Sharing resources can be powerful force in community
The power of working together to address critical community needs was clearly evident last week after a column written by Dr. Francis Koster appeared in the Salisbury Post on Aug. 24.
The column, “Optimistic Futurist: Multiplying the Loaves and Fishes,” very eloquently laid out the opportunity for restaurants and other members of the food industry to help feed hungry citizens by donating leftover food to charities.
Just days after Dr. Koster’s call to action was published, a local restaurant called Rowan Helping Ministries to set up ongoing food donations that will help provide meals through Jeannie’s Kitchen. Shortly afterward, a non-profit organization called to offer unused food from a catered event to be held later this month.
Jeannie’s Kitchen is a great example of how the business sector, volunteers and non-profit organizations can pool resources to meet critical community needs cost effectively. And while doing that, we can reduce waste and inefficiency from disposing of food that is fresh and safe to eat.
Last year, Rowan Helping Ministries served over 95,000 meals in Jeannie’s Kitchen. Without the ongoing and generous food donations from our community, we would need to spend $190,000 annually to purchase food for those meals.
Thank you to the Salisbury Post for publishing the important call to action written by Dr. Koster. Thank you to Dr. Koster for his insightful and inspiring piece that resulted in new food donors for Rowan Helping Ministries. And thank you to the restaurant, the caterer and the non-profit for responding quickly and enthusiastically to help feed our hungry citizens.
When everyone contributes their respective resources and skills to a daunting community issue, we can change lives in dramatic ways.
— Kyna Grubb
Salisbury
Grubb is executive director of Rowan Helping Ministries.

Do we need county water?
As a matter of fiscal responsibility, I would suggest that the county commission have a public comments session prior to spending money on a three-month study that is likely to cost the taxpayers in Rowan tens of thousands of dollars.
Personally, I find the rural area east of I-85 (High Rock Lake area) to be a highly desirable residential area. The addition of county-maintained water and sewer will only cost us more in taxes and replace well-water and septic tanks that for the most part work very well (ours for well over 15 years now). The installation of county or municipal utilities only leads to escalating government invasiveness in our otherwise happy and independent lives; ergo, water use restrictions, increased taxes, water meter costs, etc.
While I realize the board of commissioners is trying to build the economy and add jobs in Rowan County, I do not appreciate the invasion of privacy that more government infrastructure brings with it, especially when plenty of businesses in the county already use well-water and septic systems quite successfully on a daily basis.
— Steve Hicks
Salisbury
RIP, Joan Rivers
I am curiously saddened by the death of Joan Rivers. Not every joke she told was great; not every joke she told was funny. But every joke she told was bold and fearless, political correctness be damned.
We could use more people like Joan Rivers. You may not have liked what she said or even how she said it. But the hard fact of the matter is that there was always an element of truth in all that she said. We have lost an original.
And, by the way, most of her jokes were funny.
— Allan Gilmour
Salisbury
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