“We have to create an environment where people are fully transparent with what’s really happening in their communities and they can really tell you. This is our struggle, this is our challenge on the ground level.”
Sam Lupas learned the importance of caring for others as a young boy growing up in Pennsylvania, where his father was a doctor and his mother worked as a nurse.
“They were both always taking care of other people at work and at home,” Sam says. “My mom used to throw this party every Christmas Eve for anybody and everybody who didn’t have a place to go, and we often had foster kids in our house growing up.”
After graduating from the University of Vermont and working in Manhattan and Atlanta, Sam visited Western North Carolina and fell in love with the mountains. So in 1999 he moved to the Cashiers area, where he and his wife, Wendy, would eventually raise their three children.
As an investor, developer, broker, and founding partner of Landmark Realty Group, Sam has been instrumental in developing communities in the Lake Glenville and Cashiers areas. He’s also an active member of the community, having served on the board of trustees at the Summit Charter School, Cashiers Community Foundation, Village Conservancy, Village Council and the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital Board.
“Joining the Dogwood Health Trust Board means a lot to me as it is a way to honor my parents’ legacy of caring for others,” says Sam. “We want to have a generational impact on the citizens of Western North Carolina by addressing the root of what needs to change to improve people’s health. Dogwood has the opportunity to realize these types of impacts.”
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Asheville, NC 28803
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Asheville, NC 28803
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Support programs and networks that reduce deaths, treat addiction, and prevent first use
Help reduce disparities based on race, location, education and income factors
Invest in integrated heath care with seamless connections to supportive services
Support communities that promote healthy living and resiliency and help mitigate the impact of trauma, isolation and stress on individuals and families, especially those experiencing poverty
Support a well-funded, sustainable, competitive entrepreneur and small business ecosystem throughout the region
Help build a regional economic ecosystem that supports increased creation/retention of jobs and business ownership
Help build a skilled workforce with the knowledge and technical abilities to excel in a wide range of industry employment opportunities that provide a competitive, sustainable wage
Source, analyze and share a comprehensive, county-by-county data set that paints a full picture of work readiness, economic development and entrepreneurial needs and opportunities specific to Western North Carolina
Work in tandem with Economic Opportunity Strategic Priority to invest in career readiness at the community college and university levels
Support K-12 learning experiences with the resources and sustainability to provide an excellent academic and social-emotional education, so that all students graduate ready for college or career
Invest in an improved early childhood education ecosystem with the resources and sustainability to provide developmentally appropriate, affordable and accessible education and care to support ages birth to five, so that all children in WNC enter kindergarten ready to learn
Source, analyze and share a comprehensive set of publicly available data that provides a regularly updated, county-by-county picture of access, workforce and student outcomes in early childhood education and K-12 education specific to Western North Carolina
Loans, guarantees, and other financial tools to leverage funding opportunities
Increase affordable housing for lowest-income individuals and families
Support age-appropriate resources in affordable and workforce units, rental and owned
Invest in housing with sustainable supports for physical and mental health and wellbeing
Support healthy and safe revitalizations that work against displacement and gentrification, preserve home ownership and create generational wealth.