The Moore County Community Foundation will honor Felton J. Capel and Caroline H. Eddy as Man and Woman of the Year at an upcoming dinner.

The event is scheduled Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Country Club of North Carolina with cocktails at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. and the presentation at 8 p.m.

Capel, a Southern Pines resident, is a businessman and civic leader.

In 1959, he began working for a direct sales company, Century Metalcraft, selling high-end cookware. What the company didn't realize when they hired him was that Capel was black, but it wasn't long before he was a sales leader.

His success in business led him into civic life, and he was elected to the Southern Pines Town Council in 1959. He was the first black member of the Rotary Club in the county, and he eventually broke other color barriers, along with his good friend, Voit Gilmore.

Capel serves on the boards of many local nonprofits and has, along with his wife, Jean, established scholarships at several colleges.

The Capels have three children: Jeff, Mitchell and Ken.

"We are pleased to be able to recognize the many contributions Felton has made to our community," says Pat Jackson, vice president of First Bank. "He has touched our success with a gentle hand of progress."

Caroline Eddy, a Moore County native, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently the executive director of the Sandhills Moore Coalition for Human Care

She has served as the associate director of the Community Council for the Arts in Kinston; as executive director of the Arts Council of Moore County; and as director of development for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Moore County.

She and her husband, Ben Eddy, have three children. Laura, also a UNC graduate, lives in Asheville. John is a senior at UNC Wilmington, and Matthew is in the 10th grade at Pinecrest High School.

Eddy is the daughter of Norris Hodgkins and the late Sara Hodgkins.

"Caroline makes a difference in the Sandhills every day," says Jackson. "She continues her family's tradition of giving and serving unselfishly."

Moore County Community Foundation offers two principal services to the county.

"We operate an endowment fund that distributes, with the discretion of our local board of directors annual grants to local nonprofit organizations," says Hugh Bingham, president of the board of directors.

The endowment fund has sponsored programs as diverse as health care needs for low income families such as Sandhills/Moore Coalition, and has completed the funding to the Foundation of FirstHealth for placement of defibrillators in the Moore County Schools and this year contributed to the hiring of a hospitalist for the patients of the Moore Free Care Clinic.

"Additionally, we offer office services -- investment management and accounting services -- that allow individuals to establish a fund for the benefit of a particular nonprofit organization or specific cause which allows that individual to avoid the hassle and expense when using a private foundation," says Bingham.

In addition to Bingham, board members include John Mecimore; Cos W. Barnes; Louise Lucas; Betsy Best; Kelly McCrann; Farrell Bushing Jr.; Randall Phillips; Pidgie Chapman; William Samuels; Hugh Hinton Jr.; Peggy Sarvis; Stephen Later; and William Saunders.

Sponsors for the evening are First Bank, St. Joseph of the Pines and Progress Energy.

Those interested in attending can contact Pam Wase at (910) 692-6222, extension 223.

Anyone interested in making a donation to the foundation should make checks payable to the Moore County Community Foundation and send them to P.O.Box 2708, Southern Pines, NC 28388.

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com.