Executive Director

Waynesville native Telinda “Lin” Forney has served as executive director of the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center since 2009.

Lin first volunteered with the center in 2003 as a teacher for the inaugural summer youth program. The program offers children a summer filled with activities, fun and friends; opportunities to retain what they have learned in school; and a safe place to be when parents and family members are at work.

Lin says she “just love kids, period. I wanted them to have something to say about their summer – something they were excited about – when they went back to school. I didn’t want them to say ‘I stayed at home and did nothing,’ but maybe ‘I went to Carowinds for the first time,’ or ‘I went to a farm and saw how vegetables grow.’ I want them to feel good about themselves.”

Her service expanded to other center programs such as the food distribution program and to the PMCDC Board of Directors, of which she was co-chair.

A lifelong Haywood County resident, she has worked for Haywood County E911, First Union Bank, Gibbs Paint & Body, Lakeview Gardens Nursery and Landscaping, and T&E Enterprises. She graduated from Tuscola High School.

She resides in Waynesville with her husband, Alvin, and their son Shaughn. She and Alvin also have two daughters, Abbra, who works as a massage therapist at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, and Tausha, who works alongside her at PCMDC. She enjoys reading, scrapbooking, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.