Hometown Heroes

Hometown Hero: Emily Sutton

by Jordan Beyle | August 3, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Emily Sutton. Sutton is the executive director and river keeper of the Haw River Assembly, a nonprofit whose mission is to restore and protect the Haw River, Jordan Lake, and the entire...

Hometown Hero: Mike Naglich

by Jordan Beyle | July 27, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Mike Naglich. Naglich is a retired nurse with a long career of heroic efforts around the world and his latest is a trip to Ukraine to deliver supplies for residents in the war zone. He's making...

Hometown Heroes: Todd LoFrese, TJ Laughrey, Andy Olson, and Jim Ray

by Jordan Beyle | July 20, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Heroes, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, are Todd LoFrese, TJ Laughrey, Andy Olson and Jim Ray. They've spent the last few weeks biking across the country to raise awareness and money for the Be Loud Sophie Foundation in Chapel Hill....

Hometown Hero: Jennie Knowlton

by Jordan Beyle | July 13, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Jennie Knowlton. Knowlton is the founder of the Quilt Maker Cafe in Pittsboro. They first launched in 2021 as a mobile restaurant, but they just opened their first permanent location in May. The...

Hometown Hero: Andrew Taylor-Troutman

by Jordan Beyle | July 6, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Andrew Taylor-Troutman. Taylor-Troutman is the author of "Little Big Moments" on Chapelboro.com and the pastor at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church. They've teamed up with a national...

Hometown Hero: Charles DeBose

by Jordan Beyle | June 29, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Charles DeBose. DeBose's work supports not just one nonprofit but many. He serves as the director of operations for the Extraordinary Thrift Store where he does many different things. He also works...

Hometown Hero: Amy Slaughter

by Jordan Beyle | June 22, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Amy Slaughter. Slaughter is a realtor who works with the nonprofit Community Home Trust. Slaughter completes the home buying transaction, making sure the buyers are able to work with their...

Hometown Hero: Mary Lucas

by Jordan Beyle | June 15, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Mary Lucas. Mary Lucas is the founder of Long Leaf Animal Rescue in Hillsborough. After less than a year in operation, Long Leaf already has dozens of volunteers and and foster families rescuing...

Hometown Hero: Melissa Driver Beard

by Jordan Beyle | June 8, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Melissa Driver Beard. Driver Beard is the executive director of the CORA Food Pantry. They have been fighting hunger and food insecurity in Chatham County for years. CORA Food Pantry now has two...

Hometown Hero: Suzanne Tormollen

by Jordan Beyle | June 1, 2026 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by the O. Max Gardner Foundation, is Suzanne Tormollen. Tormollen is the director of marketing at TABLE, a beloved local nonprofit helping kids with food insecurity in Chapel Hill and Carrboro since 2008. Tormollen has been with...

Hometown Hero: Tiffany Cheshire

by Jordan Beyle | Jul 15, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Tiffany Cheshire. Cheshire has been the principal of Phillips Middle School for 7 years and was just honored as Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School's Principal of the Year. Cheshire came into Phillips at a...

Hometown Hero: Leah Nelson and Maya Powell

by Jordan Beyle | Jul 8, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Heroes, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, are Leah Nelson and Maya Powell. Nelson and Powell are graduate students at UNC and co-chairs of UNC's Climate Crisis Committee. They have been working to make campus more sustainable with renewable energy...

Hometown Hero: Lloyd Kramer

by Jordan Beyle | Jul 1, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Lloyd Kramer! After 38 years as a history professor at UNC and the director Carolina Public Humanities, Kramer is retiring. While Carolina Public Humanities existed before him, Kramer has overseen a...

Hometown Hero: Grace Beeler

by Jordan Beyle | Jun 24, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Grace Beeler. Beeler is the creator of the Appropriate Sanitation Institute. In her her studies at NC State, she found that over half the worlds population do not have adequate sanitation. She worked on a...

Hometown Hero: Manfred Makor

by Staff | Jun 17, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Manfred Makor. Manfred Makor is a teacher at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. He's also the founder of the non-profit Legacy Sports Academy. After fleeing his home country of Liberia due to the civil...

Hometown Hero: Daniel Johnson

by Jordan Beyle | Jun 10, 2024 | Hometown Heroes, Town Square | 0 Comments

This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Daniel Johnson. Johnson is a PhD student at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. He's also an army veteran that served as a journalist for the 101st Airborne division. He worked with artillery...

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