Profiles and features about the people we serve
We, Mountain Projects: Karen Chambers
Karen Chambers, a folk artist (Thosekookychickens.com) lives in Highlands and thought it impossible to afford insurance as a self-employed person. She saw an Affordable Care Act flyer in the post office, though, and recognized the insurance counselor’s name, Cynthia Solsbee, as a friend of hers in the community.
“My husband Tim and I are self-employed artists and don’t make a whole lot of money, so insurance felt out of reach before I signed up for Obamacare,” Chambers says.
Thankfully, she did, because soon after, Karen had a heart attack that could’ve taken her life if she hadn’t sought immediate treatment. “If I didn’t have insurance, I would have felt reluctant to go to the hospital when I needed help. I’m grateful for Cynthia and Mountain Projects for ensuring that I could take care of myself.”
We, Mountain Projects: Dayton Hensley
Few people have a longer relationship with Mountain Projects than Dayton Hensley.
Hensley, 59, suffered physical abuse as a child and has a learning disability as a result. He got his first job through Mountain Projects at age 14, sweeping up at Camp Lab School in Cullowhee, and later at the Department of Social Services in Sylva. Much later, the organization stepped into his life again.
Last year Dayton was in the midst of remodeling his trailer home when he fell from a high ladder and suffered serious injuries.
With winter setting in, his home was unlivable.
His sister pointed him toward Mountain Projects, and a phone call later Vivian Bumgarner and () came to the rescue. They realized that rehabbing Dayton’s existing home was an impractical solution, so they quickly raised funds, found donors and replaced Dayton’s trailer.
“It was like a dream come true,” Dayton says. “They all fell in together and fixed me right up. They’re super. They all came in here and took down my old trailer and worked with Rocky Branch Church to take up donations. And they let me stay in a motel while they were doing the work.”
Now Dayton’s home, situated on pretty family land on a knoll along Hyatt Creek, is snug and tidy.
”In my old trailer nothing worked,” he says. “Why, I had to go outside to wash the dishes.”
Now he has two sources of heat, plenty of insulation, and plumbing that works, too.
“I believe the heat pump is worth more than the trailer,” he jokes.
Hensley was employed in manufacturing most of his adult life, with long stints at Heritage Quilts in Sylva and Cashiers Plastics locations in Cashiers and Waynesville. But many of those jobs are leaving the area, and that puts people like Dayton in a pinch.
“Back then, those were the types of jobs for people with learning disabilities like me,” Dayton says. “Now they want a high school degree. It’s hard to find good, inside work.”
”I’m one of those types of guys that couldn’t get an education,” he says. “I wanted one, and I wanted it bad, but some people have it and some people don’t, when it comes to that kind of thing.”
“Mountain Projects is a good thing for people like me, who don’t have an easy time finding jobs.”
We, Mountain Projects: Angie Gass Roberson & Cayson Tiedge
Cayson Tiedge recently won high academic honors at Sylva’s Smoky Mountain High School, including National Honors Society, New Century Scholars and 4-H Youth Leadership Council. Now he attends the University of North Carolina on full scholarship and plans to pursue a degree in Psychology.
His academic path, though, started many years ago in Angie Gass Roberson’s Head Start class behind the high school on Fairview Road, where Cayson, then quiet and shy, was one of his teacher’s favorite children. She’s extraordinarily proud of his achievements.
One of many longtime Head Start teachers in Haywood and Jackson Counties, Angie is proud of the many relationships she’s built.
“I was a single parent of a child with disabilities, so I know what that feels like,” she says. “I know how much it means to receive help when you need it – it’s priceless – and I’m someone who wants to give back. I’m grateful for all the people who have helped me succeed.”
That gratitude translates into a generous and warm style of teaching.
“I want kids and their parents to understand that they are precious to me, that they matter,” Roberson says. “That they can come to me or the other teachers and we can relate to what they’re going through. I’ve had parents to come in and need to vent because they don’t have another adult to talk with. I listen the best I can. The most important thing about my job is being emotionally and mentally present for my families.”
Some students are at a disadvantage, Roberson points out, and occasionally Head Start is the only place a child might get a hot meal. Although the pandemic has restricted some activities for the short term, Roberson and other teachers, along with parent volunteers, often assemble food and clothing boxes for families in need. Within the framework of the program, employees work to meet the needs of the whole family.
“I hope the community will support these programs,” says Roberson. Make a financial contribution. Go to Sylva Linings and purchase things for your home. We are getting these children prepared for a positive future and when covid is out of the way, Lord willing, Head Start will expand the number of kids and families in our programs. I can’t think of anything better to invest in the future of our community. This is not just my job. This work is in my heart.”