Pilot Club is more than the luminary service the club presents on Veterans Day

ASHEBORO — There’s a lot more to the Asheboro Pilot Club than the Veterans Day Luminary Service.

Led by the principles of friendship and service, the local group has a focus, along with Pilot International, of brain-related disorders. 

Club members also seek to care for families in need, provide “Pick-Me-Ups” for nursing homes and caregivers, donate paper products for clients in the Family Crisis Center, adopt needy families for holiday meals and give parties for disabled adults. 

The Asheboro Pilot Club also donates to the Project Hope Hospital Ship and to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

On the district level, it helps raise money for the Baptist Children’s Home.

Local Pilot Club president Carol Pearce said, “We’ve been doing the luminaries before the Veterans Day Parade started. It’s very patriotic,” with each luminary honoring an Armed Forces veteran.

The Luminary Service is traditionally held in front of the Historic 1909 Courthouse following the Veterans Day parade.

Pearce said the guest speaker this year will be retired Air Force Lt. Col. Van Higgins. An Air Force Academy graduate, Higgins was a jet pilot.

Pilot International was founded in 1921 in Macon, GA, the name inspired by riverboat pilots known for their leadership and guidance. The Asheboro club was chartered in 1968 and now sponsors Anchor Clubs for high school students, helping them develop leadership.

Pearce said their brain disorder focus has led the club to establish Brain Minders for kindergarten children. Brain Minders teaches youth the importance of being safe, wearing helmets and protecting their heads.

More recently, the Asheboro Pilot Club helped the Randolph-Asheboro YMCA install a pool lift to help people who have trouble getting into the pool safely.

Of the 14 current members of the Asheboro Pilot Club, Carole Bulla is district governor and Anne Justice is governor-elect.

“We would like more members,” Pearce said, adding that the club meets the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at St. John Lutheran Church on Park Street. The public is welcome to attend and it’s not just for women.

This year’s Luminary Service will be held immediately after the Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11. Anyone can purchase a luminary for $5 from any member of the club. Contact Pearce at 336-953-6632 for details.