WILKES COUNTY, N.C. — A national organization that celebrates the work to create local connections in communities is shining a light on Wilkes County.

What You Need To Know

  • Weave: The Social Fabric Project was created to help promote connection, support and trust in a world that can be disconnected, divided and lonely

  • The organization recently selected 20 projects out of Wilkes County that embody its goal to receive $5,000 each to support their missions

  • The full list of winning projects can be found here

The Aspen Institute’s Weave: The Social Fabric Project was created to promote connection and support in a world that can be disconnected, divided and lonely. The organization recently selected 20 projects out of Wilkes County that embody its goal to receive $5,000 each to support their missions. The winning projects range from buying musical instruments for students to helping more children get involved in STEM.

 

Community liaison Michael Cooper said this recognition and the reopening of the North Wilkesboro Speedway are promising developments for Wilkes County.

“This is an example of the resilience and the spirit in this community, and people looking to us to set an example because we’ve been through some stuff, but we’ve come through it better than before I think, so we’re really excited about the future and the story that we get to tell,” Cooper said.

One of the Wilkes Weaver Award winners is Naing Win, who owns the Nine Asian & African Grocery Store in Wilkesboro. Win moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s from Myanmar, also known as Burma, and said he was the first Burmese person to relocate to Wilkesboro. He remembers calling family and friends back home to send him the familiar foods he craved.

“I still save this label because it’s written in Burmese. You know, so you don’t see Burmese letter in America back in the 2000s,” Win said as he held a package of food. “So I save it as a you know … oh, that’s my language.”

Win saw how badly other refugees living and working in Wilkes County wanted to eat their own food, as well. After his day job at a nearby chicken plant, and before his wife Nan Lin’s overnight shifts as a nurse, they offer refugees a place to connect with each other and buy essentials like food and clothes. He plans to use his award money to buy food for the store and help refugees with their needs as they settle.

Win hopes to help his community feel more connected while bringing a piece of home from across the world to North Carolina.

“Whenever Burmese pass by, they was like wow, gosh. In America there is a building, look like a store and has the Burmese words,” Win explained. “They don’t feel like they’re in America. They feel like they’re in Burma.”

A list of the winning Wilkes Weaver Award projects can be found here.