Thrive Appalachia

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Thrive Appalachia

THRIVE Appalachia provides opportunities, connections, and hands-on learning experiences for youth.

07/07/2026

Join us tomorrow July 8 at Homeplace Beer Company nonprofit night, featuring THRIVE Appalachia! All proceeds purchased between 5-9pm goes to THRIVE. At 6:30pm, THRIVE Appalachia teens are performing the world premiere of the 15 min play, “Birds of Prey” written by Burnsville’s own 18-year old playwright Nikoli. Nikoli has been with THRIVE since it was founded in 2023 and this is his final creation before he goes to college this fall for creative writing. His play will be performed by THRIVE’s theater ensemble with subsequent dance performances by our teen dance ensemble, directed by the magical Blair Alizabeth Clark. Come enjoy dinner, hear a thoughtful and delightful story of a teen making sense of this world, and celebrate our teen renaissance!

06/12/2026

On June 2, 2026, twenty-two THRIVE Appalachia teens held their Kids Cafe for the first time at Burnsville’s historic The NuWray Hotel. A stunning 110 guests enjoyed either THRIVE teen's tagliatelle pasta dinner or their broiled chicken over Caesar salad dinner, with sundaes for dessert made from THRIVE Appalachia’s teen-made ice cream. Deep and heartfelt gratitude to all who came out to support our kids, to James And Amanda Keith at the NuWray and to NuWray Chef Mark Bayliff for giving our teens this extraordinary opportunity! Mark your calendars for THRIVE’s next Kids Cafe at the NuWray on Tuesday August 18th!

05/22/2026

THRIVE Appalachia teens will be making history again–this time by hosting their Kids Cafe at The NuWray Hotel’s in-house restaurant, The Old Ray Restaurant on June 2nd from 5:30-7pm! Under the leadership of Chef Mark Bayliff, THRIVE teens have been working since March to prepare for this next stage in their culinary evolution: cooking and serving dinner in a professional kitchen and restaurant! This menu will include two entree options: Their handmade tagliatelle pasta with a choice of Bolognese, pesto, or mushroom cream sauce served with a side salad OR your choice of an entree sized salad with chicken (either house or Caesar salad). Both entrees served with homemade garlic knots. Dessert will be sundaes made with THRIVE Appalachia vanilla ice cream with homemade chocolate or caramel sauce and freshly whipped cream. Beverages options are homemade ginger ale or strawberry or classic lemonade. All proceeds go to the teens! No reservations needed. Take out orders available. Come hungry and leave nourished and inspired!

03/24/2026

Wowza! Thanks so much to everyone who came out Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of THRIVE Appalachia's new ice cream location at Carriage House Sundries! The Yancey Chamber of Commerce did a ribbon cutting with our kiddos and our parents organized a festival-like atmosphere with face painting, hula hooping and corn hole games! We so appreciate the outpouring of neighbors and friends who came out to support our kids' ice cream entrepreneurship adventure that teaches real world skills while supporting local businesses!

Explore Burnsville---and this new sweet addition to the Town of Burnsville, NC; THRIVE Appalachia ice cream is now available Wednesday through Sunday each week 8am-10pm at Carriage House Sundries!

03/19/2026

What a glorious start to our 2026 season! Each week THRIVE teens are working with the The NuWray Hotel’s chef to learn professional culinary skills; with a former producer at Xbox to design their own video game; learning increasingly sophisticated skills like adding zippers in sewing class; working on building our own carpentry studio; holding auditions for one of our teens’ original plays; learning hairdressing with a professional hairdresser; learning blacksmithing with a master blacksmith; holding business classes with the Director of the Mayland Community College Small Business Center, plus dance, music, and cake decorating! And if that wasn’t enough, this week we are celebrating our grand opening at our new ice cream location at Carriage House Sundries this Saturday 2:30-4! Come celebrate this collaboration between THRIVE teens and this beloved local cafe/bakery as part of our teen-led renaissance!

Warm gratitude to our wonderful supporters for making our 2026 season possible! AMY Wellness Foundation, The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, Dogwood Health Trust, Mountain Air Community Fund, Resourceful Communities, Vaya Health, WNC Bridge Foundation, and The Yancey Fund.

03/04/2026

Warm gratitude to the two dozen women who recently attended our Wise Women gathering so our teens could do market research on what women love and want to see us create in THRIVE Appalachia’s 2026 wool jacket line. Our kids begin tomorrow at sewing class to incorporate all we heard into our designs for this year! Such a warm and wonderful opportunity they gave them by taking the time to share with us! The gathering was beautifully catered by our own 15-year old Maya, who made 3 different kinds of quiches and her exquisite mini cupcakes!

02/12/2026

What a joyous beginning! On Tuesday, Feb 10, THRIVE Appalachia held their annual Orientation with a room overflowing with teens and their parents excited for the 2026 season to begin the first week of March! Classes and entrepreneurship projects for the spring semester include:
-Ice Cream making
-Video Game Design
-Kids Cafe Prep
-Blacksmithing
-Hair Cutting
-Culinary Skills
-Dance/Gymnastics/Aerial Silks
-Cake Decorating
-Theater
-Carpentry
-Sewing
If you'd like more information or to enroll your teen 12-18, go to www.thriveappalachia.org or call 828-559-5840. Here's to an amazing year!

02/07/2026

On Tuesday February 10, 4-6pm THRIVE Appalachia is hosting Orientation Day 2026! Parents and students, come hear the exciting line up of classes and entrepreneurship projects we'll be offering this year! Sign up your teens (some classes have limited class sizes) so we can plan supplies and materials for the launch of our spring semester starting the first week of March! If you are new to THRIVE Appalachia and would like more information, please reach out to us at 828-559-5840 or at www.thriveappalachia.org. See y'all Tuesday at 4!

01/15/2026

Happy New Year!

Here are some highlights of our teen accomplishments in 2025:

⭐️ Teens made and sold 515 gallons of ice cream wholesale, reaching a grand total of nearly 850 gallons to date.
⭐️ Teens ran 5 Kids Cafes in which they made and served international cuisine dinners including Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mexican,, and Italian feasts.
⭐️ They made and sold 267 gallons of soup and 1,179 scones.
⭐️ They launched their Forest Preschool Program
⭐️ They built and sold a custom timber frame shed that sold for $7,000.
⭐️ They launched their organic cotton fashion line of women's clothing which they hand dyed with natural indigo. Teens sold their items at the live auction, earning $6,000 this year for a grand total of $17,000 to date.
⭐️Teens and parents came together at the Mount Mitchell Eco Retreat for our annual retreat where the teens planned out their classes and projects for this upcoming year.

⭐️⭐️ The teens earned a total of $24,797 in 2025 ⭐️⭐️

Deep gratitude to all of those who made this year possible! We can't wait to share with you all the teens are planning for 2026. Here's to a remarkable year!

Address

Burnsville, NC
28714

Telephone

+18285595840

Website

http://thriveappalachia.org/

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