Heroes for Hope: The Heroes for Hope Program brings a different and creative aspect to bringing assistance to families in western North Carolina who are fighting illnesses and disabilities. This original concept developed be renowned artist Jackson Guice, who is best known for his work on Superman, Disney’s Toy Story, and the Little Mermaid brings artists, athletes, musicians, and business leaders together to raise funds and bring a greater awareness of the needs of the children and families that Eblen Charities serve. Funds are raised through direct donations and events such as the Heroes for Hope 10 K Walk. Heroes for Hope provides an opportunity for all who wish to be involved the opportunity to be a hero to someone less fortunate and provide most welcome hope.
The Brad Daugherty Foundation: Created by NBA All-Star, NASCAR analyst, and Swannanoa native Brad Daugherty in effort to reach out and serve our community and touch the lives of those in need across the world, the Brad Daugherty Foundation offers unique perspectives and programs to address issues that effect the less fortunate by seeking and combining resources to provide relief, help, and solutions. In partnership with the Center for Social Enterprise, the Brad Daugherty Foundation is bringing together the world of business, sports, and the public sector in looking for innovative and direct support to issues that effect western North Carolina and other parts of the globe. Through his programs such as the Great Turkey Giveaway or the Inner City Gun Buy Back Program or heading up the Beyond All Boarders Global Initiative, Brad and the Brad Daugherty Foundation brings welcome help to families that many have forgotten.
The Saint Nicholas Project: Together with Asheville’s Optimist Club’s Santa Pal, KISS-FM, Toys for Tots, the Sunrise Kiwanis Club, Asheville Parks and Recreation Department, Wilsonart International, and many other businesses and individuals, the Saint Nickolas Project provides Christmas gifts, clothes, food, and other items to the children and families that the Eblen Charities works with throughout the year. Relying on the expertise and generosity of Asheville’s oldest children’s Christmas assistance program, Santa Pal (founded in 1936), and help from Toys for Tots along with generous sponsorship of businesses and individuals, hundreds of families have had their Christmases a bit brighter and gained hope for the coming year.
Eblen Publishing: Created to help with the great amount of information on programs, partnerships, and events, Eblen Publishing produces brochures, booklets, and posters that bring out the work of the Eblen Charities to a wider audience as we continue to seek out those who may be in times of need.
- Eblen Online: The cornerstone of our communication outreach, Eblen Online provides comprehensive information in the outreaches, programs, partnerships, and events of the Eblen Charities. Visitors to our website can gain information on our programs, see upcoming fund raising events, read the current and back issues of our newsletter, obtain volunteer information, and contact us for assistance or to volunteer.
- Eblen Newsletter: As part of our publishing outreach, Eblen Newsletter brings a weekly newsletter via email to thousands of readers each week throughout our community and reaching more that twenty states and thirteen foreign companies. Each issue brings Eblen supporters up-to-date on programs and events as well as stories and comments from the families whose lives we are fortunate to touch each day. To subscribe to the Eblen Newsletter please email us as eblenfound@aol.com.
- Meeting the Challenge: Much like Eblen Online, Meeting the Challenge provides our board of directors a weekly online newsletter to keep them conversant of upcoming dates and events important to them. Meeting the Challenge also provides the board with information of upcoming programs and other pertinent news they need to help guide the Eblen Charities forward.
- The Teacher’s Assistant: Designed to give all teachers, administrators, counselors, support staff, and all those involved in education in the Asheville City and Buncombe County School System information on the various programs of the Eblen Charities, the Teacher’s Assistant is published each August to coincide with the start of the school year. By providing this information and with great thanks to our area educators, we are made more aware of those children in our community that are in need of assistance.
Darren Holmes Acceleration Sports Foundation: As part of the Center for Social Enterprise, the Darren Holmes Acceleration Sports Foundation epitomizes the heart and spirit of the “power of ideas,” and the outreach that come from the work of the Center. Nothing represents that more that our partnership with the Acceleration Sports Foundation founded by New York Yankee World Series champion pitcher, Darren Holmes. Reaching out beyond the mound, the Darren Holmes Acceleration Sports Foundation offers local athletes, first responders, and other in the community the opportunity to train and improve their fitness for competition and health through the work of this innovative Acceleration Sports Institute.
On Track Leadership: The On Track Leadership Development Program trains young adults at a point in their lives where decision making skills and positive role models will enable them to become valuable citizens in our community. The highlight of the program comes each summer when a week long day camp provides twenty students from area high schools the opportunity to come together with student resource officers for leadership training, fun, and an experience that will last a lifetime. Inspired by Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan, board member Sheila Pelle, and sponsored by Nike, the On Track Leadership Development is designed to influence students by providing positive role models from the law enforcement community, training them in the area of emotional intelligence and building leadership skills.
Eblen Communications: In order to assist families traveling to hospitals throughout the state and nation, Eblen Communications was established to help provide and maintain the vital link of keeping in touch with their families and friends without the added concern of additional costs. Through developing partnerships with Verizon Wireless and other communication companies, Eblen Communications will continue to assist our local children, adults, and families stay in contact with their loved ones when it matters most.
