............................ History

 

A blind lady had a dream. Marjorie Bennett McCune, the first blind caseworker for the blind with The North Carolina Division of Services for the Blind in Buncombe County, North Carolina had a dream. She dreamed that one day blind people would have "a happy home" where they could live in dignity and received the loving care they deserve.

Marjorie McCune died in 1972, before the Lions of District 31-A, under the leadership of Lions like Arnold Hyde, Robert Barnes, Eros Pitts, Glenn Self, Howard Haithcock and many others raised the money, bought land from the State of North Carolina and began planning for the dreamed about "a happy home" for the blind.

After some years of further planning, fundraising from many loyal individuals, securing of federal funds, other loans and grants from Lions Clubs International, North Carolina Lions Foundation, several other foundations and the Lions Clubs of District 31-A, ground was broken at Black Mountain, North Carolina for a forty bed rest home. In 1979, the "happy home" that was once only a blind woman's dream, had become a reality. In August, The Marjorie McCune Memorial Center for the Handicapped was licensed for forty beds and the rest home was opened to serve the aged, blind and disabled.

After several years of successful operation, the Board of Directors of Western North Carolina Lions, Inc. decided to expand The McCune Center. In 1989, again with the help of the Lions Clubs of District 31-A, Lions Clubs International, North Carolina Lions Foundation, private and organization contributions, the Marjorie McCune Memorial Center was expanded to a sixty four-bed rest home with a chapel and solarium, one of the first such facilities in North Carolina. The McCune Center is also somewhat unusual in the there are no geographical limits from which our residents may come and there is no limit on the number of Medicaid supported residents (of which we usually have about eighty percent). Approximately twenty-five percent of our residents are blind and over ten percent are veterans.

The Marjorie McCune Center (now officially called an Assisted Living Facility) is operated and managed by the Board of Directors of Western North Carolina Lions, Inc. An Administrator supervises the day-to-day operation, and an excellent staff of approximately thirty-five employees performs service to the residents.

Originally intended to accommodate the visually impaired, the McCune Center has become home to any persons with disabilities or inabilities to manage everyday life on their own. Our staff is well trained to accommodate many types of needs.