🗞️ A $20,000 boost for the Kernersville food pantry

🗞️ Rain most of this week, and the drought needs it

🗞️ School starts August 10, earlier than you may remember

🗞️ The early signs of Alzheimer's worth paying attention to

🌦️ A few clouds, rain returns | High: 87°F | Low: 70°F

The heat wave is over. A few clouds to start with highs in the middle to upper 80s, and rain chances in the forecast almost every day this week. It will not be a washout, but the drought could use every drop.

The Salvation Army's food pantry here in Kernersville just got a $20,000 grant from the Kernersville Foundation, and the numbers behind that gift say a lot about our town right now.

The pantry serves roughly 300 families every week. Last year it handed out nearly 12,000 food boxes. According to Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap study, 16.6% of Forsyth County residents deal with food insecurity, and among children it is 22.2%. That is better than one in five kids in this county who are not reliably sure where the next meal comes from.

"Behind every food box is a family story," said Maj. Chuck Whiten, area commander of The Salvation Army of Greater Winston-Salem. "The grandmother stretching a fixed income, the single parent working two jobs, or the child who simply needs a healthy meal. This gift from the Kernersville Foundation will touch countless lives and remind our neighbors that, even in difficult times, there is a community ready to support them with compassion and care."

The money goes to the unglamorous things that keep a pantry running: staff support, transportation, truck rentals for food pickups from Second Harvest Food Bank, and the rent and utilities on the building. It also helps keep fresh produce, dairy and protein on the shelves instead of just shelf-stable boxes.

The pantry has deep roots here. It started in 1994 as My Brother's Keeper Food Pantry, founded by Pastor Fermin Bocanegra. The Salvation Army took it over in 2018, and in 2019 it moved into the old Kernersville library building at 130 E. Mountain St., where it still operates. A good chunk of what it gives out is rescued food donated by local grocery partners, picked up by staff and volunteers several times a week.

The Kernersville Foundation, for its part, has been doing this since 1999, funding local charitable work around town.

If you want to help, the pantry is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:15 a.m. to noon at 130 E. Mountain St. You can volunteer, run a food drive, organize a coat or clothing collection, or donate. More at salvationarmyws.org.

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After a week that included triple-digit heat index readings and wildfire smoke, the pattern has finally flipped. Rain chances are in the forecast just about every day this week.

Monday starts with a few clouds and highs in the middle to upper 80s. Tuesday turns windy with temperatures near 90 and rain chances hanging around all day under partly to mostly cloudy skies. Wednesday and Thursday bring more of the same, with more widespread rain and highs settling into the low to middle 80s. By next weekend things dry out somewhat, staying humid with temperatures in the mid 80s.

The coverage may not be widespread every day, but as FOX8 put it, the rain should at least put a dent in our ongoing drought. That matters here. As we reported over the weekend, Kernersville is still sitting in extreme drought, with exceptional drought conditions just east of us in Guilford County, and state officials have been blunt that one or two good rains do not undo ten months of deficit.

One more thing on the radar, though not for us: forecasters are watching Tropical Depression Two in the Gulf, which could become Tropical Storm Bertha in the coming days. It is not expected to affect the Piedmont, but the Gulf coast may see rough surf and heavy rain.

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Mark the calendar: the first day of school for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is Monday, August 10. That is three weeks from today, and it is earlier than the late-August start a lot of families are used to.

The date came out of an unusual back-and-forth. The Board of Education first adopted a traditional calendar that would have started school on August 24. Then, at a specially called meeting, the board rescinded that vote and adopted a modified start calendar instead, moving the first day up two weeks to August 10.

The reason is the one teachers and parents have been asking about for years. A modified start lets high schools finish fall semester exams before winter break, so students are not coming back in January to study for tests they have half forgotten.

There is a wrinkle worth knowing. The traditional calendar is the one that complies with the state-mandated school start date, and there is proposed legislation that would impose financial penalties on districts that do not follow that law. So while August 10 is the plan for this year, the broader fight over when North Carolina schools start is not finished.

For now, three weeks. Time to start thinking about supplies, bus routes and bedtimes.

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Captain Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a jet on the Hudson River, went public recently with his own Alzheimer's diagnosis. He has said he spent his life in service and that is why he is speaking up now. His announcement has a lot of families asking a quieter question: what should we be watching for in the people we love?

Dr. Steven Meadows, a neurologist with Novant Health Neurology and Sleep in Winston-Salem, spoke with FOX8 about the early warning signs worth paying attention to.

The thing most experts stress is the difference between ordinary aging and something more. Forgetting where you put the keys is normal. Forgetting what the keys are for is not. Memory loss that disrupts daily life, especially forgetting recently learned information or asking the same question over and over, is the most common early sign. Other things to watch: trouble following a familiar recipe or keeping track of monthly bills, losing track of dates or seasons, struggling to follow a conversation or landing on the wrong word, putting things in odd places and being unable to retrace steps, and withdrawing from work, hobbies or friends.

Changes in mood and personality count too. Someone becoming confused, suspicious, fearful or anxious, particularly outside their comfort zone, is worth noticing.

None of this is a diagnosis, and plenty of these things have other explanations, including medication side effects, thyroid problems, depression or simple exhaustion. That is exactly why it is worth raising with a doctor rather than worrying alone. Earlier evaluation opens more doors, both for treatment and for giving a family time to plan while everyone can still be part of the conversation.

If you are seeing these signs in someone you love, start with their primary care doctor and ask for a memory evaluation.

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