Southwestern Community College—Burrell Building

In their ongoing efforts to successfully fund a $15,000 endowed scholarship with Southwestern Community College (SCC) in Sylva, NC, the founders and board members of Catch the Spirit of Appalachia will host their 10th Annual scholarship dinner. This year the dinner will be held at the Burrell Building on the campus of Southwestern Community College in Sylva. Featured entertainers for evening will be the family of MOUNTAIN FAITH, who will tell the story of their adventures while performing on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT and other venues.  Opening for them will be the storytelling and spontaneous artwork of the Ammons Sisters.  Date for the dinner is Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at 6pm. Donation is $25 per ticket—100% to go to the scholarship.

“Tickets for the dinner are on sale now,” says Amy Ammons Garza, CSA cofounder. “They are available online at www.storiesofmountainfolk.com, and in person at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Deadline for ticket sales is September 13th. Many of our artists and crafters have also donated items for a drawing from the ticket sales. Please join us!”

The dinner menu includes chicken casserole with rice, spring pea medley, broccoli salad, corn pudding, strawberry pretzel salad, strawberry nut cake and yeast rolls…all recipes from local cooks and published in the new cookbook, “Catch the TASTE of Appalachia Cookbook,” which will be on sale at the dinner. This full color 240-page cookbook has recipes not only from the heritage of the people of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Appalachian, African American, and Cherokee), but from other ethnic groups such as Asian, Italian, and Mexican.

“Our nonprofit organization is now celebrating 27 years,” says Heather Gordon, CSA President. “Our work is accomplished through a 15-20 member Board of Directors which meets once a month to perpetuate the organization’s mission and goals.  At each meeting, the members bring a covered dish for all to enjoy. There are wonderful cooks in our grassroots organization! When looking for another fundraiser to help raise funds for the endowed scholarship, we naturally thought about what all our members could do well…cook!  So the ‘Catch the TASTE of Appalachia Cookbook’ was born.”

Once Catch the Spirit of Appalachia’s endowed scholarship is in force, priority will be given to students who are applying to the community college in the study of the arts and the environment.

For more information about purchasing tickets for the dinner, please call Amy at 828-631-4587.