The Dark Horse Project: The Dark Horse Project offers new opportunities for the Center for Social Enterprise to look at new ventures, ideas, and partnerships to enhance and better serve our community. These new projects will encompass a wide variety of projects and offer a platform for innovative ideas to improve the lives of those we touch. The Dark Horse Project brings together original thoughts and endeavors that may not see the light of day due to the lack of a vehicle to provide the pieces needed to put their ideas into motion. The Eblen Center for Social Enterprise was founded on the principle of looking beyond traditional thoughts and methods in addressing issues and challenges in the community by bringing together partnerships from the public and private sectors to move forward together in providing services to those in need in our community. Dark Horse exemplifies the heart of the Center for Social Enterprise and the “Power of Ideas” that it seeks to bring together. The Dark Horse Project is open to anyone who would like to contact us with any ideas or thoughts on programs or partnerships that can improve the lives of those in western North Carolina.
The Andrew Institute for Leadership and Public Service: Providing access to the top business and thought leaders as well as bestselling authors, the Andrew Institute for Leadership and Public Service brings to western North Carolina corporate training and motivational leadership that has been seen across the world. Founded by respected businessman and community leader, Dewy Andrew, the Andrew Institute for Leadership and Public Service offers to the public and private sectors alike the opportunity to participate in cutting edge career development from the world’s most recognized experts from the areas of business, entertainment, and sports. In an exclusive partnership with the Global Executive Learning Network, and Lessons in Leadership, the Andrew Institute for Leadership and Public Service will be bringing to our community via live broadcasts and live events such as bestselling authors such as Dr. Stephen R. Covey, John C. Maxwell and Ken Blanchard – thought leaders Marcus Buckingham, Malcolm Gladwell, and Jim Collins and real world practitioners Frances Hesselbein, Jack Welch, and Larry Bossidy. Special subject specific programs are also offered such as Branding for Power and other programs being offered online. As part of the Center for Social Enterprise, the Andrew Institute for Leadership and Public Service will donate all proceeds from all events to the direct outreach of the Eblen Charities.
Eblen Partnerships: If one thing is evident in the work of the Eblen Charities, it is that it cannot stand alone. The many partnerships and strategic alliances that we have been fortunate in helping to develop have served the community far beyond what the Eblen Charities could have done without working side by side with these wonderful companies, agencies and organizations.
- Employee Partnership Programs: In accordance with its commitment to their most valuable resource, their employees, the following companies have extended their outreach to a level that few companies have attempted to reach. These unique partnerships provide the employees of the companies additional emergency assistance beyond the traditional benefits offered.
- The Wilsonart Employee Emergency Assistance Program
- The Arvin/Meritor Employee Assistance Program
- The Printpack Associate Assistance Fund
- The Biltmore Company Employee Emergency Outreach
- The Baldor Employee Assistance Outreach Program
- The Cliffs Communities Employee Outreach
- The Grove Park Inn Legacy Fund
- The Kimmel and Associates Human Fund
- Lasher Family Scholarship: Named in honor of area PGA Chairman, Henry Lasher, Sr., this scholarship provides the opportunity for a young man or woman employed at a PGA member golf course to attend college. The $1,200 scholarship is awarded in June of each year. Eblen Charities acts as the scholarship’s fiscal agent and is honored to be part of the PGA community and the award named after one of our area’s finest citizens.
- Buncombe County Drug Treatment Court: Founded in 2000 by Superior Court Judge Ronald Payne to offer a more intensive and personal approach to offenders with drug and alcohol addictions, this innovative program serves as many as 45 participants each year. This approach treats the addiction as well as the offense that offers a more comprehensive way to work with individuals and to save community resources.
- Strands for Stars: Founded by Judy Bickerton, a professional hair and makeup artist of the film industry, Strands for Stars brings together a caring group of hair and makeup artists to create fashionable and comfortable hair prosthetics for children and adults experiencing hair loss due to the effects of cancer treatments.
- Woodfin/Eblen Water Project: Developed by the board of the Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District, the Woodfin/Eblen Water Project assists Woodfin Water customers who are having difficulty paying their water bills due to circumstances beyond their control.
Eblen Events: To help continue the outreach of the Eblen Charities, a family of fundraising events has been developed not only to raise the funds but also to thank our supporters for all they have done throughout the year. No organization can operate without the funds it takes to provide the assistance it offers, and the Eblen Charities is not any different. The money raised through donations, events, programs, and other opportunities is used as a tool to help provide the assistance to the children, adults, and families that the Eblen Charities serve.
- The Brad Johnson Celebrity Golf Classic
- The Night of the Legends Auction
- Bele Chere Souvenir Sales
- Eblen Charities BOOsters
- Eblen Charities Pumpkin Sales
- The Eblen Heroes for Hope 10K Walk
- The Brad Daugherty Fall Golf Invitational
- The Great Turkey Giveaway
The Graduation Initiative: The Graduation Initiative is a unique partnership that brings together the Buncombe County School System, Buncombe County, and the Center for Social Enterprise to reach out to students in Buncombe County who may be at risk of leaving school before graduation. Building on the successes of programs already established in the Buncombe County School System and forging new and innovative strategies and partnerships, the Graduation Initiative looks to a new frontier of ideas and methods to increase the number of students graduating from high school and ensuring a greater possibility of success in the future truly showing them that there are no limits.
The Primary Care Project: In partnership with the WP Hickman Company, Three Streams Family Health Center, Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care, and Western Carolina Industries the Primary Care Project provides low cost and free primary health care to employees in our community without health insurance. Through this groundbreaking partnership, the Primary Care Project brings the best of the public and private sector in serving the community and those in need. In responding to a widespread and growing need for employee medical care at reasonable costs, the Primary Care Project offers unique coverage at prices well below the current market prices.
