by Amanda E. West | Jan 8, 2026 | Cover, Shelbyville
ACROSS THE aisle of the grocery store, 8-year-old Catherine Smith watched as a white-haired lady stretched her trembling hand toward a package of toilet paper before several rolls tumbled from the shelf and bounced silently to the floor. Desperation filled the older...
by Amanda E. West | Jan 8, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
OVER THE past 10 years, Amanda Lankford’s career in home health has evolved from scheduling appointments at the front desk to working in human resources and managing the weekly payroll. Her dedication to the clients of Arosa Care, the nation’s largest provider of home...
by Amanda E. West | Jan 8, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
BETH MEERDINK tenderly cradled her treasured copy of “The Lady With the Lamp: The story of Florence Nightingale” and audibly repeated Nightingale’s call to action: “I will change all this, if it takes me a lifetime.” Each word echoed deeply within Meerdink’s heart....
by Amanda E. West | Dec 11, 2025 | Feature, Shelbyville
CHRIS BROWN slid his card into the ATM and punched in his PIN. As he’d done many times before, he selected the amount of cash he wanted to withdraw from the bank in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Gears whined inside the machine before a receipt printed, and a metal...
by Amanda E. West | Dec 11, 2025 | Feature, Shelbyville
THE UNITED States Army, the largest branch of our military, was established on June 14, 1775. Two years later, on the same exact date, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution. This declared that “Old Glory,” the flag of our then-fledgling country,...
