Small Communities, Big Solutions

Southern West Virginia will be shining this fall when, for the first time, the Alliance for Economic Development of Southern West Virginia, West Virginia Community Development Hub and Coalfield Development Corporation team up to recognize the many successes that are happening across the Mountain State’s 21 most southern counties. The Small Communities, BIG Solutions Conference is scheduled for October 22-23 at BridgeValley Community and Technical College’s Advanced Technology Center, located at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston.

The 8th Annual HospiceCare Golf Outing & Dance Party: Celebrating Four Decades of Care

Next year, HospiceCare will begin celebrating 40 years of service to West Virginia families during their times of greatest need, providing peace, comfort and dignity to all. What started as five volunteers along with their friends and families chipping in $500 to care for just seven Charleston-area patients in 1979 has grown into a $25 million health care organization with 300 employees and 300 volunteers serving more than 3,000 patients of all ages and their families throughout 16 counties in south central West Virginia.

Plan Your Adventure: Allegheny Outdoors

Recent Concord University graduates Ryan Weikle and Steven Kennedy have teamed up to open Allegheny Outdoors, LLP, a veteran owned and operated online retail sporting goods company that specializes in camping, hiking, hunting and fishing gear. The new online venture, which launched this spring, offers both brand-name items and Allegheny Outdoors apparel.

Booming National Park Tourism: The Economic Impact in West Virginia’s New River Gorge Area

With more than 1 million visitors in 2017, tourism in the New River Gorge region has certainly changed over the years. The growing industry unofficially began when the Dragan brothers took friends down the river in rubber rafts in 1968. Those trips, based on friendship and a love for the outdoors, formed the first company to raft the New River, Wildwater Unlimited.

Lemonade Day: Teaching Kids the Power of Entrepreneurship

West Virginia Lemonade Day is more than a program that teaches youth the principles required to start a business. It teaches students to spend some, save some and share some by giving back to their local communities.

“The program is also great for reinforcing teamwork and building good social and speaking skills,” says Jessie Hescht, a fifth grade teacher at Winfield Elementary School in Putnam County.

Ride for Kids West Virginia: Inaugural Event Engages New Audience

This has been an eventful year for WVU Medicine’s Children’s with a number of great announcements and events, including the ground-breaking ceremony of its new facility. The new eight-story tower, scheduled for completion in 2020, is set to feature over 155 beds, a 25-bed pediatric intensive care unit and 61-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), in addition to many other expansions. However, as with any expansion, there comes an increased need for fundraising and awareness. Thanks to the efforts of two Morgantown-based companies, a new opportunity for fundraising is now available.