Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 12, 1991 TAG: 9103120190
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
The Roanoke Street house is only a few interior doors and some furniture away from completion. Montgomery County Community Shelter, which managed the project, will move in families soon.
"You took the risk and you weren't afraid," Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg and honorary chairwoman, told volunteers at the dedication. Many of those present had worked on the house steadily for almost a year. "You should feel a well-deserved pride in your efforts to put the hammer and nails together to beat homelessness," Munford said.
The Rev. Martin Townsend of Christ Episcopal Church, Blacksburg, gave the invocation and said the shelter will be a way the community can help to repair the broken bodies and spirits of those who have been left homeless.
The shelter committee also has a Blacksburg mobile home that's being used by homeless people, but the lease is up this summer. Board president Greg Boardman said the trailer probably will be closed so the group will have more money to operate the house. "This house will help three families at a time, which is more than what we can do in Blacksburg," Boardman said.
Board member Diane Clarkson, who coordinated volunteer work at the house, and Dave Cunningham of Cunningham Contractors were thanked for their labors. Virginia Tech graduate student Ali Al-Najadah, who designed the renovation as a school project, was thrilled with the result. "This is my first project to come true," said Al-Najadah, a Kuwaiti. "It's better than I thought; it's magnificent."
by CNB