               Volunteers help distribute the 10,000 plants picked up by N.C. non-profits in WRAL’s 23rd Annual Azalea Celebration. | 
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                  Non-profits across North Carolina  recently picked up 10,000 azaleas from CBC as part of WRAL’s 23rd Annual Azalea  Celebration.                  The distribution took place at the WRAL Transmitter site in Auburn, NC, on Saturday, October 4, 2008.
          
         NC Beautiful lined up 15 volunteers to help load the plants  with the help of the CBC Property Management staff.  They began loading at 7:30am and put the last plants on a truck at 2pm.   One-hundred and twenty groups received azaleas this year, coming from as  far away as Asheville.
This year marks the distribution of 230,000 azaleas to  non-profit groups across the state.
“This continues to be a great program that is very much  appreciated by the many non-profit organizations that lack funding for  landscape projects,” said Corporate Property Management Manager &  Horticulturist Tim Grissom.  “I always  enjoy meeting the people and see how excited they are to receive plant for the  beautification of their grounds.”
| The 2008 A.J. Fletcher Award Winners | 
               1st Place – Penny Road Elementary School | 
               2nd Place – A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School | 
               3rd Place – Cole Mill Church of Christ | 
As part of the Azalea Celebration, awards were presented to  three non-profits for their use & maintenance of the plants they received  through the program three years ago.  The A.J. Fletcher Award winners are:
- 1st         Place  – Penny        Road Elementary School
           received 100 more azaleas $500 and an engraved plaque 
- 2nd         Place  – A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School 
           received 50 more azaleas $250 and an engraved plaque 
- 3rd Place – Cole Mill Church of Christ
           received 25 more azaleas $125 and an engraved plaque 
WRAL-TV, MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM and ENCORE Azaleas  worked with NC Beautiful to   sponsor the 23rd Annual Azalea Celebration.
CBC begins accepting applications from non-profits for the  azaleas each summer and contacts the winners in the early fall.  Distribution & pick-up day takes place  each October.
To learn more about the WRAL   Gardens, A.J. Fletcher’s history,  and see many of the plants blooming during the different seasons of the year,  check out the WRAL Gardens  website.
Thanks to Corp’s Tim Grissom for these capcom photos.