Wilson city officials are considering selling nearly 24 acres on Stantonsburg Road to make way for a company planning to turn chicken waste into energy.
Max Power Associates currently operates a similar biomass energy generating facility in Farmville, which Wilson Economic Development Director Jennifer Lantz said she toured with other city officials.
&ldquo;None of us found any odor outside the building, so it will be good for the neighborhood and may provide us with opportunities for other industries in the area,&rdquo; Lantz said. &ldquo;This company is really willing to work with N.C. State (University) and experiment to find uses for various wastes that other companies and the water plant produce.&rdquo;
The project is expected to spur $20 million of investment and create at least 10 jobs with an average salary of $40,000. Visit www.prg-llc.com/featured-project to learn more about the existing facility in Farmville.
Lantz said Max Power isn&rsquo;t receiving any incentives and will buy the 3100 Stantonsburg Road property at market value. The company has at least six months to perform due diligence for the project, so it&rsquo;s unclear when construction might begin and how long it would take.
The property sale was the only public hearing during the Wilson City Council&rsquo;s 7 p.m. Thursday meeting, which was held virtually due to COVID-19. State law requires an additional 24 hours of public comment on the sale before taking action, so the council will reconvene at 6 p.m. Monday to vote on the matter.
Wilson residents who wish to submit a comment can email their remarks to City Clerk Tonya West at twest@wilsonnc.org by 7:30 p.m. Friday. Commenters are asked to include their name, address and phone number along with where they can be reached during Monday&rsquo;s meeting.&nbsp;
For questions on the public comment process, email West or call her at 252-399-2302.

Wilson plans land sale for waste-to-energy project

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The city of Wilson will receive $900,000 of the $26.8 million state officials have allocated for rural COVID-19 assistance.
&ldquo;Our communities need help in recovering from the pandemic, and these funds will help with some of their immediate needs,&rdquo; Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news release.
City officials applied for the Community Development Block Grant coronavirus program in the fall. Wilson&rsquo;s full request was awarded, with $250,000 earmarked for broadband expansion. Wilson plans to use that money to grow Greenlight&rsquo;s broadband network in the eastern and western parts of the county, but an expansion map has not been released.
&ldquo;We are pleased to be able to continue expansion of our community&rsquo;s fiber network,&rdquo; said Will Aycock, Greenlight general manager. &ldquo;This expansion furthers our goal of being a regional technology leader in eastern North Carolina and expands opportunity for our residents, students, remote workers and business to fully participate in the digital transition that is changing our world.&rdquo;
The remainder of the state funding will be used to assist utility customers with paying outstanding bills. City employees are working with state officials on the Wilson Energy program, with more information forthcoming.&nbsp;
Wilson County will also receive $900,000 in coronavirus funding, which will be used to build a new wellness pavilion at the senior center.
&ldquo;Our seniors have suffered so much during the pandemic, and we had to postpone and/or cancel many activities that keep them healthy and connected to others,&rdquo; said Assistant County Manager Ron Hunt. &ldquo;We feel this project positions us to handle future health situations and events while keeping seniors safe, active and healthy.&rdquo;
Other nearby communities &mdash; including Johnston, Nash and Pitt counties &mdash; also received grant funding.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Supporting North Carolina&rsquo;s smaller communities and businesses is critical for our state&rsquo;s economic recovery,&rdquo; N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Sanders said in a news release. &ldquo;These grantees will be able to provide emergency payment assistance for families who desperately need relief due to the pandemic, as well as receive financial support to expand the economic revitalization in their communities.&rdquo; &nbsp;

