Shipment to Ghana leaves North Carolina

Bob Morgan, Patty Brady and Trudy Knight at Fulfillment Solutions in Mill Spring, NC begin packing the shipment of dolls and other materials for the Doll Makers Accra, Ghana. Once the shipment is on its way we"ll track it here with updates. The estimated time of arrival at the US Embassy in Accra is first of next week. Thanks, Bob. We could not have done it without you, Patty and Trudy. MMF

Ms. Feagan meets with James R. Blanton

BNESCO Principal, Margaret Feagan meets with James R. Blanton, a founder of the Carolina Foothills Preservation Trust. Both the Preservation Trust and BNESCO work to raise capacity in communities and explore ways to improve achievable heritage development through historic preservation. The Carolina Foothills Preservation Trust brings resources, support and encouragement to individuals and groups engaged in historic preservation in the western Carolinas. In a recent project, buildings needing restoration are being studied to determine if they are suitable for use as real-time preservation laboratories -- where job training and retraining will enhance the skills of displaced workers. Working through the local community college, the Small Business Center and the GATE Program (Growing America Through Entrepreneurism), the developing program will help meet the needs of a growing historic preservation awareness. James Blanton and Gary Corn were successful recently in have the Mill Farm Inn on Harmon Field Road in Tryon listed in the National Register of Historic Places, January 2009.

Tryon Dolls ready for the trip to Ghana

Shipment of the Tryon Dolls to Ghana begins this week. Margaret and Petey discuss the project at Celia Kudro's studio on May 25. The shipment to Accra, Ghana leaves from Tryon Wednesday with pen-pal letters, paper, glue, pencils, and -- of course, the Tryon Dolls. Local editions of the Tryon Daily Bulletin have also been included in the package. Special thanks to Fulfillment Solutions in Mill Spring, NC for helping arrange the international shipping.

BNESCO Kids SEEDS for the Future

BNESCO Kids are finding new ways and new opportunities to discover the world through education and cultural development
BNESCO Kids are where we believe our future begins.  Summer Saturday Programs work to catalyze exploration, engagement and inquiry and help build new-connections in young minds.  Growing up takes many years and recognizing opportunity often takes a lot longer.  Recently, Tryon Doll Maker, Petey Wingo's son T.J spent the day exploring Celia Kudro's shop and studio in Landrum, South Carolina while his mother worked on pressed copper Doll Maker Labels.  Meanwhile, upstairs Tryon Arts and Crafts exhibited displays and demonstrations available at the craft campus in Tryon.  

BNESCO prepares for cultural exchange

Margaret M. Feagan is finishing the condition reports on the dolls which have been started by the Registered Tryon Doll Makers that will be traveling to Accra, Ghana next week.

This inner-cultural exchange between Doll Makers in both Tryon and Accra, Ghana, is a project sponsored by BNESCO to help raise inner-cultural awareness and capacity using thread, fabric and stories.  The Dolls being sent from Tryon will be worked on by Doll Makers in Ghana and returned to Tryon where they will be worked on some more and returned to Ghana.  After several times back and forth, the Dolls will be exhibited in both Tryon and Accra in an international exhibition on cooperation through crafts.  In addition, children in both Tryon and Accra will be exchanging letters and pictures and communicating on-line via You Tube as part of the project.

Ghana Doll Maker, Yvonne Plange said recently in an email, "There will be a lot to learn about each other's culture, though we have similar cultural backgrounds, we will all get to know the ROOTS and keep us more as a family."  U.S Cultural Affairs Specialist, Sophia Bosompem in the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Accra, Ghana was instrumental in helping facilitate the meeting of the two groups and has been supportive of the project since the beginning.  

  

Who are we? BnESCO

Bountiful Neighborhood Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization BNESCO

Margaret M. Feagan, Principal
Areas of Concentration:
Youth Engagement
Field Language Development (Spanish)

Our work helps people make connections and achieve forward momentum so they can turn their innovative ideas into useful forms through entrepreneurial development.

We work small. But we construct powerful positive growth models which raise the economic base versus focusing on the expansion of the economic top. Our goal is to help reshape lives and expand human welfare through inner-cultural projects that are transformational and which address specific community economic and entrepreneurial development issues.

BnESCO is a non-governmental organization (NGO) headquartered in Tryon, North Carolina with partners in Accra, Ghana-West Africa.

We are run by a Board of active Principals who believe in supporting ideas that support the production of ideas.

Our core mission is to -- so fully understand the communities in which we work, that we are able to remove barriers to prosperity and build capacity for sustainable grassroots community economic development.

BnESCO initiatives work to reorganize long-established systems of underutilization in these communities and engage participants in inner-cultural entrepreneurial development so they may take part in a growing global prosperity movement.

BNESCO with North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture

BNESCO Principal, Margaret M. Feagan shares a moment with North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler during the Commissioner's May 13th 2009 trip to western North Carolina.  To learn more about the North Carolina Department of Agriculture please visit

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/