Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LAFAYETTE LENGTH: Medium
"We're pumped up to be helping somebody out," said Ed Sherman, who yanked nails as one of 150 volunteers pitching in Thursday to aid United Way agencies in Montgomery County and Radford.
Sherman and five other WPSK employees toiled on behalf of the New River Valley's Habitat for Humanity chapter. Elsewhere, at around 30 local sites, volunteers stuffed envelopes, painted walls, inventoried supplies and washed cars, among other tasks.
Businesses donated workers and their sweat equity to the second annual "Day of Caring," which kicked off of the United Way of Montgomery County and Radford's 1994 campaign.
This year's campaign theme is "Helping people - changing lives - here at home," and the "Day of Caring" serves to highlight some of the 35 organizations supported by United Way dollars.
"We're trying to educate the community about our partner agencies and the services they provide," said Brenda Branscome, head of the committee that organized the event. "It brings us closer to the needs of the people."
The "Day of Caring" concluded with an afternoon cookout for volunteers on the grounds of Federal Mogul Inc. at Blacksburg. There, campaign chairwoman Jo Lynn Price announced about 10 percent of the United Way's 1994 goal of $790,000 has already been pledged by early-bird companies participating in the pacesetters and pilots program.
Now, United Way workers will begin to solicit donations from businesses and individuals with a goal of wrapping up this year's fund drive before the holidays.
In the meanwhile, if some of the "Day of Caring" volunteers enjoyed their assignment enough to keep working with the agencies, that would be fine, too, Branscome said.
Rose Tiexiera, local Habitat for Humanity director, said her group could use the help - particularly from volunteers who know their way around a tool belt.
The New River Valley chapter, which receives about a third of its annual funding from local United Way donations, has built 13 new and affordable houses since it began in 1986, Tiexiera said.
Increasingly, Habitat for Humanity is getting calls from citizens of lesser financial means asking for help fixing up their existing houses, she said.
The old Wells family homestead on Lafayette Road fit the blueprint for a "Day of Caring" Habitat project.
"It's always been our dream to buy it and live here," said Pamela Wells of the two-story house, circa 1870, one of the oldest buildings in Lafayette.
Yet the task of refurbishing their old house was too extensive and too expensive for a family of modest means.
Now, the WPSK crew was part of the team, ripping up the porch's floor boards and trading good-natured jibes. "We look just like a real construction crew. Two guys working and the rest standing around," one said.
"For a house as old as it is, it's in good condition," assessed David Roederer, WPSK's general manager.
"If it hadn't been for Habitat and the people there, I don't know what we would have done," Wells said.
She and her husband and son hope to move into the house in about a month. Part of the arrangement is that her husband will donate his skills as an electrician to future Habitat projects.
Help from "Day of Caring" volunteers was also appreciated downstairs at the Church of God in Christ in Radford, where the Radford-Fairlawn Daily Bread program was serving lunch.
Daily Bread is one of three new programs to affiliate with the United Way this year. "It makes a lot of difference, knowing that the money's always there if we run out of food, " said Liz Mills, Daily Bread's director.
Thursday's menu - barbecued ribs, mashed potatoes, zucchini casserole and cupcakes - was served like other meals in the 2-year-old program, free of charge. Mills said Daily Bread serves about 90 needy residents each weekday. "It's a place where they have some kind of value."
The program is supported by charity from churches and civic organizations. All the chefs and servers are volunteers, too.
This year's "Day of Caring" had three times as many volunteers as the first such campaign kick-off in 1993. "It's only going to get bigger and better," Branscome said.
More projects will be tackled Saturday by volunteers who couldn't get off work or out of school to help out Thursday.
by CNB