$900K grant will expand Greenlight, help Wilson Energy customers 

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Celebrating its 125th year, The Wilson Times remains one of North Carolina&rsquo;s top newspapers of its size as judged by its peers in an annual statewide competition.&nbsp;
The Times won 20 awards in the North Carolina Press Association&rsquo;s 2020 News, Editorial and Photojournalism Contest, including a third-place honor for general excellence, and reporter Olivia Neeley earned the North Carolina Bar Association&rsquo;s Media and the Law Award of Excellence for best daily newspaper article.&nbsp;
Awards were announced Friday in a virtual presentation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state restrictions on mass gatherings. The association customarily holds an awards banquet.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re honored that judges considered our work worthy of recognition, and we&rsquo;re proud to continue The Wilson Times&rsquo; 125-year tradition of publishing stories that make a meaningful difference in our community,&rdquo; said President and Publisher Keven Zepezauer. &ldquo;Our journalists tell stories about the people whose contributions make Wilson County a better place, and we strive to give our readers the information they need to be active participants in civic life.&rdquo; &nbsp;
The Times competes in NCPA Division D, consisting of daily newspapers with circulation under 12,500.&nbsp;
Journalists from West Virginia Press Association member publications judged the 2020 contest. To ensure impartiality, their identities are not revealed to participants.
RACIAL RECKONING
Reporter Drew C. Wilson earned seven individual awards, including first place in news enterprise reporting for The Black Experience, a six-story series in which African American residents discussed race relations in Wilson amid the national conversation about racial equality that followed George Floyd&rsquo;s May 25 death in Minneapolis police custody.&nbsp;
Wilson won first place in city and county government reporting for his coverage of allegations against Lucama Commissioner David Johnson.&nbsp;
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a right-to-sue letter after investigating complaints that allege Johnson used racial slurs including the N-word when referring to town employees and a fellow commissioner who has since resigned. Johnson has denied the claims. A federal employment discrimination lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.&nbsp;
An image of a woman collapsing against a car following a 5-year-old boy&rsquo;s accidental shooting on Jan. 24, 2020, earned Wilson a first-place award for spot news photography.
&ldquo;Stunning,&rdquo; the contest judge wrote. &ldquo;Everything in this photo captures the first emotion that comes when reading about an accidental shooting &mdash; grief.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Wilson won first place in the multimedia project category for &ldquo;A dream come true,&rdquo; which consisted of photos, a video and a story about Seeds of Hope Wilson&rsquo;s community garden. He also took second place in multimedia projects for coverage of a July 22 fire that destroyed the Custom Quality Packers meatpacking plant near Bailey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I can only imagine how difficult it was to stay with this story,&rdquo; the judge wrote. &ldquo;Good job.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;One last jam at the Boys &amp; Girls Club,&rdquo; a stand-alone photo taken on the Wilson club&rsquo;s final day of operation, earned Wilson a second-place award for sports feature photography. He received third place in the same category for another stand-alone photo, headlined &ldquo;The last angler.&rdquo;&nbsp;
RAY FINCH CASE&nbsp;
Neeley&rsquo;s coverage of a federal lawsuit alleging the Wilson County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office framed Ray Finch in the 1976 killing of Richard &ldquo;Shadow&rdquo; Holloman received the Media and the Law Award, a special honor sponsored and judged by the North Carolina Bar Association.&nbsp;
The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Finch innocent in Holloman&rsquo;s murder, and a federal district judge vacated his conviction. He was released in May 2019 after spending more than 43 years in prison.&nbsp;
Gov. Roy Cooper hasn&rsquo;t rendered a decision on Finch&rsquo;s request for a pardon of innocence after 19 months, the Times reported in a follow-up story last month. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, state Rep. Linda Cooper-Suggs and the Times&rsquo; editorial page have urged Cooper to pardon Finch, which would allow him to seek state compensation for his wrongful conviction.&nbsp;
A story on Finch&rsquo;s lawsuit also earned Neeley a third-place award for beat news reporting.&nbsp;
Neeley won first place in news feature writing for &ldquo;New start for a new year,&rdquo; which described Shalon McMullen&rsquo;s experience with homelessness and the help she received from the Hope Station&rsquo;s Westview House family shelter.&nbsp;
LOCAL NEWS&nbsp;
Reporter Brie Handgraaf won the second-place arts and entertainment reporting award for a story on street artist Shane Tierce&rsquo;s memorial mural showing 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant&rsquo;s face and a bicycle contained within the word &ldquo;Innocent.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Cannon was riding his bike outside his father&rsquo;s Wilson home when he was shot and killed on Aug. 9. Tierce told the Times he opposes art censorship and didn&rsquo;t seek city officials&rsquo; permission before painting the mural.
&ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t expecting to go down the permitting rabbit hole,&rdquo; the contest judge wrote. &ldquo;Nice reporting.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Handgraaf received second-place honors in the profile feature category for a story on Tar River Flea Market vendor Alma Smolen&rsquo;s remarkable life, which included work in London bomb shelters during World War II.&nbsp;
&ldquo;This story makes the reader feel like they know Alma Smolen and makes you want to meet this amazing lady with such an amazing story to tell,&rdquo; the judge wrote.&nbsp;
Coverage of Wilson&rsquo;s downtown redevelopment efforts earned Handgraaf a second-place award for city and county government reporting.&nbsp;
Valerie Register, a former graphic designer at the Times, received third place for a portfolio of three news graphics.&nbsp;
SPORTS COVERAGE
Sports Editor Paul Durham won first-place awards for sports enterprise reporting and sports feature writing and garnered a second-place honor for sports columns.&nbsp;
The winning sports enterprise story, &ldquo;The cost of not playing,&rdquo; explored the COVID-19 pandemic&rsquo;s economic impact on Wilson County high schools due to athletic season postponements and mass gathering limits that eliminated ticket revenue.
Durham earned praise for a selection of three columns that included first-person reflections and input on a discussion about Wilson County high school track needs.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Solid variety of column subjects including a vivid childhood football team, an outdoors topic on fishing, and discussing the benefits of building an athletic facility,&rdquo; the judge wrote.&nbsp;
The sports feature writing award honored Durham for &ldquo;Take me out to the ball game,&rdquo; which described Wilson&rsquo;s minor-league baseball atmosphere in the 1950s through diehard fans&rsquo; eyes.
OPINION
Editor Corey Friedman won first place for editorial writing, and the Times staff received Division D&rsquo;s first-place editorial page award.
Two of the winning editorials focused on Wilson residents struggling to pay their utility bills during the pandemic. The Times&rsquo; opinion page called on city council members to institute a moratorium on disconnections for nonpayment. While the council ultimately took that step, Mayor Pro-tem James Johnson and City Manager Grant Goings criticized the newspaper&rsquo;s advocacy during the meeting when the moratorium was approved.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for public officials to ignore one person&rsquo;s plight, and this is community journalism at its finest,&rdquo; the judge wrote. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s giving a voice to the voiceless and amplifying that voice to make a bigger echo for a broader systemic issue. &lsquo;What is the problem with the system that caused this person harm?&rsquo; That is answered here.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The judge for editorial pages praised Dave DiFilippo&rsquo;s cartoons and columnist Hal Tarleton&rsquo;s work in addition to editorials on city government.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Local cartoons a nice touch, and not easy to pull off on a continuing basis,&rdquo; the judge&rsquo;s statement reads. &ldquo;Liked lots of space for letters to ed. Enjoyed Hal Tarleton&rsquo;s column, which no doubt had many readers nodding heads in agreement.&rdquo;&nbsp;
A WINNING TRADITION&nbsp;
Over the past decade, The Wilson Times has earned a combined total of 265 awards in the NCPA&rsquo;s annual competition. News contest performance saw a dramatic increase after Jon Jimison started work as the Times&rsquo; editor in February 2010.&nbsp;
Jimison had worked at the Times as education reporter in 1990 and returned to lead the newsroom two decades later after serving as editor of The Star in Shelby.&nbsp;
After receiving six honors in the press association&rsquo;s 2010 contest, the Times doubled its total and collected a dozen awards for work produced in 2011.&nbsp;
Following 31 awards for its 2012 work, the Times hauled in a record 40 awards in the 2013 contest. The NCPA honored Times journalists with 26 awards for 2014; 30 for 2015; and 25 for 2016.&nbsp;
Friedman, who cites Jimison as a mentor and credits his leadership with building the Times&rsquo; winning tradition, succeeded him as editor in May 2016. The Times went on to win 29 awards in the 2017 contest and 23 each for work produced in 2018 and 2019. Last year&rsquo;s efforts resulted in the 20 awards announced Friday.&nbsp;
SISTER PUBLICATIONS
The Times serves as the flagship of Restoration NewsMedia, a Wilson-based community newspaper company that owns five papers and provides design, consulting and management services to nearly a dozen others. Collectively, Restoration&rsquo;s properties combined for 46 press association awards in the 2020 contest.
The Wake Weekly of Wake Forest earned seven awards and the Butner-Creedmoor News in Creedmoor brought home eight. Both papers compete in Division B, nondaily newspapers with circulation between 3,500 and 10,000.&nbsp;
The Enterprise of Spring Hope won five awards, including second place in general excellence for Division A, nondaily newspapers with circulation under 3,500. The Johnstonian News of Smithfield, also in Division A, received six awards.&nbsp;

