, because we had so many out of the garden once. They also really like that Southern favorite of beans, greens and cornbread," she says, when asked what her most creative or favorite recipes have been. "But then, I've made Chinese stirfry before, and they ate that too," she adds, smiling.
Crawford encourages everyone to volunteer, and promises she can find a job to suit just about anyone -- even kids can play a role in volunteering at the Table. And she finds herself completely in line with the group's mission and goals. To find out more, you can call her at 586-6782.
The Table will hold a Holiday Cookie Bake on December 1, 5, 7, 8 and 12, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on each of those days. The baking event will use donated sugar cookie dough, cookie cutters and decorations like sprinkles to bring together kids, adults and Table patrons and staff at the holidays.
Parents are encouraged to bring children, and community members are encouraged to come help bake holiday cookies for distribution to patrons of the Table as well as to their friends and families. (There'll be lots of tasting for the chefs, too!)
RSVPs are requested for the Cookie Bake. Call Timara McCollum at 586-6782. If you'd like to donate items for the bake-off, you can call the same number to find out what's needed.
Another holiday event for the Table is an upcoming Christmas feast. The date has not yet been determined.
The Table feeds home-cooked meals to anyone and everyone in need in a homey, restaraunt-style atmosphere, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, from 4 to 6 p.m. In addition, they offer a Blue Plate Special the last Wednesday of the month during which local chefs provide food for $5 per plate, with all proceeds going to the Table. More information is available by contacting McCollum at 586-6782.
The Table is located at the corner of Storybook Lane and Bartlett Street in Sylva, next to the Church of Christ and 2 blocks from St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Shown below: volunteers and staffers at the Community Table (click photo to enlarge). From left: Josh Schond, a WCU student volunteer; Samantha Crawford, the Community Table's Kitchen Manager and Volunteer Coordinator; and Tim and Linda Rice, longtime volunteers. They're working on putting together pots and pots of homecooked spaghetti for dinner.
The Western Carolina University School of Music will present its annual Sounds of the Season concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, in the performance hall of the Fine and Performing Arts Center on campus. The traditional concert uses nearly all the school's choral and instrumental ensembles to present a variety of Christmas and holiday arrangements, ranging from traditional compositions of carols to more modern arrangements of old favorites and newer pieces.
But the concert isn't your typical holiday event. Each year, the performances are structured as a "prism concert," which means a succession of ensembles perform at various locations throughout the performance hall.
All proceeds from ticket sales go to the School of Music's scholarship fund.
Tickets (in advance or at the door) are $10 for adults and senior citizens, and $5 for students and children. No reservations are necessary, but if you'd like more information or to reserve tickets, call the music office at 227-7242.
More musical entertainment is available at WCU Tuesday, Dec. 4, as the Wind Ensemble gives its second concert of the season. The show begins at 8 p.m. in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, and will feature several (non-holiday) pieces. The Wind Ensemble concert is free and the public is invited. For more information, call 227-7242.
All donations at the door (no tickets, suggested donation is $5 per family) will go to help victims of severe weather conditions in Malawi, Africa.
Featured local performers include the Summit Church Band, Eric Barnes, the Retroblenders and Matt Williams.
For more information, call Sabine at 399-0694.
More than 50 regional authors will gather to read from and talk about their work with you, including local authors Gary Carden, David Lamotte, Curtis Blanton, Rob Neufeld, Barbara Duncan and Bob Terrell.
Tickets ($5) will be available soon at many Sylva businesses.
On the evening before the Book Fair, hear a one-woman performance of “On Agate Hill,” a Lee Smith story, by Barbara Bates Smith (accompanied by musician Jeff Sebens playing banjo, hammered dulcimer, and lap dulcimer). The cost is $25. Hors d’oeuvres are included.
Both the Friday night performance and the Saturday book fair will take place at the First United Methodist Church of Sylva.
By participating in one or both events, you'll be helping to build our new library. All ticket proceeds and 20% of book sales will be added to a construction fund for a new building.
The book fair is produced by the Friends of the Jackson County Library, Sylva's City Lights Bookstore, and the Honors College at Western Carolina University.
For more information, visit the City Lights Bookstore page about the event and visit the web page of the Great Smoky Mountain Book Fair.
The Sylva Herald has more coverage about the book fair in an online article (click) (not affiliated with JacksonCountyMagazine.com).
