As the new year rings in with loads of snow as well as some economic uncertainty, area non-profit groups are hoping that High Country residents will open their hearts and wallets to make 2010 the best ever.
The Hospitality House, already full to capacity, is a prime example. Administrators are counting the days until construction on the new larger facility is complete, but they may face weather delays.
Already postponed by utility relocation, the next step was putting in a retaining wall, but moisture content in dirt began to freeze, halting that plan.
Director Lynne Mason said that means either waiting until spring or switching from dirt to crushed gravel.
The switch takes $50,000 from a contingency fund already written into the  $3,148,050 budget, but might allow the shelter to open by its projected date this September.
Man's best friend is also snowed in. Construction of the new Humane Society facility in Watauga County has completely halted, courtesy of wintry weather. Grating is complete but concrete cannot be poured in the cold.
While WHS President Shaun Lundy still hopes the structure will be complete this summer, the weather is “worrisome.”
“Right when we got done with the permits the weather turned rainy, then cold and snowy,” he said.
The construction situation coupled with a decrease in monetary donations for 2009 could cause frustration in the coming year.
The Health and Hunger Coalition, already battling a decrease in donated canned goods, is also feeling the financial wind chill.
“People are spending more money on their heating bills ... we see a lot of people with less money for food,” spokesman Compton Fortuna said.
The Coalition already has to increase food purchases to compensate for decreased canned good donations.
Watauga's Habitat for Humanity is focusing all its winter efforts on its restore, Director Tony Caito said. Home construction cannot happen in single digit weather, so those volunteers are switching gears and moving behind the cash register. Construction on homes at a new subdivision in the Green Valley area commences in spring.
Nonprofits have an ally in the community, Linda Slade director of High Country United Way, said. Slade said the High Country has a way of stepping up, even amidst a recession and wind chill factor.
“Little gifts add up to big gifts and make it happen. No one should feel badly about making what they think is a little gift because it is a big gift to us,” she said.