By Nathan Ham
The High Country Charitable Foundation’s annual fundraising auction typically happens with a big dinner event, however, due to COVID-19, this year’s fundraiser is online and is still as important as ever.
The HCCF provides grants to numerous organizations inside Avery County that benefit the people and animals that call the county home.
Dick Larson with Feeding Avery Families says his organization has received so much help thanks to the kind hearts and charitable giving of the HCCF.
“The High Country Charitable Foundation has been enormously helpful to us since I joined FAF in 2017. Prior to my joining, they helped pay for moving our base of operations when the county decided to tear down the building we had been leasing. Since then they have allowed us to expand and grow, both in terms of numbers of clients and food distributed, as well as in the number of programs we have been able to offer,” said Larson.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, these grants have meant more than normal for many organizations.
“Until this year their help has been primarily used for capital expenditures and specific food purchases, such as Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas hams. This year, with all the turmoil of COVID-19, they threw us a lifeline of additional support at the beginning of the summer. We were facing tremendous uncertainties about what our charitable giving revenue stream would look like, as well as how many more people would be in need of assistance because of the economic upheaval. With their assistance, we were able to proceed with confidence in expanding our offerings to as many people as needed them. We are extremely fortunate to have committed, caring people like HCCF in our region, sharing some of their blessings with people who have few,” Larson said.
Volunteer Avery County is another non-profit organization that has benefitted directly from fundraising efforts by the High Country Charitable Foundation. They focus their efforts on helping people with food needs, fuel and heating assistance, housing needs, medical needs, transportation, and clothing needs.
“I had an 81-year-old lady come into my office that had gotten assistance from the Department of Social Service. She is on a fixed income of $727.00 monthly. They had paid for 150 gallons of K-1. She did not know that over the summer the barrel had gotten a hole in it. She was extremely worried she could not get help for more K-1. With the money we received from HCCF we were able to repair her barrel and fill it with K-1,” said director Cindy Lindecamp.
Lindecamp also sees plenty of young families and children that need support during tough times.
“I had a mother come into my office that had four children. Her Medicaid benefits had been suspended because she had moved and had not notified them in a timely manner. Her child, age 4, was in extreme pain from an abscessed tooth. No other agency would give her any kind of assistance. She came into my office in a panic searching for assistance. With the money we received from HCCR we were able to help this child. Once the child got the tooth fixed they became healthier and happier,” said Lindecamp.
The items up for bid this year in the online auction include a two-hour PlaneSense flight on a Pilatus P12 Plane, a five-hour flight on a Cessna Citation Latitude, two diamond pendants, a family photoshoot, a gourmet dinner for 20 by Chef Will, a Party Barn dinner for 10, a pearl strand necklace, private winery tour, two different wine lots, a Watauga Lake Excursion and a family night at Sorrentos.
To view and bid on the items, click here.
For more information on the High Country Charitable Foundation, visit https://highcountryfoundation.org.
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