Weaverville Center for Creative and Healthy Living
By Emma Castleberry
The Weaverville Center for Creative and Healthy Living (WCCHL) is fully operational and actively offering programming at the new Weaverville Community Center. WCCHL is a grassroots effort led by Weaverville resident Tom Balestrieri, a lifelong healthcare administrator. Balestrieri was inspired partly by the desire to maintain Weaverville’s intimate community in the face of rapid growth. The 2020 census reported that Weaverville now has a population of more than 4,000. “Growth is inevitable, progress is inevitable,” says Balestrieri. “But it becomes imperative that we keep that small-town attitude and foster that small-town mentality. I want to know my neighbor. I want to care about my neighbor and I want them to feel the same for me. That’s where this comes from.”
Weaverville Center for Creative and Healthy Living. Photo courtesy of the Town of Weaverville
This community orientation was what inspired Brian Muys, vice chair for marketing and public relations at WCCHL, to move to Weaverville with his wife almost two years ago. “We were drawn to the quality and pace of life here,” Muys says. Muys was connected to Balestrieri through then-Mayor Al Root and they’ve been working together to realize the vision of WCCHL. “WCCHL started its community outreach in August 2021, when it held four town hall style meetings that gave local townsfolk the opportunity to express what was important to them as it pertains to their health, wellness and socialization needs,” says Muys. “Since that time, with the establishment of our WCCHL email and Facebook page, local townsfolk continue to send us their suggestions as well as volunteer to lead and champion free programming.”
The programming at WCCHL is meant to be a direct response to the needs of community members, who play an active role in designing the schedule of events each quarter. “Our job as a board of directors is to listen,” says Balestrieri. “What is important to you and your family?” At an early planning meeting for WCCHL, a Weaverville resident with a degenerative disorder initiated a conversation with Balestrieri that has resulted in a WCCHL program slated to begin this year: People with Physical Challenges. Balestrieri connected the resident with a couple, a physician and social worker, who will facilitate the group. “We’re bringing them together,” Balestrieri says. “Socialization is a part of health and wellness. Whether we’re coming together for Mahjong or coming together to hear a talk from a professor, all of this is about health and wellness.”
(From left) Chuck Fink, Chet Allen, Kathy Gordon and Jill Totman
Beyond the health and wellness focus, WCCHL also has a cultural component. “Participants were asked what was important to them about keeping alive the traditions of our Blue Ridge Mountains when it comes to art, crafts, music, history and storytelling,” says Balestrieri. “In 2022, WCCHL will begin to explore a local project to interview and record the many longtime residents, artisans and musicians who reside in our area to keep alive the rich history of our magnificent Weaverville home. It’s our hope that the Dry Ridge Museum, which is located at the Community Center, will eventually become the recipient of these recorded histories.”
There is a robust schedule of programming for the first quarter of 2022, featuring classes in dance, meditation, nutrition, improv, tai chi and crafts, as well as a Theater Night, Family Game Night, Weaverville Storytellers Concert and Mountain Music Winter Jam. Of course, the calendar is subject to change as a result of the ongoing pandemic and all in-person events adhere to strict safety precautions. “In a mid-pandemic world,” says Muys, “WCCHL has given local townsfolk a place to socialize in a relatively safe environment for activities where social distancing and masks are enforced for instructors and participants.”
Programs are led by local volunteer instructors, group champions or regionally based service or educational organizations. “WCCHL is an exercise in community health at its most organic level,” says Balestrieri. “It’s about neighbors reaching out to help neighbors. As the name implies, WCCHL seeks to become a center where the expressed needs of the townsfolk can be supported by programming from local volunteers who coach, train, direct, instruct and collaborate with regional health and wellness subject matter experts.”
All WCCHL programming is free of charge and open to the public. Weaverville Community Center is located at 60 Lakeshore Drive, Weaverville. For more information, visit Facebook.com/WCCHL.
