Debbie Jeter, founder and chief executive officer of Bear Path Acres in Southampton County, recently visited the folks at East Pavilion.

Jeter once a month brings animals from her education center on Smith’s Ferry Road to the Franklin nursing home. The animals tend to strike up conversations between residents.

Jeter also picks animals with different textures and colors for the residents to touch and view.

Wayne Cooke, owner of Coast 2 Coast Entertainment and 3A’s Inflatables, visited the East Pavilion on Valentine’s Day and gave residents cotton candy.

Among residents who enjoyed the treat were Charles Whittemore, Lucy Lawson and Hazel Drewry.

Will Hart made the cotton candy for everyone.

• Smithfield Foods President and Chief Operating Officer C. Larry Pope made his company’s $330,000 donation to Paul D. Camp Community College official by presenting a “big check.”

The contribution was announced on Jan. 31 during a dinner to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Regional Workforce Development Center at PDCCC.

Funding will be used to build an ongoing collaboration between the college and Smithfield Packing. That includes developing a skilled technicians program and a specialized “technology center” at the Workforce Development Center and establishing scholarships.

The corporate gift from Smithfield Foods and Smithfield Packing has come at a critical time. The college is in the final phase of its Major Gifts Campaign, which will end this summer. The goal is $3 million.

• In military news, Army Staff Sgt. James P. Councill IV has returned to the United States after being deployed overseas for Operation Enduring Freedom — the anti-terrorism campaign in Asia, the Arabian peninsula, Horn of Africa, islands in the Pacific and Europe.

Councill is a health care specialist assigned to the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. He has served in the military for 12 years.

He is the son of Dorothy and James Councill III of Hunterdale Road, Franklin, and a 1990 graduate of Christchurch School.

GWEN ALBERS is managing editor of The Tidewater News. Her email address is gwen.albers@tidewaternews.com.