Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 21, 1990 TAG: 9004210080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Medium
It became obvious quickly that the region already boasts many success stories of volunteer agencies accomplishing much in their communities in a variety of ways.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, whose staff organized the all-day conference, said Southwest Virginia communities depend on non-profit organizations for many of the services for which full-time professional staffs are paid in more populated areas.
More than 60 speakers took part in eight workshops during the afternoon on assistance available in specific volunteer areas, ranging from fire departments and rescue squads to arts, housing, historic preservation, museums and child care.
Participants in one workshop heard about the creation of Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park in Tazewell County from Nellie Bundy, its director and curator. Betsy White, executive director of the William King Regional Arts Center, told another group how volunteers had raised money over the years to renovate an abandoned school building as a place for artists' studios, exhibits and various types of classes for the Washington County community.
Russell Adams, president of the Mount Rogers Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, explained how people in a small mountaintop Grayson County community came together to organize fire and rescue services. Bill Wise and Clair Yoder, representing the 1908 Courthouse Foundation in Independence, recounted the successful effort to save the old architecturally significant Grayson County courthouse when some members of the county's governing body at the time wanted to tear it down once a new courthouse was built.
Other success stories included a child care center in the Raven community near the Tazewell-Russell county border; the Southwest Virginia Housing Coalition and its work on providing homes for low-income people; and the Dungannon Development Corp. in Scott County, which managed to build its own sewing cooperative.
Donna Graham, Boucher's district administrator, came up with the idea for the conference when an increasing number of requests for assistance at the three 9th Congressional District constituent service offices came from non-profit agencies. She worked for three months organizing it and lining up the speakers.
Boucher said volunteers are helping Southwest Virginia's industrial prospects by enhancing its educational work and providing literacy training, all of which will help qualify the region's residents for today's technically oriented job market.
Volunteers also help provide many of the cultural activities, museums and other factors improving the region's quality of life, he said.
by CNB