Home Care In Orange, NC

WEST ORANGE — Five female students from Morris and Essex county schools, travelled to North Carolina this summer to help rebuild an area damaged by a hurricane last fall.

The service trip to Asheville, N.C. was with the nonprofit organization TEEEM – The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission. From installing drywall to trim work and painting, the five high school students spent a week helping communities rebuild from Hurricane Helene’s destruction last fall.

Abigail Goldberg, 18, a senior at Golda Och Academy, was one of the five students who volunteered alongside All Hands and Hearts, a disaster relief organization started by supermodel Petra Nemcova to help rebuild communities impacted by natural disasters.

Goldberg found out about TEEEM through social media. The trip to Asheville was a meaningful experience for her.

“It hit close to home, seeing how similar their community is to ours and how this could have happened to anyone,” she said.

Though the days were long and the work was physically intense, Goldberg saw this as a very good learning opportunity.

“I learned every power tool you can think of,” she said. “It was a unique hands-on experience. It’s an amazing experience and I definitely recommend everyone to try it, even if it’s a day trip.”

Goldberg said her family has always been big on service work and giving back.

“I feel like it’s something that has been engraved in me,” she said. “I saw the opportunity. Why wouldn’t I do it? Might as well help anyone that I can.” Taylor D’Alessio has worked as TEEEM executive vice president since 2021. She said the trip to Asheville was great.

“The girls I was with were so eager to help,” she said. “So excited to learn new tools, learn new skills.”

What made D’Alessio proudest of the girls was the level of empathy they had. She said, “Sometimes it’s difficult to get teenagers to care about people other than themselves and their friends,” D’Alessio said. “The work ethic they put forth was very humbling. We were very proud of the way they approached the entire trip.”

Working directly with Goldberg, D’Alessio saw something special.

“Abigail went right into it from the beginning,” she said. “Very little hesitancy. She volunteered to help one of the other volunteers. It was a difficult task. She had fun with the volunteering. One woman in particular loved working with Abigail. She was very driven to get the job done well. For her to be able to celebrate it being finished, you can see it was a rewarding experience.”

Some of the girls never used power tools before, and D’Alessio saw that as a challenge.

“Your natural nerves are coming in,” D’Alessio said. “These are real power tools. Helping them grapple with something they haven’t done before was a good challenge.”

Nevertheless, D’Alessio said they all did a great job.

“These girls chose to spend the week during the summer to help people they never met,” she said. “That’s really special. It’s just really positive to see. There’s a lot of kids who just want to make the world better.”

TEEEM is a nonprofit providing K-12 schools and universities with free resources to equip students with real skills to make a real impact through its Social Entrepreneurship and Empathy Programs. To learn more about TEEEM, visit: https://www.teeem.org/.

A three-legged shelter kitten was bursting with joy — and now, he gets a fresh start.

Peewee, an “optimist” who craves affection, has been adopted in North Carolina.

“We were ECSTATIC for him,” Mady Thielemann, a spokesperson for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Wake County, told McClatchy News via email. “Everyone was smiling at each other!”

The roughly 7-month-old cat got a new home after he was rescued in bad shape. A good Samaritan had found him walking “bow legged” with a “decomposed” tail, Thielemann said Sept. 4 in a phone interview.

Peewee landed at another shelter, which couldn’t care for the extent of his injuries. Then he was transferred to the Raleigh-area SPCA, which learned one of his hind legs was broken in multiple places.

“We don’t know what sort of accident caused Peewee’s injuries, but it was clear from the moment we saw him that neither his leg or tail could be saved,” the shelter wrote in a Facebook post.

After his amputation surgeries, the shelter believes Peewee is adjusting well.

“Despite all the pain he’s been through, he thinks humans are just the best thing in the world,” Thielemann said, adding that he’s been seen rolling over like a dog and leaning in for pets.

“Peewee is missing a leg, a tail, and all knowledge of negativity,” the shelter wrote. “He is simply too busy being happy. When Peewee sits, he turns into a loaf with a smile on his face. When he sees new friends, he climbs his kennel door in anticipation of receiving head pets. And when he purrs, he means it. He is joy condensed into orange fur and serotonin embodied.”

As Peewee waited for a home, the shelter shared his story Sept. 3 on Facebook. He received a flood of interest and got a new owner the following day. Potential adopters may have been drawn to him due to his age and the desire to help a kitten in need, according to Thielemann.

