My name is Mike Francis. I’m a teacher and coach at Raceland. I am also a husband and parent of two young boys. My wife and I moved into this region back in 2005. I was amazed at the vibrant and rich traditions of Appalachia in this area. The culture, the music, the food, I love it all. But, I have noticed, in recent years, less and less avenues for discussion and education about our great area. I got with some local community groups and activists and discussed the project.
It all sort of built up steam when I saw an article in the paper about the Seed Savers. I go to church with Kristi Ruggles and she and I started discussing our interests in Appalachian culture and tradition and the event slowly started to take shape.
I got some great support from the folks at Raceland, who understand that being a great school district means having great educational programming for our students and our community. Our superintendent, Larry Coldiron has been very generous, but I got a supreme amount of help and support from Anne Stephens. Anne runs the programming at the CAC, and in talking with her she has been able to connect me to so many wonderful people in our community. Without her encouragement and support there would be no event.
I also got some great help from my uncle-in-law Lew Nicholls who has been interested in and writing about our local history for a long time.
I have gotten great support and encouragement from everywhere I have turned in the community. Everyone has been on-board with the project right away. As a coach, this would be an easy team to coach. Hopefully we will win big on Saturday, February 23rd with your support and interest in our project.
I’ve written more about education, folk, and community on my blog.
It all sort of built up steam when I saw an article in the paper about the Seed Savers. I go to church with Kristi Ruggles and she and I started discussing our interests in Appalachian culture and tradition and the event slowly started to take shape.
I got some great support from the folks at Raceland, who understand that being a great school district means having great educational programming for our students and our community. Our superintendent, Larry Coldiron has been very generous, but I got a supreme amount of help and support from Anne Stephens. Anne runs the programming at the CAC, and in talking with her she has been able to connect me to so many wonderful people in our community. Without her encouragement and support there would be no event.
I also got some great help from my uncle-in-law Lew Nicholls who has been interested in and writing about our local history for a long time.
I have gotten great support and encouragement from everywhere I have turned in the community. Everyone has been on-board with the project right away. As a coach, this would be an easy team to coach. Hopefully we will win big on Saturday, February 23rd with your support and interest in our project.
I’ve written more about education, folk, and community on my blog.