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Email Announcements We Are Receiving Today: See What’s Going On Around The Community

To see our updates for the entire week, click here

1) Valle Country Fair Announces Performers for 35th Annual Fair

Entertainment will run at the fair from 10:30-1 p.m., and later if possible. Performers for this year’s fair include Emily Stewart and Baby Teeth, Major Sevens, Tom Shirley, Holy Smokes, Kinsey Greene and the Bluegrass Mafia, High Country Cloggers, Appalachian Rhythm Cloggers and Country Magic Cloggers. Not yet conformed is the Roan Mountain Moonshiners.

2) Seasonal Employment Opportunities with Operation Christmas Child

The international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse is looking to hire seasonal employees to help at its Boone headquarters with its Operation Christmas Child project as it prepares to collect millions of shoe box gifts for needy children worldwide. “This is a great opportunity for Christians who want to make a positive impact in the lives of hurting children all over the world. Working with Operation Christmas Child during the holiday season is a way to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas-the greatest gift of all, God’s Son Jesus Christ,” said Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse. Available positions include team coaches, volunteer trainers, dockworkers, forklift operations and truck drivers. Work begins mid-November and continues into mid-December. Day and evening shifts are available. Applicants must be able to work 40 plus hours a week including Saturdays and be able to work the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Samaritan’s Purse will hold an Open House Job Fair at its Boone Operation Christmas Child Processing Center located at 801 Bamboo Road in Boone on Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 4-7 p.m. No appointment is necessary. Applicants are asked to complete an online application before coming to the job fair. For this project, individuals fill empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys and personal hygiene items to be hand-delivered to more than nine million kids in over 100 countries. Operation Christmas Child uses these simple gift-filled shoe boxes to let hurting children know God loves them and they are not forgotten. Boone is one of six locations across the United States where gift boxes are processed, sorted, inspected and shipped to countries such as Haiti, Liberia and India. Over a half million shoe boxes are expected to come through Boone alone. Since 1993, when the project began, over 100 million shoe boxes have been collected and delivered to children around the globe. Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization that works in more than 100 countries around the world, providing aid in the Name of Jesus Christ to victims of disaster, war, disease, famine, poverty and persecution. For more information about seasonal employment opportunities in the Operation Christmas Child processing Center or to fill out an application, visit www.samaritanspurse.org or call 828-262-1980. 

3) Take Questions on the Affordable Care Act to Your Local Library

The public libraries of North Carolina are ready to help their communities as they explore health care exchanges and learn the details of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If citizens need help in understanding some of the provisions of the act, the local public library can be the place to find answers. The State Library of North Carolina has provided training for library staff and developed an online resource with links to resources and information the public will need. The outcomes of the statewide training were to help public library staff develop a basic working knowledge of health insurance resources related to the Affordable Care Act and to connect libraries with their local ACA partners and other local agencies that provide information and help. The State Library provided a robust online portal of ACA resources. Library staff members were encouraged to copy and localize sections and entire pages from this information portal onto their own library’s website. For additional information please call 919-807-7415. The State Library of North Carolina builds the capacity of all libraries across the state, develops and supports access to genealogy and other specialized collections, and provides resources for the blind and physically handicapped. It is a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. 

4) Pianist Rodney Reynerson Performs Oct. 6

Join the Hayes School of Music’s Faculty Performance Series Sunday, Oct. 6, for an evening of Chopin, Ravel and other compositions for piano. Professor Rodney Reynerson will be the soloist for the 8 p.m. performance in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall at Appalachian State University. Admission to the event is free. Reynerson will perform “October” from “The Seasons, Op. 37” by Tchaikovsky, four sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, “Romance in E minor” by Franz Liszt, “Le Rossignol” by Alexander Alabeiff, “Soiree de Vienne No. 6” (Waltz Caprice after Franz Schubert) by Liszt, “Pavane Our Une Infante Defunte” and “Jeux d’eau” by Maurice Ravel and three compositions by Frederic Chopin. 

