Black Mountain – After a short hiatus due to the pandemic, the annual Black Mountain Home for Children Fall Festival and Open House will be held on Saturday, October 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at their beautiful campus in the Swannanoa Valley. The campus is located at 80 Lake Eden Road. Parking will be easily available across the street at Owen High School. The proceeds from this festival contribute to the lives of the children and youth living at Black Mountain Home, which serves youth from birth through college graduation and beyond through family foster care, residential care, transitional living,independent living and lifelong living. When children are in need of out-of-home placement, BMH can meet those needs through all the stages and phases of their growing up years.
The Festival has been held annually since 2005, but alas, with COVID, the last Fall Festival was held in 2019. So there is excitement about having another Fall Festival and Open House. Individuals, families, and groups are invited and hopefully will attend. There will be many fun activities throughout the campus, including bounce houses,free games for children of all ages, face painting, a silent auction, and even a car show. In years past there have been as many as 3,000 attendees.The Mountain Home Thrift Store: Cheryl’s Place will be open, as well as the Thirteen Pennies Cafe. Perhaps you will want to treat yourself to a cup of freshly ground Black Mountain Home Roast Coffee, which is now available? One of the youth cottages will be open for tours so visitors can get a glimpse of the lives the children are living on a daily basis. There will be live music, including performances by Warren Wilson College’s String Band, the Dasher Family, The Academy for the Arts, and the Mars Hill University Bailey Mountain Cloggers. This is a family-friendly event with activities for all ages.
Mountain Orphanage
Since opening in 1904 as the Mountain Orphanage, the organization has provided a home to children in need. Founded by Presbyterian minister Robert Perry Smith as Mountain Orphanage, Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth and Families began taking in children whose parents had died or disappeared in 1904. It began as a cabin in Haywood County but soon outgrew that location. The ministry moved to the current campus in 1923, and through mostly private donations, has grown over the years. Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families (BMH) is a safe, supportive, Christian environment for children who have been removed from their home due to abuse, neglect,abandonment and other traumas. The mission of the home is to glorify God by caring for children, youth, and families. Typically, youth come to BMH when a court has decided that it is not safe or healthy for the child to remain with their family. Some may stay only a few weeks, while others may spend a considerable part of their growing-up years at the home.
On July 1, 2022, James O.”Jimmy” Harmon, Jr. became the new President of Black Mountain Home. Harmon joined the Black Mountain Home ministry in 2019 as Program Director, after serving as the Director of Ranch Life at the Alabama Sheriff’s Girls Ranch. Current BMH programs include community based foster care, campus-based cottage care, transitional living for teens aging out of care,an Independent Living Program for youth over the age of eighteen who wish to pursue higher education, and a Lifelong Living Program for those with developmental disabilities. Their on-campus apprenticeship program includes four training tracks: culinary arts, outdoor leadership/recreation, hospitality/housekeeping, and maintenance/automotive. Youth participate in a year-long training program that includes hands-on experience, then are paired with a local business providing a paid internship. Donors have helped the Black Mountain Home maintain and improve the campus and programs over the years, including creating Independent Living and Lifelong Living Programs, plus building a successful Thrift Store and Cafe.
Tours during the Fall Festival will allow you to see the campus. There are many ways to help, including becoming a volunteer, foster family,and through in-kind as well as financial support. Perhaps someone would like to foster a child or sponsor a child for Christmas? Christmas is difficult for the children in the Home, so you can help make Christmas special by sponsoring a child or donating items from their wish-list. Visit www.BlackMountainHome.org/donate or contact Loretta Shelton, Director of Development and Community Relations, at LShelton@BlackMountainHome.org or (828) 686-3451. All donations are tax-deductible as BMH is a 501(c)(3) organization.