08/10/2026
In the early morning hours as the sun was rising over the mountains I had one last chance to finish this art project for the Blue Ridge Assembly YMCA Camp in Black Mountain, NC. Flooding from that awful hurricane Helene in 2024 had caused so much loss. Last week I had come up with Michele Hodges and her merry entourage of Rackup volunteers again. Just beside this little park where we were working had stood a historic gym that had been completely destroyed. Looking up the hill is their crowning glory, Eureka Hall, suffering major damage but through the generosity of faithful patrons it has been restored. All week we had been dodging rain, trying to get our concrete co****le games prepped to paint mountain scenery on them. I had to leave this morning, no matter what. The rain held off, and as I was making my finishing touches, I heard that old familiar 8 AM wake up call playing over the loud speakers. It was a song made famous by Al Jolson so long ago. Truly, nothing COULD be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning, on a morning like this. I joyfully sang with it! It is the state of my mother’s heritage and it means so much just to be here taking it all in. My heart is full as I think about this small, insignificant way of giving back to a place that has brought me so much joy over the years. Thank you to the staff, workers and volunteers of Blue Ridge Assembly for not giving up after this tragedy struck your beautiful historic treasure. As my father would say, you are certainly on the mend!