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TRYON—The Roseland Community Center honored the senior citizens of the Eastside Community by presenting them with gift cards and certificates to local stores prior to Christmas Day as part of their annual Holiday Cheer for Seniors program. 

These gifts were made possible by a Cheer Grant from the Polk County Community Foundation.  Seniors, along with other Eastside residents and friends, then gathered at Roseland on Sunday, December 29, in the annual celebration of Kwanzaa, as Roseland concludes a busy and outstanding year of programs and services, upgrades, and improvements designed to build and maintain a sense of community on the Eastside. 

The program featured the lighting of the ceremonial Kinara, music by the Garrison Chapel Youth Choir, a reading of Margaret Walker’s timeless poem “For My People” by Dr. Gail Wilson Awan, and an outstanding conversation with Jasmin Graham, marine biologist and author of the celebrated book Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist (Pantheon 2024). 

Graham’s ancestral roots run deep in the Eastside, and she was interviewed by her uncle, Dr. Joseph Fox, Roseland’s Vice-President. A wonderful meal, prepared by Mountain View BBQ and Deli, along with cakes prepared by local bakers Rev. Eleanor Miller and Sophia Lipscomb, was enjoyed by all. 

Among the seniors acknowledged during the evening was 96-year-old Bill Fox, the oldest living native of the Eastside, now living in Columbia, SC, who traveled to Tryon to support his granddaughter Jasmin Graham. At the conclusion of the program, attendees were surprised with gift bag drawings and the distribution of waterproof emergency bags donated by the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, as Roseland’s President, Dr. Warren Carson, encouraged all to take time to exhale as we continue to recover from the long-term effects of Helene and to look forward to 2025 with hope and anticipation for greater things to come.

 

Submitted by Warren J. Carson