Wilson Times wins 20 awards in journalism contest

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State officials are offering rewards totaling $25,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions in two separate Wilson County homicide cases from 2016. 
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday the state would offer up to a $20,000 reward for the prosecution of those responsible for a Christmas Eve quadruple homicide and up to $5,000 in the killing of a 52-year-old Bailey man whose body was found in the woods off Cisterna Road near Kenly on June 8, 2016. 
&ldquo;I am very appreciative of Governor Cooper&rsquo;s reward proclamation,&rdquo; said Wilson County Sheriff Calvin Woodard. &ldquo;I am hoping these rewards aid in someone providing information for solving both of these cases and giving closure to the families.&rdquo; 
CHRISTMAS EVE KILLINGS 
Neighbors reportedly heard gunshots around 1 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2016. Nearly 12 hours later, the victims&rsquo; family members found bloodshed inside a Wilson County home and called 911. 
All four victims &mdash; 47-year-old Selby Gene Outland, 54-year-old Tammy Lynnette Pearce, 28-year-old Paul Shane Pearce and 23-year-old Dominique Nicole &ldquo;Nikki&rdquo; Privette &mdash; were found shot to death. 
Some of the victims were shot multiple times, including Privette, who was shot nine times, according to autopsy reports. 
The victims were found in four separate rooms and were wearing pajamas, their autopsies state. The reports indicate that a 9mm and .38-caliber cartridge casings were found at the scene. The front door was kicked in. 
The killings occurred inside Tammy Pearce&rsquo;s home on the 2200 block of Banks Lane, a residential street off N.C. 42 East just outside the Wilson city limits. 
Tammy and Paul Pearce were mother and son, and Outland and Privette, respectively, were their significant others.
In August 2017, investigators arrested 31-year-old Dereck Eugene Harris and charged him with murder in the quadruple homicide. But in February 2020, prosecutors dismissed all four first-degree murder charges against Harris the day he was slated to stand trial. 
Wilson County prosecutors said the case was circumstantial and there were issues with witnesses leading up to the trial. 
During a court proceding to dismiss the charges, prosecutors said certain witnesses were served and hadn&rsquo;t shown up for trial, and another witness changed his or her story the week before the trial started.
Prosecutors said they hoped new evidence would emerge, enabling them to re-indict Harris or refile charges. Evidence showed there was more than one perpetrator.
JAMES GRAHAM JR. HOMICIDE
The body of 52-year-old James Calvin Graham Jr. was found unclothed in a wooded area off Cisterna Road. Graham was shot multiple times, according to a news release announcing the governor&rsquo;s reward offer. 
Four days prior to Graham&rsquo;s killing, Wilson County deputies were dispatched to a suspicious vehicle fire at Buckhorn Landing. Bailey firefighters told deputies that flames were shooting out of the car when they arrived. Officials said no one was seen with or near the car, a silver 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Deputies launched an arson investigation. The following day, June 7, the Bailey Police Department began investigating a missing person case and contacted the Wilson County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office. Deputies later identified Graham as the burned car&rsquo;s owner. 
Detectives searched the area and found Graham&rsquo;s body on June 8. 
Officials said Graham&rsquo;s car was seen turning onto Cisterna Road near N.C. 42 during the early morning hours of June 4. 
Shortly after Graham&rsquo;s identity was released, his family members told The Wilson Times that he failed to show up to church on June 4, a Saturday. Graham was a forklift driver, and he didn&rsquo;t show up to work on the following Monday and Tuesday. Relatives reported him missing on Tuesday, June 7. 
Graham&rsquo;s family told the Times it wasn&rsquo;t normal for Graham to be absent without calling loved ones. While Graham sometimes went fishing, family members said, they never knew of him doing so near Buckhorn Landing or Cisterna Road. 
Anyone with information about either homicide case is asked to call the Wilson County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office at 252-237-2118 or the State Bureau of Investigation at 919-662-4500.

