The Progressive Alliance of Henderson County is a merger of Progressive Women of Hendersonville, Progressive Organized Women, Hendersonville Huddle, and the Silent Vigil for Immigration Reform, blending our energy and passion, working as one to strengthen our impact.
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Your 2021 Vote
 Think your vote doesn’t count in Hendersonville? We call b.s.!
There is currently a primary ballot in Hendersonville, needed to winnow the list of candidates for City Council positions from 6 to 4. The 4 “winners” will then face off in the November 2 general election, with the two highest vote-getters winning election to the Council for 4 year terms.
If you think a few votes are meaningless, here are the results from the 2019 election for 2 Council seats:
Hensley 942
Simpson 929
Roundtree 700
Caraker 689
Even fewer voters in this city of 16,000+ will trouble themselves to vote in the primary. As of Friday, Sept. 24, fewer than 200 voters had taken the time to cast ballots.
We have a hard-working, moderately progressive Council. Don’t let your inaction result in a shift in their orientation.
Early voting for the Primary continues through Saturday, 10/2, at the Board of Elections, 75 East Central St., Hendersonville. Voting Day for the Primary is Tuesday, October 5.
Early voting for ALL 2021 elections in Henderson County runs from October 14 - 29. Election Day is Tuesday, November 2.
Questions? Check the Board of Elections web site:
Let’s have no excuses on November 3!
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Please take proper precautions to keep yourselves and others safe and healthy.
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Padma Dyvine
by Deb Rich
 Padma Dyvine grew up in Watchung, New Jersey, a small suburb about an hour from New York City. Her parents were politically liberal, uninvolved, and also aware of her concern for justice. While at Simmons College in Boston, much of her education was outside of academia. She attended Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, but was more interested in her social life, exploring different forms of mind-expansion. Initially her major was American Studies but decided to “find herself”, taking seven years and three colleges to earn her Bachelors in Nursing from UNC Chapel Hill.
In an effort to “prove herself” Padma chose to find employment in New York City. She worked on Medical-Surgery units in several hospitals. Though not interested in management, she obtained her Masters in Nursing Administration from NYU and used those skills to help empower nurses in other ways. In 1980, Padma helped unionize the nurses at Lenox Hill Hospital. They joined the healthcare workers union 1199, finally having a voice in their working conditions.
Following that achievement, Padma chose postgraduate work in psychotherapy and became a Primal Therapist in private practice, in addition to her work as a staff nurse. After having children, she became a childbirth educator and full-time mom, home educating her two daughters until the oldest reached the 7th grade. At that point, she returned to the workforce, as a hospice nurse.
In 2013, she moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains, searching for milder winters than those she experienced in the Catskills. A long-time meditator, she recognizes social and environmental justice are interwoven and the only way to peace on a habitable planet.
Padma recently joined a group of elders on the 2021 Walk for Our Grandchildren and Mother Earth, from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Delaware. Meeting people living in communities impacted by pipelines, landfills, trash incinerators and the consequent pollution, the group brought a message of climate emergency to Chase Bank, the largest US funder of fossil fuels, and to President Biden. They demanded a transition to renewable energy by defunding fossil fuels. The entire group was arrested and will face trials on September 29th in Wilmington. There will be another walk, rally, and a peoples’ tribunal in Wilmington before the trial to amplify the message with more press coverage.
A beekeeper and Secretary of the Henderson County Beekeepers Association, Padma is also actively engaged with Healthcare for All WNC, working to expand and improve Medicare. She volunteers at Root Cause Farm in Fairview, a non-profit creating solutions for “a just, equitable, and resilient food system where all types of hunger are nourished”. She joined the Progressive Alliance after Trump was elected and enjoyed writing postcards and meeting other progressives. She loves what PAHC is doing to create and expand the progressive community and will continue to support it in any way she can.
It’s people like Padma who keep us inspired.
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Some people don’t look.
Some look, but don’t see.
Some see, but don’t act.
Some people act.
. . . Anon
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OUR MISSION:
The Progressive Alliance of Henderson County (PAHC) compassionately advocates for justice, dignity, inclusion and sustainable, healthy communities for all.
OUR VISION:
To connect residents of Henderson County and vicinity through grassroots civic engagement, education, outreach and volunteerism.
Visit our website for more photos, events, and links to like-minded groups.
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The PAHC core leadership group (currently Chris Berg, Nancy & Neil Brown, Sheila Clendenning, Laura Miklowitz, Sissy Owen, Sara Seta, Vikki Shantz, and Paul Weichselbaum) working together diligently to strengthen our impact, has created mission and vision statements for the group.
Please speak to any of us if you can offer your ideas and time about the future of Henderson County.
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