“People really love orange kitties,” Thielemann said. “Pretty much any time I post about an orange cat, it just about happens. I think also whenever they have that really friendly, outgoing personality, that attracts people.”

Residents tried but failed Tuesday night to hold Orange County and its fiber broadband partner accountable for a 2022 promise to deliver higher internet speeds to nearly every rural home without reliable service.

“As the stewards of our public utility, I would ask you to look at this very carefully and not make any precipitous decisions, but really hold any potential providers’ feet to the fire,” county resident Ken Bradley said.

The commissioners debated a few options Tuesday, before voting 5-2 to amend the $10 million contract with Lumos Fiber. The new, $9.2 million deal gives Lumos until Dec. 31, 2026, to extend broadband service to 665 more customers, for a total of 5,852 homes. About 600 homes would still lack reliable internet service, although 21 may be eligible for a state grant program.

Commissioner Earl McKee called the removal of several hundred homes an equity issue before voting with Commissioners Vice Chair Jean Hamilton to reject the amended contract.

Families without reliable broadband internet struggle to keep up in a digital world, often traveling to parking lots, coffee shops and other public places to work and complete classroom assignments. The issue came to a head during the COVID shutdown.

Commissioner Amy Fowler defended Tuesday’s decision, saying the commissioners worry the company might walk away at this point. The county’s options are limited, because it can’t seek other grants when a grant is already in place, she noted.

Orange County also struggles to get rural broadband grants, because it is considered one of the state’s wealthier counties.

“I am willing to say yes to [the contract] as structured, as frustrating as that is to many of you out there, because I am trying to get broadband to as many people as we possibly can and make it clear who is not included,” so the county can find other money to serve those homes, Fowler said.

Commissioner Sally Greene urged residents to press the legislature to change state law, so local governments can provide internet service or contract with a broadband provider.

“The free market does not want [broadband] to be” a regulated utility, Greene said. “It is a shame. It should be regulated. It should be available to everyone, just like electricity and telephones.”

Project hit delays, additional costs

Lumos officials blamed weather delays and unforeseen bedrock issues for not being able to meet the original Dec. 31, 2025, deadline. The $48 million project has also run over budget, adding $18 million to $20 million to the estimated cost, they said.

Work was delayed for several months last year, followed by a two-month delay this summer. In April, T-Mobile and the investment company EQT acquired Lumos Fiber for $1.45 billion.

The county’s contract is now worth $9.2 million to Lumos, or about $1,572 per home. The county has paid $4 million for previous work and plans to pay the rest in three installments, each contingent on Lumos extending its network to a set number of homes.

The money — from the federal American Rescue Plan Act — must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026 or returned to the federal government. It cannot be used for another purpose.

“I think we should continue with what’s provided here so that they can get to work and not waste more time,” Commissioners Chair Jamezetta Bedford said.

McKee, however, continued to challenge a Lumos official to explain how the company chose the homes to exclude, suggesting the delays were “a ploy to force an amendment.”

The decision was based on “where we thought we could get the most bang for our buck,” replied Andrew Stevenson, Lumos director of market development. It also boils down to the cost overruns, he said under further questioning.

McKee noted T-Mobile’s almost $52 billion in profits last year and $81 billion in revenues. The additional cost, he said, “is nothing more than pocket change.”

He unsuccessfully tried to get the board interested in offering a $3 million bonus if Lumos completed all the work by the 2026 deadline, before suggesting the county return the money and use local dollars to find an internet provider who can finish the job.

“We are dealing with a company that, because their margin didn’t hit what they wanted, decided to be a bully, and their tactic was to stop working,” McKee said. “If they had continued working through the spring of 2025, they would have over 600 of these homes done, and that is offensive to me, and should be offensive to this board.”

Residents frustrated, fear no progress

Several county residents who spoke also dismissed the project’s challenges as poor planning on the part of Lumos. Robin Mulkey said she doesn’t “have any faith at all” that Lumos will finish the work, even with more time.

“Get the project moving so we don’t run out of time or that money runs out,” Mulkey told the board. “You vote against this amendment, then you show us that rural Orange County does matter to you. You vote for T-Mobile, you show us we don’t matter at all. It’s that simple.”

Jack Vest, who lives on Dairyland Road, about five miles west of Carrboro, called the decision to amend the contract unfair.

