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INN
ON MILL CREEK COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
One
of the ways we connect with our local and worldwide
community is through contributions to special organizations.
A few of our commitments to community service in 2009:
We
became members of the Old
Fort Mountain Heritage Alliance, a group whose
mission is to recognize, revitalize and promote the
historic, cultural, social and economic significance of Old
Fort and to educate the community about the benefits of its
preservation through active community volunteerism. The
OFMHA is working closely with another group that we support,
Handmade
in America, as a participant in Handmade's Small
Towns Program. A few projects that have been completed
or are in the works include placing beautiful planters along
the main streets of Old Fort, creating new signage for the
town's entry points, developing a multi-purpose "creekwalk"
along Mill Creek and working toward making Old Fort's
downtown a historic district on the National Register. We're
excited to be actively involved with this fine group of
individuals who are committed to preserving a charming small
town and helping it to reach its potential.
Also
in our local community, the McDowell County Fraternal Order
of Police is continuing their tradition of coordinating the
delivery of food baskets to families and elderly residents
in need during the holiday season. We're thankful that the
McDowell FOP provides this opportunity to those of us in the
local community who wish to directly help out our neighbors
by making a food basket donation.
We
were extremely proud to be part of a special event this past
February hosted by the Enrichment
Center, a non-profit organization based in
Winston-Salem, NC, that works to develop artistic talent and
careers in the arts for adults with physical and
developmental disabilities. The Enrichment Center's second
annual Mardi Gras on Marshall event featured New Orleans
cuisine, a parade, and live music and dance performances by
Enrichment Center students, as well as live and silent
auctions benefiting the Enrichment Center's Endowment Fund.
Donating a Bed & Breakfast package was our way of
helping out this great group.
Finally,
helping in the fight against poverty is one way we stay
connected to the global community. One of the ways we
celebrated the Inn on Mill Creek's 10th birthday this year
was to set a goal to help 10 entrepreneurs in the developing
world by microloaning through a non-profit organization
called Kiva. So far, we've helped to fund eight small
business owners in 2009, including our latest: a 22-year-old
man named Babken
Hovhannisyan who runs a bakery with his father in
Armenia. Additionally, Brigette applied for, and was
accepted into a spot on the Kiva Editing Team, who makes
sure loans translated into English from a business owner's
native language are grammatically correct and
understandable. This helps her put that journalism degree to
good use and to further help a cause that's important to us.
You can learn more about Kiva
at their website: www.kiva.org.
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