Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed that the world is round so that friendship may encircle it. On Friends Day at Mast Store, we wrap our arms around organizations that raise the bar in our local communities by improving residents' quality of life, increasing economic vitality, and embracing landscapes and assets that make our communities unique. They bring out the best for all of us!

On Saturday, September 6, each Mast General Store location will donate 10% of the day’s sales to benefit the efforts of its local partner. Guests can also round up their purchases to the next dollar Monday, September 1 – Sunday, September 7, to provide additional support for their Mast Store’s partnering Friend group. 

"Our Friends Day partners play an important part in the stability of our communities," shared Lisa Cooper, Mast Store's president. "They activate individuals and businesses around a local treasure to not only build, save, or improve it but also to strengthen the community itself."  

Friends Day started in 2008. Mast Store has celebrated and supported these organizations' efforts because they are an important part of what makes our hometowns special for residents and more welcoming for visitors. 

Here’s a look at the Friends we are supporting this year and some insight into the projects each of them is undertaking to make our communities even better.  

The Original Mast General Store, Mast Store Annex, and Boone Mast Store are hosting The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. The Blue Ridge Parkway offers scenic views, recreational opportunities, and cultural attractions to motorists, hikers, and campers. The BRPF supplements park system resources and enhances visitors’ experiences by supplying critical funding for the maintenance of recreational areas like trails and picnic shelters, the conservation of natural resources, and the preservation of historic sites along the 469-mile stretch of road crossing Virginia and North Carolina.   

The Winston-Salem Mast General Store is partnering with Gateway Nature Preserve, a 19-acre urban wildlife habitat just a mile from Downtown Winston-Salem. It offers a trail network, pollinator garden, and educational nature-themed programs for people of all ages. Working with schools, local citizen groups, and environmentalists in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the Gateway Nature Preserve is finding new ways to move toward a more sustainable world.    

The Pisgah Conservancy is the partner with the Asheville Mast Store location. This group preserves the natural resources and scenic beauty of the Pisgah Ranger District and enhances the recreational experience of all visitors to the Pisgah National Forest by providing critical funding for trail maintenance and development, educating the public about its vital waterways and aquatic wildlife, restoring forests by removing invasive plant species, and improving wildlife habitats.  

In Hendersonville, the store welcomes the Friends of the Ecusta Trail. This group aims to convert an abandoned railway into a proposed 19.4-mile, multi-use greenway to serve as a "new cultural main street" connecting communities, promoting health, enriching the quality of life and the economy for everyone in the area. A ribbon cutting celebrating the official opening of the first six miles of the trail was held in July of this year. The trail/park will eventually connect Hendersonville and Brevard.      

The Knoxville and Waynesville Mast General Stores are partnering with Friends of the Smokies. The Friends of the Smokies is the official nonprofit partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Its work supplements national park programs and provides resources for projects that would otherwise go unfunded, including the rehabilitation of popular trails, preservation of historic structures, and conservation of wildlife habitats.   

The Friends of the Reedy River is the partner of the Greenville Mast Store. For more than 30 years, this group has provided outreach to the Greenville community as the “voice of the river.” It offers events to improve the health of the river and its watershed by creating pollution reporting programs, garnering crowd-sourced observations on failing streambanks, developing floodplain improvement projects, advocating for environmentally sustainable urban development, and hosting two major, volunteer-driven river clean-up initiatives each year.     

The Columbia Mast General Store will partner with the Palmetto Conservation Foundation. The primary project of the PCF is the Palmetto Trail, which provides free public access to nearly 400 miles of passages across 14 counties from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Lowcountry. It features wilderness and backcountry trails, urban bikeways, greenways, rail-to-trail conversions, city sidewalks, and even the steps of the State Capitol. Palmetto Conservation’s Finish the Trail campaign generates funds to connect the completed portion of the trail to its eventual terminus in Upstate South Carolina.    

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge is our Mast Store Roanoke partner. This Roanoke-based nonprofit engages residents and visitors with the Blue Ridge region of Virginia and North Carolina through natural conservation, historic preservation, cultural programming, and volunteer efforts. Its 11 chapters directly serve their mountain communities and host a Future Stewards program to instill a love of the Blue Ridge in young people and to encourage volunteerism by people of all ages.    

Stop by your favorite Mast Store location to learn more about our Friends and how you can help with your time and talents.