The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

A shelter is being built to accomodate family gatherings at Hemphill

Hemphill


The Hemphill Community Center has built a shelter to provide a space so there can be family gatherings and outside marketing of goods made or grown in the community. Letcher County Culture Hub helped the center with funds for the project.

The Hemphill Community Center has built a shelter to provide a space so there can be family gatherings and outside marketing of goods made or grown in the community. Letcher County Culture Hub helped the center with funds for the project.

Check out our websites: www.blacksheepbrickoven.org and www.hemphillcenter.org, and our Facebook pages, please.

Our place is trying to get geared up to continue on to what appears to be our COVID-19 escalation and hopefully a plateau in the coming weeks and then a de-escalation of cases. We are still doing curbside and folks can come in to pick what they need. When our first diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in our community happened we shut down our dining room to indoor dining. Folks can now dine in our outdoor shelter spaces and still social distance. We will re-open the inside dining room later when we can be more sure of health and wellbeing for all. So sorry for the inconvenience. Masks required please. The life you save may be your own.

The Letcher County Culture Hub has helped us with funds to build a large shelter so family gatherings and outside marketing of goods made or grown in our community can also happen on Saturday mornings. We were greatly delayed in trying to gather supplies needed for construction. Supply chains are interrupted because of the pandemic. It took over a month to obtain the 6×6 posts and in that time the original price of the lumber has more than doubled. A $27 6×6 now costs $65 so we had to scramble for extra funds. All in all it was almost $600 increase in lumber cost. We have got it now and we are thankful.

 

 

Please feel free to schedule outside events when you need to. We ask the scheduling to omit Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. as we want to encourage a neighborhood marketplace for cottage industry and entrepreneurial pursuits. We have a vision to boost the economy through tourism and cottage industry. Hopefully you will add us to your list of stops on Saturday mornings since the bakery is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Letcher County Culture Hub is trying to spend COVID-19 monies in such a way as to be useful in the post pandemic world, although no one really knows yet what that world will look like. It is being worked on will be hopefully completed this week. You will have to drive up and check it out. We are so excited. A million thanks to our Letcher County Culture Hub Partners.

An indoor walk-in cooler is also being installed to allow us more refrigerated space. It will allow us to roll baker’s racks in and will greatly increase our capacity and decrease the worry and stress of over-proofed bread dough.

We are adding unleavened communion bread to our list of offerings. Making this bread is a reverent and awesome thing. We make it from biblical natural ingredients. We use fine wheat flour, honey, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and milk. We will be glad to make it for you. Call ahead please! We will be happy to make it for gatherings of any size. We are imperfect sheep making the best bread.

We have had some folks in our community diagnosed with COVID-19. They have recovered without casualty and for that we are so thankful. All is well.

Narcotics Anonymous Facilitators Frankie Bentley and Evelyn Adkins have changed the location for the Hope Without Dope NA meetings that were scheduled two times weekly at Hemphill Community Center. The meetings will be held at Fishpond Lake each Sunday evening at 6 p.m. All are welcome. Social distancing and larger gatherings are easier in the outdoors. Governmental restrictions on in-house gatherings have deemed this change necessary for the time being.

If you are interested in T-shirts and aprons, check out our merchandise page website above. You can purchase online.

We will get back to having live music as soon as restrictions are lifted. We are so looking forward to that. Likewise NA classes will resume inside ASAP.

Don’t forget if you want to ensure you get what you need, please call and place an order with us by Monday evening the week you need it. That way we will have a heads up and can plan our week for maximum efficiency to make your request. We want our products to be fresh so we do not make things days ahead. We do not use preservatives therefore we cannot make things much ahead. Our GMOfree products are made by hand the ancient way. Our breads and pastries take all day to make. Many of them are made from fermentation methods that take 24 hours or more.

Holiday mornings we will always be open from 8 a.m. to noon to allow folks to pick up special orders and things we have on hand. Please do not try to order online. We cannot check messages if we are really busy. Call (971) 867-4337 to order please. If there is no answer call back, please. We do not have call waiting. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Weekly Quote: When we give cheerfully and receive gratefully everyone is blessed. Maya Angelou

Schedule of activities:

Aug. 23, from 2 to 5 p.m.: Monthly shape note singing will resume. This event will be held outside in the new shelter. Social distance and masks are required to sing. Ecumenical with everyone welcome regardless of church affiliation or lack of. A perfectly great gathering of fine and not so fine singers. LOL.

Sept. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m.: Coal Miners Live Music Event. Outdoors. Social distance required. Masks required. Bring a chair. Tea light candles and flowers for the Coal Miner’s monument are encouraged please. Join us as we honor the labor of those who fueled the industrial revolutions and provided the coal to melt the steel for the implements of war that won the World Wars. We hold coal miners in high esteem in this community and if you are or have been one we hope to see you at this event. We only ask you to maintain a 6-foot distance from others and wear a mask. We do not want to spread this COVID-19 virus by being foolhardy. Pop-up tents are welcome for your family if you like.

Stay safe and sound! We will make it through this with the help of God and our leaders. Cooperation and extreme care are what it takes. See you soon!

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:21-23

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