His dial-up service barely hits 6 Mbps when downloading and uploads at speeds that are “a ridiculous 1/10th of that,” Vest said, but “only if it doesn’t rain and short out the break in the cable that AT&T refuses to find and repair.”

Cell phone service is spotty, too, sometimes only working through the DSL lines, he added.

“It is so grossly unfair for me to have to pay $80 for six megabit service when friends that live just a little closer to town are paying $10 less for nearly 100 times that speed,” Vest said. “I guess you can imagine the dismay I felt when I learned (about) plans to break your promise to me and 599 other county residents.”

The board unanimously adopted Hamilton’s suggestion that the county re-engage a task force formed in 2021 to study broadband expansion in rural areas. A few affected residents could join the original task force members to look at ways to get high-speed internet to the remaining homes.

“Given where we’re at, and knowing that there’s still holes … we need to bring this task force back and figure out how we’re going to serve the whole county,” Hamilton said.

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Jim Sander deftly poked his metal stake into the ground, pushing aside compost and clay to nestle in a leafy lettuce seedling in the hope that soon it will feed a hungry Orange County child.

In just two hours Friday, Sander, the owner of Wildflower Lane Farm in Efland, and a handful of volunteers planted 1,000 seedlings at an expansion of the farm’s operation on Old N.C. 86. to support TABLE Ministries.

The lettuces, kale, chard and collard greens they had put in Thursday appeared to be going strong after overnight rain. Another 1,000 plants, plus marigolds and pansies, woud be added over the weekend.

“It’s fun,” Sander said. “I don’t ever look at it as work, so I just go from one thing to another.”

It’s an intensive growing operation but completely organic, relying on good soil, good drainage, and a liberal dose of compost and mulch, Sander said. Soil testing showed the first field had about 8% organic matter, making it highly desirable for agriculture.

“The better the soil, the better the plants, and very minor bug issues,” Sander said.

He started Wildflower Lane Farm on Bradshaw Quarry Road about 15 years ago and formed a partnership in 2017 to provide fresh produce to the Carrboro-based hunger-relief group TABLE Ministries.

TABLE buys the seedlings, fencing and supplies, said Ashton Tippins, the executive director. They also send a part-time staff member to the farm at least once a week.

“Our partnership with Wildflower Lane Farm has been so meaningful to us for a lot of reasons,” Tippins said, including the ability to get locally grown organic produce at a fraction of the retail cost. It also provides local farms with a stable source of income, she said.

For-profit farm grows for charity

Sander started Wildflower Lane Farm in 2010, setting aside a portion of the 24-acre farm for a certified organic operation. He sold produce to stores, restaurants and community-supported agriculture (CSA) customers.

In 2017, he approached TABLE about providing materials and volunteers, in return for Sander working 20 hours a week to grow food on three-quarters of an acre at his farm. By 2021, TABLE was getting $80,000 in produce from a $15,000 investment in materials and a part-time worker.

An acre of vegetables can sell for roughly $200,000, Sander said, and since the farm uses volunteer labor, the vegetables will cost about 80% less than they would at a store. He hopes it will become a model for others around the state.

“There’s no middleman, there’s no shipping, there’s no transportation or marketing or advertising. Nobody’s making a profit,” he said.

And no one is going to reject imperfect vegetables, he added.

Last year, Sander and Blair Pollock, a former county solid waste planner, asked Orange County about expanding the farm operation to the 193-acre Twin Creeks Park site on Old N.C. 86. The land has largely remained undeveloped since the county purchased it in 2001.

In June, county officials signed off on a three-year deal that sets aside 3.5 acres across the road from the Won Buddhist Temple.

Volunteers prepare fields for season

A handful of volunteers got to work quickly, preparing the farm for its first growing season.

Ray Cheek, whose family used to run a local dairy business, came out to plow the land, Pollock said. Another volunteer used a large tiller to make the rows, amended with compost from a Chatham County company that uses food scraps from Orange County’s composting program.

More people pledged to come back and help after wandering over last week when they fenced the first half-acre plot. An $8,000 Orange Water and Sewer Authority water line was installed for irrigation.

“We wanted to do something that would produce a significant quantity of food,” Sander said.

A few UNC and East Chapel Hill High School students have also come out to help, but the group will need more people as the garden grows and the crops come in, Sanders said. Volunteers can sign up at volunteer.tablenc.org.

UNC sophomore Camille Moore worked quietly as she listened to the older men talk.

