Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Some of what’s going around:
-Restoration Hardware is coming to Asheville Outlets, which opened earlier this year but continues to add more stores. The popular home furnishings chain is based out of California.
-NYS3 in Asheville is seeking submissions for the Asheville National 10-Minute Play Contest & Festival! Submit your best, short, original plays (no more than 10 pages in length) for a chance at one of the Festival’s 10 spots. Over the course of three nights, the 10 winning playwrights will see their plays brought to life at the elegant Grace Center thanks to a large collective of Asheville directors, actors and crew. The top 10 entries will also each receive a $100 prize, a video copy of their script being produced, and their play published in a hardcopy anthology. Visit the page below for guidelines and registration.
-Asheville’s first social justice-themed vegan wine bar, The Block off Biltmore, has opened, and latestvegannews.com has the story.
-From the fine folks at the Asheville Design Center:
The Asheville Design Center is putting out the annual call for interesting community projects for our 2016 Summer DesignBuild Studio. Our deadline for Community Proposals is January 15, 2016. You can submit an online application by visiting our DesignBuild Studio webpage and clicking on “Submit a Project Proposal for Summer 2016.”
Does your community have a great idea, but needs some help putting it into action? In the summer of 2016, the Asheville Design Center will be hosting a eight-week program comprised of collegiate level students in the fields of design, planning, and construction to design and construct a small community-based project. We are looking for project ideas and would like to know if your community would like to be the host for the summer studio.
We are looking for a community or neighborhood that:
· has an association of elected members that represent the community
· has already identified a small scale public space project that could be designed and built within eight weeks (bus shelter, community garden pavilion, sports shelter, amphitheater, etc.). This project ideally integrates a physical structure/space with the surrounding landscape
· has community members that would be able to work closely with the students in both the design and building stages of the project
· would be able to help contribute to the cost of buildings materials ($5,000-$15,000) and help identify other sources of funding
· would be able to help maintain the project after it is completed.
The Asheville Design Center will provide:
· 10-16 collegiate level students in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and construction management who will work with your community on the vision and implementation of a project over eight weeks.
· classroom and shop space (at AB Tech)
· supervision, training, skill development and project management for all those involved in the project
· all necessary tools, etc.
· design professionals to assist with the planning of the project
· permitted drawings and associated costs
ADC is partnering with AB Tech to make this studio available. Once again, project proposals are by January 15, 2016. You can submit you proposal online at ADC’s DesignBuild Studio webpage.
Project proposals can be submitted online. Please feel free to contact Chris Joyell ([email protected], 828.782.7894) to share your idea and tell us why you think your neighborhood would be a good fit for this project.
-The Ingles Giving Tree returns to the Asheville Mall. From a press release:
Ingles Markets and MANNA FoodBank invited the community to attend the 23nd annual lighting of the Ingles Giving Tree at the Asheville Mall on Monday.
The Giving Tree is a 10-ton construction of non-perishable food items donated by Ingles Markets, and constructed and decorated by MANNA Food Bank staff and volunteers. Laura Ingle will light the tree and musical entertainment will be provided by the Bell Elementary School Chorus, with a special performance by the Asheville Choral Society.
Ingles will offer entry into a drawing for a $500 gas card to anyone that donates food at the Giving Tree on Nov. 23 and 24. The drawing for the gift card will be Nov. 25; you do not need to be present to win. Ingles will match all financial donations made to MANNA at the Giving Tree, up to $25,000.
“We partner with MANNA year-round to help provide food for families facing hunger,” said Ron Freeman, CFO of Ingles Markets, in a statement. “We recognize that the holidays can be especially difficult. We invite our customers to celebrate the lighting of the tree and to join in giving in whatever way they can.”
MANNA Food Bank is able to provide food for three meals with every dollar donated, the nonprofit said.
“In 2014, MANNA distributed over 15.5 million pounds of food to WNC,” said Cindy Threlkeld, executive director of MANNA Food Bank. “This is enough to provide 35,388 meals every day. This would not be possible without the strong support of corporate partners like Ingles or the generosity of donors and volunteers,” she said. “We celebrate these acts of kindness every year when we light the Giving Tree.”
-An Asheville physical therapist provides programs to help in all stages of Parkinson’s, according to a press release. Here’s more:
Specialized Physical Therapy, located in the Gerber Village shopping center, offers a program to help in all stages of the disease. Each exercise works on a symptom: stretching is for their stiffness; footwork for balance; punching to steady their tremors; shouting to counter their soft-voice syndrome; and sparring for coordination.
The program, called Knock Out Parkinson’s, is a non-contact boxing program teaching patients footwork, punches, combinations, and various other boxing skills. Caregivers are welcome to participate in the one-on-one sessions. Training is a combination of cardiovascular exercise, weight training, balance skills, and boxing. Prepare to be challenged in a fun and encouraging atmosphere!
The mission of Knock Out Parkinson’s is to give people the power and motivation to battle Parkinson’s disease. The program hopes to improve people with Parkinson’s mental and physical capabilities through movement and enhance their quality of life. This is accomplished through an intensive program encouraging strength, power, speed, endurance, and fun!
“Together we can Knock Out Parkinson’s!” For more information, please visit specializednc.com or contact Sean at (828) 484-4200.