5) Series at Appalachian Explores Muslim Faith and Culture

Muslim Journeys-Let’s Talk About it, a series of free programs about the Muslim faith and culture, will be presented beginning Oct. 8 at Appalachian State University. The series is presented by Belk Library and Information Commons in partnership with the Appalachian Muslim Students Association and includes book talks and film screening. For more information, contact Allan Scherlen at 828-262-2285. The program is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funded library materials related to Muslim Culture, including books, films and the Oxford Islamic Studies Online database as well as funds to host events related to the materials. The Appalachian Humanities Council is also hosting a number of lectures related to Muslim cultures in connection with the program. The first event will be a showing of the Iranian film “A Separation,” which will be shown Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. in Belk Library and Information Commons room 114. The film focuses on a recently separated Iranian couple and their daughter and the cascading social and legal conflicts that unfold after the husband fires a lower-class care giver of his elderly father who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. This powerful drama explores conflict that cuts across gender and class at the heart of Iranian society. Saiyid Hasnain will address perceptions of Muhammad and Islam Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. in Belk Library and Information Commons room 114. Hasnain is a native of Pakistan who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. The book “Muhammad, A Very Short History” by Jonathan Brown will be the starting place for the discussion. Copies of the book are available in the library’s browsing section. Library and community members are encouraged to read the book and participate in the discussion. A panel discussion by three Appalachian faculty members focusing on the book “The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” by F.E. Peters will be held Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m. in Belk Library and Information Commons room 114. Panelists Alan Hauser, Maria Lichtmann and Rahman Tashakkori will use the classic comparative study to discuss the interconnections of these three major faiths. Copies of the book are available in the library’s browsing section. Library and community members are encouraged to read the book and participate in the discussion. The film “The Other Son” will be shown Thursday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. in Greenbriar Theatre in the Plemmons Student Union. The compelling, moving and humane film depicts the families of two young men, one Israeli, the other Palestinian, who discover that their sons were accidentally switched at birth. This revelation turns their lives upside down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, values and beliefs. This is a life-affirming story about finding compassion for the “other”. The film is presented as part of the International Education Week in partnership among the library, the Appalachian State Muslim Students Association and the Office of International Education and Development. The last event in the series is co-sponsored by the university’s Humanities Council. Keya Maitra, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at UNC-Asheville will lecture on “Bengali Muslim Women’s Experiences as Locations of Feminist Consciousness and Agency” Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. in Belk Library. 

6) Happy Halloween from Town of Beech Mountain

Beech Mountain and Lees McRae Equine Club Haunted Hayride Oct. 25-27 at 8 p.m. at the Buckeye Recreation Center. Cost is $5 per ticket in advance, $7 at the door. Proceeds will benefit community projects and the Lees-McRae Equestrian Club. Want to do something out of the ordinary for Halloween? Come and try our Haunted Hayride! This is a full scale production put on by the Town of Beech Mountain Parks and Recreation Department and the Lees-McRae Equestrian Club as a fundraiser for Beech Mountain community projects and the club. Come enjoy the thrills and chills of the hayride for a good cause. Saturday night early ride is family friendly, later events may not be appropriate for children or may require parental guidance. The Beech Mountain Halloween Celebration will take place Saturday, Oct. 26, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall and the Buckeye Recreation Center. Come and enjoy a spooktacular Halloween time! Our spell-a-bration begins at Town Hall where the little ghouls and witches Trick-or-Treat at all the local businesses on the way to the Buckeye Recreation Center. The chills and thrills don’t stop there! With food, games, a bounce house, costume contest and a haunted egg hunt, your little monster is sure to have plenty of frights and fun at Buckeye that night!

7) Stephenson Center to Host Dr. Bob Hutton on Oct. 10

While feuding in Appalachia still defines the region for many outside the mountains, few have actually learned the reality behind the legends and stereotypes. If you are interested in hearing the historical truth behind one of the bloodiest regions of Kentucky, come to Lees-McRae College on Oct. 10 to hear Bob Hutton present a lecture based on his recently published book, “Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South.” This lecture is presented by the Stephenson Center for Appalachia and is free and open to the public. At 7 p.m. in the STafford Room of the Carson Library, Hutton will present the reality behind the feuding myth. While many were killed in Breathitt County, often politically motivated slayings were cast as the results of feuds to muddy the truth. Hutton’s meticulous research has uncovered the true facts of this complex American story. 

8) HCAS Meeting

The High Country Audubon (HCAS) will have its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express in Boone. The monthly meeting on Oct. 15 will feature Anna Tisdale and John Jones, graduate students at Appalachian State University. They will present a program on their research on Golden-Winged Warblers. The Golden-Winged Warbler is a neotropical migrant whose southern breeding range falls in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. There is growing concern about the continued population decline of this species. High Country Audubon Society covers Avery, Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and Wilkes Counties. HCAS invites the public to attend the monthly meetings and field trips.

9) Let Peace Begin with Me 

With International Day of Peace occurring yearly on Sept. 21, the ideal of peace has been in the air. Please join Courtney Morrison in exploring the concept that peace begins with the individual, as she gives an overview on the process of Compassionate Communication and the ability its use has to engender peace in one’s own heart, in relationships and in the greater world. The event will take place on Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 381 East King Street in Boone. Coffee and fellowship will go from 10:30-11 a.m. and service will be from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. All faiths are welcome.