Rewards offered in 2016 Wilson County murders

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Without federal financial aid, Elizabeth Herrera says her family wouldn&rsquo;t have been able to send her to college. 
Now, Herrera is on a mission to inform college hopefuls that filling out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the first step to receiving financial assistance. 
The 2015 Beddingfield High School graduate attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Covenant scholar and graduated debt-free in May 2019. Herrera is now employed with the Carolina College Advising Corps as a full-time college adviser in Chatham County. The CACC is an AmeriCorps program.
Help from two Beddingfield teachers, Carrie Maravi and Glenn Griffin, made the difference for Herrera in 2015. 
&ldquo;They guided me, they helped me through my UNC application, and if it wasn&rsquo;t for them, I don&rsquo;t know if I would have been at UNC,&rdquo; she said.
Herrera, one of 10 siblings in her family, said she wasn&rsquo;t familiar with college. 
&ldquo;I have realized that it is a cycle of first-generation, low-income students not knowing even what college is or how is it going to promote them, how is it going to promote their living situation or how it gives them access into a higher-paying job after they graduate,&rdquo; Herrera said. &ldquo;It really has become one of my passions to help students and just explain the process and be the bridge between Spanish-speaking parents and the students who don&rsquo;t know what this process is and explaining it.&rdquo;
Herrera said FAFSA completion rates have declined in the past few years.
&ldquo;It is money that is going unclaimed that these students can use,&rdquo; Herrera said. &ldquo;It is out there for them to use if only they were to fill out the application.&rdquo;
Aid isn&rsquo;t just for students going to a four-year university. 
&ldquo;It may just mean getting a certificate or a diploma from a community college just so they can get paid a little bit more on top of just having that high school diploma,&rdquo; Herrera said.
According to the education nonprofit myFutureNC, state students left $107 million in funding on the table by forgoing the FAFSA in 2020. 
David Lyndon, executive director of secondary education at Wilson County Schools, said the district&rsquo;s FAFSA completion rate for the 2020-21 academic year was 50-54%. So far, the 2021-22 completion rate stands at 25-29%.* 
Figures for Wilson County&rsquo;s public high schools seem to show a decline from before to after the COVID-19 pandemic. 
&ldquo;While there are no distinguishable disparities, Wilson County Schools will continue to work closely with students and their families to provide services that guide and assist students in preparing for the transition after high school,&rdquo; Lyndon said. &ldquo;Wilson County Schools is committed to supporting our college-bound students. Informing students about FAFSA is a priority. However, applying for FAFSA is a family decision and one that we can only encourage.&rdquo;
In the district&rsquo;s class of 2020, 303 seniors planned to attend community college, 275 seniors planned to attend a college or university.
In addition to the schools&rsquo; regular counselors, both Fike and Hunt have had Carolina College Advising Corps advisers. In February, Beddingfield brought on a new CCAC adviser to help students with FAFSA applications and other college-related questions.
Herrera said language is a factor for the Spanish-speaking population.
&ldquo;That is another big obstacle, the parent not knowing what they are filling out,&rdquo; Herrera said. &ldquo;It really makes them feel safe when they have someone who is able to speak their language and to be able to give them the information in their language about what they are filling out.&rdquo;
Herrera said she is really passionate about making students aware of what they can get by filling out the FAFSA. 
&ldquo;Beddingfield still holds a big place in my heart,&rdquo; Herrera said. &ldquo;If I am able to make one difference for another student that is in a similar position as I was when I was a high school student in Wilson County, I hope to be able to make their application process a little bit easier.&rdquo;
* = CLARIFICATION, Feb. 27 &mdash; A sentence in this story previously indicated the FAFSA completion rate for the 2021-22 academic year was 25-29%. That reflects the completion rate for the year to date and is not a final figure. The reference has been edited for clarity.&nbsp;