She learned about the volunteer opportunity in her UNC social and economic justice class, which requires 30 hours of service with a local organization, Moore said. Friday was her first day at the farm, and she also plans to help TABLE deliver the food.

“I didn’t even realize that we just planted a thousand” vegetable plants in the first two hours, Moore said. “The amount of people that can feed, it’s a lot of lettuce. It’s incredible, and it’s not even difficult work that can do so much.”

More fresh produce for children

Next year, the farm could expand to a full acre, leaving one acre for a you-pick flower garden that will generate more money for the farm. They could also add a solar system in the future to power a gathering space in a shady grove of trees near the field.

TABLE buys a third of its food from five local farmers and Farmer Foodshare, a nonprofit food hub connecting Triangle farmers with markets and restaurants, Tippins said. The food is feeding 1,125 Orange County kids right now, with another 230 on a waiting list, she said.

In 2024, the group moved ito 311 E. Main St. in Carrboro, adding a loading dock, larger kitchen, and a walk-in cooler. It has a pantry where families can shop for fresh and shelf-stable foods, in addition to delivering two bags of groceries weekly to each child.

The farm expansion will allow them to double the fresh produce deliveries to roughly a dozen items per child each week, Tippins said.

“It’s allowed us to provide more food to our kids, but we’re also serving more high-quality food to our kids, serving more kids, because we’re not having to spend as much money on the food that we give out to our kids,” she said.

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Orange County residents displaced by Tropical Storm Chantal got a reprieve Tuesday when county commissioners put up $20,000 to extend their stays at local hotels.

Funding for the residents was due to run out Friday but commissioners agreed to take the money from the county’s Social Justice Reserve Fund to extend hotel stays.

The money will be administered by the Orange County Department of Social Services. It may also be used to help residents pay for expenses such as rental application fees, security deposits and essential household items.

Commissioners could add more money to the pot if needed. That will be determined after a committee overseeing community donations totaling $83,500 meets on Thursday to decide how to spend that money.

“Then we’ll meet again on Sept. 4 and we’ll have an update by then in case we need to move more money,” said County Commissioner Chairwoman Jamezetta Bedford.

Before commissioner’s agreed to spend the $20,000, several speakers told them that the amount is not enough to take care of residents who lost everything in the storm.

“This money, that’s going to the hotel or that’s money that’s going to landlords for rental application fees,” said C.R. Clark, a volunteer with Triangle Tenant Union. “Where is the funding that is going to directly support these people as they move on with their lives and get set up in new homes?”

Clark noted that federal Individual Assistance Grants for people displaced from homes due to natural or man-made disasters won’t reach residents until October.

“So, what is going to happen to these folks in the next month, in a month plus, as we have people who still don’t have housing lined up?” Clark said.

Residents with mental and physical disabilities need help finding appropriate housing, Clark said.

“We have some people here with disabilities and mobility issues that have been offered third-and fourth-floor apartments that they can’t get to,” Clark said.

Heather Gibbs, a former resident of flood-prone Camelot Village, said she didn’t know about the flooding problem at the townhome community until she went to sign her lease.

Gibbs shared that she has several disabilities, which makes such housing inappropriate for her and others with mobility issues.

“I would not live there again,” Gibbs told commissioners. “I can’t go through that again.”

Quinten Simmons, a Camelot Village resident who uses a wheelchair, said he almost lost his life in the July flood before being rescued by neighbors.

“Even when it’s not flooding, every time it rains, the paranoia just kills you, because you don’t know when it’s gonna flood,” Simmons said.

Devin Gilgor, a volunteer with Triangle Mutual Aid, said $20,000 won’t fix the flooding problem in places such as Camelot Village.

“We are housing vulnerable people in a flood setting, and someone’s going to die,” Gilgor said.

Residents lost documents needed to get new driver’s licenses, birth certificates and to rent apartments, Gilgor. He said the county and town must do more to help replace those items.

“I would like for one of you up there to try to go to the DMV and get your license without any form of ID, no birth certificate, no Social Security card,” Gilgor said.

Orange County Manager Travis Myren shared a PowerPoint showing that the county and the Town of Chapel Hill partnered to place residents in hotels on July 11, with the town kicking in $100,000 to cover the cost of hotel rooms. By Aug. 22, the county and the town were supporting 20 hotel rooms for displaced residents. The town also provided 29 hotel rooms for residents displaced from Chapel Hill’s public housing.