Meet the Pets of 97.9 The Hill WCHL!

This Week: Kimberly Sanchez has been a nonprofit leader for over 15 years, having come to Community Home Trust (CHT) as the former CEO of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF), a nonprofit law firm and legal aid organization, headquartered in Orlando, Florida.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for Dispute Settlement Center, a statewide conflict resolution nonprofit headquartered in Carrboro. She is also a member of the North Carolina Community Land Trust Coalition and a past co-chair of the Orange County Affordable Housing Coalition (OCAHC).  Daniele Berman is the Vice President of Strategy and Operations for Community Home Trust. She plays a key role in advancing the organization’s mission through strategic planning, effective program execution, and organizational infrastructure development. Daniele has worked in the nonprofit sector for over a decade and was recognized for her work as a “Hometown Hero” by WCHL in 2016. She represents CHT as a member of the Orange County Affordable Housing Coalition (OCAHC) and the North Carolina Community Land Trust Coalition (NCCLTC) and has served as a Peer Coach with Nonprofit Marketing Guide

This Week: Tami Schwerin is a re-developer of The Plant, taking a cold-war industrial plant and creating a community hub of food, beverage and experiences. Her past experience includes founding a local food, renewable energy and cultural non-profit; Abundance NC. Before that she helped build Chatham Marketplace, a local co-op grocery store. She has served on art and environmental boards of directors. She traveled the world selling software in her younger years and renovated several old broken-down houses. Tami loves a challenge and creating a world that she wants to live in. She grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and loves the south and Pittsboro. Cathy Brooksie Edwards is the founder and director of heart2heartnc, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Brooksie is dedicated to helping individuals navigate end-of-life with a greater sense of ease while supporting families, caregivers, and communities through their grief journey. The organization’s community-based events and personalized services are grounded in the power of human connection and the proven practice of various modalities—from touch and sound to movement and mindfulness. heart2heartnc is part of Sanctuary at the Burrow, a conservation green burial ground offering nondenominational end-of-life services and creating a meaningful experience that honors the dead and comforts the living. Brooksie is a licensed clinical counselor, death doula, bodyworker, kundalini yoga teacher and musician with over 25 years of experience.

This Week: Jennie Knowlton is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Quiltmaker Café, a nonprofit and donation supported restaurant in downtown Pittsboro that offers a full menu but no pricing. Having experienced food insecurity several different times in her life, Jennie’s top priority for the Café is to serve delicious, healthy, dignified meals to everyone who needs it in the supportive atmosphere of the restaurant.

This Week: Dan Kane is an award-winning investigative journalist for the Raleigh, NC newspaper The News & Observer. Kane, with whistleblower Mary Willingham, is credited for unearthing substantive academic fraud regarding student-athletes who were directed towards phony classes, according to allegations. Kane also covered NCSU, legislative corruption, and the formation of the state lottery. His reporting on NC’s secretive personnel law exposed how the state kept much information about state employees from public scrutiny, which led to a new state law to expedite information-gathering about the pay and performance of state employees. He is a 1983 graduate of Saint John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.

This Week: Travel was John Foley's first passion so a career in the airline industry was natural. The smiles on the faces of the people he met while circling the globe shaped the person he is today. After studying medicine and graduating from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Foley began a 20-year career as a kidney dialysis technician. He even donated a kidney to a patient he was treating in Durham NC. In his latest chapter, Foley is a realtor and and town commissioner leading Pittsboro NC forward during a time of remarkable change.

Among the many Orange County community members who suffered flood damage from Sunday night's intense flooding is WCHL and its AM operations.

Noah Smalls is a curator, exhibition designer, gallery director, and consultant committed to advancing equity and social impact in the arts. He currently serves as Director of Exhibitions and Collections Management at the Williams College Museum of Art and as Gallery Director at Rush Arts in Philadelphia.

The Hill WCHL has signed a new four-year contract with Learfield which will keep it as the flagship station for Tar Heel sports.

This Week: Born into a blue collar and agricultural clan in rural Pennsylvania, Dr. Jim Crawford was the first in his family to graduate from college. Earning his PhD from the University of North Carolina, he taught US and World History at several universities in the piedmont North Carolina for several decades. He served as chairman of the Chatham County board of commissioners, and currently serves as trustee for Central Carolina Community College. He is a firm believer in American democracy and trusts that the constitution will hold firm now as it has in past crises despite the broken, distempered electorate.

This Week: Kirsha Dudenhausen is the General Manager of Chatham Marketplace, a food co-op in Pittsboro, NC where she's worked since 2021. Working at The Chatham Marketplace means Kirsha can make a difference in her community by helping to provide access to fresh, local goods while supporting regional farmers and other producers. Kirsha celebrates working in a place where she shares common values with employees and customers. Kirsha and her family have lived in Pittsboro since 2018. Nicole Villano is a Strategy and Development Manager for the National Cooperative of Grocers, a business service cooperative for retail food co-ops in the US. Prior to that she was the General Manager at Deep Roots Market in Greensboro, NC, where she still lives and works remotely. She earned an Anthropology degree from Appalachian State and is working on a Master’s in Sustainability at UNCG. Nicole also serves as Board President for Carolina Common Enterprise, a non-profit cooperative development agency. Nicole believes that food systems are unsustainable without cooperation and that local food economies are critical to our future.