wnc honors awards
Every November since 1949, the WNC Honors Awards has brought together volunteer leaders from 70+ rural community centers across Western North Carolina to celebrate their accomplishments, share ideas, and recognize their outstanding community development work. More than just an awards ceremony, the event features best practices sharing and unrestricted cash awards that strengthen communities. During the ceremony, WNC Communities gives 100% of our generous sponsors’ donations directly to participating communities, ensuring that every organization receives financial support to address its most urgent local needs.
Because these nonprofits are small and primarily volunteer-run, flexible funding is essential. Award dollars help communities purchase emergency preparedness equipment, repair and improve community facilities, replace aging infrastructure, expand broadband and internet access, support food assistance and medical services, provide scholarships and youth programs, and strengthen recovery efforts following natural disasters such as Hurricane Helene. These investments also help sustain community gathering spaces that serve as trusted hubs for education, social connection, health services, economic opportunity, and civic engagement.
Depending on fundraising, each community receives a Community Award of approximately $1000, and competes for additional cash and prestige awards. Our Honors Committee uses a rubric to award each community center one of four levels of increasing organizational capacity and community impact: Trillium, Mountain Laurel, Redbud, or White Oak. Several selected centers at each level win Best in Class cash awards of approximately $1000 – $3000 that recognize exceptional leadership, innovation, and service to their residents.
The WNC Honors Awards also recognizes outstanding leadership through special awards, including the President’s Awards, the Calico Cat Awards, the Youth Volunteer Award, and the WNC Communities Impact Award.
The impact of these community organizations extends far beyond a single event. For example, from July 2024 through June of 2025, 7,707 volunteers contributed more than 317,000 hours of service and raised $5.6 million locally, representing a combined $16.6 million investment in the well-being of Western North Carolina. By responding to needs identified by local residents, these volunteer-led organizations strengthen the Social Determinants of Health and improve quality of life through local solutions that build resilient, thriving communities.
Starting from the top left, reading across each row: Josh English, Regional Banking Senior Manager, presents Wells Fargo’s Pinnacle level sponsorship check of $15,000 to WNC Communities’ board chair, Karen Hammett; Lumpy Lambert, General Manager of Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River, represents Harrah’s Pinnacle level sponsorship by presenting the Redbud Best in Class Award to Shiloh Community Association leaders from Buncombe county; 300 leaders from across WNC listen to the presentation at the 2026 WNC Honors Awards; Volunteers from Yellowhill Community Club from the Qualla Boundary pose with their award; Jimmy Cowan, board VP, presents the President’s Award to Texana Community Development Club from Cherokee county for 25 years of participation; Members of Upper Laurel Community Organization from Madison county are awarded the 2023 Impact Award.
Award Spotlight: Impact Award 2023
To give you an example of the kind of amazing work our community centers are doing, in 2023 we gave out our second ever Impact Award to Upper Laurel Community Organization for their incredible work in a unique partnership that enables their rural community to gain much easier access to healthcare.
The Upper Laurel Community Organization partnered with the Center for Rural Health Innovations (CRHI), a NC non-profit that provides liability and malpractice insurance, electronic health records, and a physician collaborator, plus a network of other clinics for shared learning. Upper Laurel runs the Ebbs Chapel Community Center, which now hosts the Outland Family Clinic as part of CHRI’s Health-e-Neighbors program. An additional partnership with a local church helps to cover monthly costs and supplies, while the Ebbs Chapel Community Center supplies the space, heat, and electricity. The community center provided the space and volunteer coordination to convert an outdated school classroom into 2 exam rooms plus a waiting area for a health clinic.
In 2022, which was only their second year of operations, this innovative partnership provided free, convenient medical care to 329 patients in their community. Congratulations to Upper Laurel for their outstanding efforts and collaboration to help transform their community’s access to high quality, convenient, and affordable healthcare!
An exam room (left) and the waiting area (right) in the Outland Family Clinic.