November is Nonprofit Awareness Month, and I’d like to take a moment to honor the Macon County Community Foundation. Community foundations comprise a category of nonprofits that we also salute this month (Nov. 12-18), and we want to ensure you’re aware of the resources we provide that help to strengthen Macon County.

Community foundations exist for three reasons: to make grants; to provide lasting giving options for people, businesses and nonprofits; and to serve as leaders, conveners and advocates about local issues and needs.

It has been said, “We have no way of judging the future except by the past.” That is not just a cliché it’s sage advice.

To understand and dispel the confusion as to why our country’s in such a mess and our government so dysfunctional we need only to eavesdrop on the founders of our nation. Remember, what they believed, and their wisdom, is no longer taught in our schools and is something our present leaders would rather you not know.

An article in the Asheville-Citizen Times states that the reason the Post Office is in financial trouble is due to a Congressional law, that requires the P.O. to pre-fund health insurance for its employees. They are expected to fund 75 years of costs in a 10-year period. This seem like an impossible task, insuring only that these expenses will cut dramatically into any profits the P.O. could possibly make.

I am curious as to why this was done and under what rationalle it was promulgated?

Certainly the P.O. or the P.O. Union can encourage some senator or representative to counter this unfair law. We cannot have the P.O. cut back on small offices around the country that serve so many senior citizens who no longer drive or are otherwise isolated from family, friends and businesses. Many older folks do not have computers to handle bill-paying and shopping and rely completely on the postal service.

In preparing for the upcoming Christmas and Valentine mail collections, Friends of Our Troops would like to extend special thanks to American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108 in Franklin, which participated in the most recent campaign.

Led by Debra McGill, they were the number one group in North Carolina as well as number two American Legion Auxiliary and in the top half-dozen among all groups nationally. Two of their members, Mary Louise Womack and Wilma McCall were the number two and number five individuals nationwide.

Family Eyecare, which participated with the Auxiliary, was the top business/employee group in the nation.