Fewer students apply for college aid

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With several diehard BBC fans in my life, I had heard of &#x201C;The Great British Baking Show&#x201D; over the years, but it never piqued my interest enough to add it to my Netflix queue. However, after a mind-boggling number of pandemic-binged shows, I settled down to watch an episode last October with my fianc&#xE9; and his mother. We all soon became enthralled with a seemingly endless stream of ingredients, methods and recipes we&#x2019;d never even knew existed. Even though we spent a fair bit of each episode Googling one thing or another, we marathoned season after season while realizing our British counterparts apparently are taught way more about the culinary arts than the average American. For the uninitiated, each episode consists of three baking challenges within a theme such as breads, chocolate or pastry. The contestants usually are given the parameters of two of those challenges to develop a recipe and practice before the weekend competitions, but the third challenge is often an obscure recipe with vague directions that often leave the participants producing less than stellar baked goods. At the end of the episode, one of the bakers earns the title of star baker while a second is sent packing. Well, fast forward to season 11 that took place in early 2020 with the contestants, hosts, judges and crew all quarantined for the duration of filming. It was interesting to kick off 2021 watching this season and realizing that while nearly a year had transpired since the episodes were filmed, COVID-19 is still altering our daily lives. As such, my fianc&#xE9; and I began discussing our Valentine&#x2019;s Day plans. Ultimately we opted to forgo eating out, instead testing our own British baking skills by making a few recipes from the show. Prior to watching the show, I&#x2019;d never really contemplated making pastry from scratch, and my only recollection of the word &#x201C;pasty&#x201D; is from Harry Potter. I soon realized that a pasty is basically a hand pie &#x2014; think fancy Hot Pocket &#x2014; to provide workers with a portable and filling lunch on the go. One of the contestants, Laura, made one that the judges described as heavenly tasting, so we looked up the recipe on thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk and set about translating the ingredients and measurements into ones we understood. Despite being woefully unsure of our pastry-making skills, we spent Valentine&#x2019;s Day creating this deliciously posh pie that we both decided we&#x2019;d happily have again. Here&#x2019;s hoping you enjoy it as much as we did.

An American attempt at British baking

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2020. What a year it was. People across the world were ready to see 2020 close and a new year begin.&nbsp;
Though we are not out of the woods yet, we welcome 2021 with cautious optimism. The start of a new year, particularly this year, is a great time to talk about prevention of cancer and other illnesses and setting goals we can actually achieve. But this year, instead of talking just about diseases like cancer and heart disease, we need to focus on surviving pandemics as well.
Despite the fact that our health and well-being are threatened by foes old (cancer) and new (COVID-19), there are basic preventions we can take to improve our chances of survival. A very wise person once said, &ldquo;The only behavior we can be responsible for changing is our own.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Not surprisingly, most of the ways we can prevent illness and increase survival is by changing our own behaviors. Here&rsquo;s an example: No matter which major disease runs in our families or our communities &mdash; heart disease, stroke, cancer (and now COVID) &mdash; we have a better shot of preventing, surviving and even thriving beyond these illnesses if we eat right, control our weight, don&rsquo;t smoke or chew tobacco and exercise and sleep well. It has never been clearer that these behaviors lead to better outcomes. The difficulty lies in setting those goals and keeping to them.
We&rsquo;ve all heard, &ldquo;Where there&rsquo;s a will, there&rsquo;s a way,&rdquo; but &ldquo;willingness&rdquo; is very different from &ldquo;willfulness.&rdquo; We all know someone who has tried to quit smoking or start exercising and failed many times. But then one day, he just put the cigarettes down or lost weight by changing eating habits.&nbsp;
What was different about this time? People successful in changing habits often respond with, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I was just ready.&rdquo; Willingness is accepting where you are and what it&rsquo;s going to take for you to change. When you&rsquo;re ready, you&rsquo;re willing, and suddenly you&rsquo;re able. &nbsp;
Rather than make lofty goals for 2021, try focusing on something smaller, doable and linked to better health. Choose goals that you may be ready to tackle. That can be as simple as adding an apple to your diet every day or wearing a face mask when you are outside of your home. Or maybe you park in a parking spot farther away from the store so you can increase the number of steps you walk.&nbsp;
Plan to add healthful habits every day. And really plan it, as in go to the store and buy apples. Pack them in your lunch. Don&rsquo;t let them sit on the counter degrading. Focus on adding something easy and healthful, and then with intention and mindfulness, achieve that goal. Don&rsquo;t forget to congratulate yourself when you do achieve the goal.
In 2021, focus on becoming more healthful, one small, measurable step at a time. As these build into a path to greater health, disease risks will go down or give you the opportunity to improve the outcomes for any disease you may battle. We, as a nation, are in this pandemic together. Let&rsquo;s raise each other up and support a healthier, happier nation as we move forward into a healthier, happier 2021. Wilson Medical is here to help. &nbsp;
Call Courtney Harlow, oncology director, at 252-399-8741 for information on smoking cessation.
Catherine Gaines is physician assistant in the Duke Cancer Network.&nbsp;

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