Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993 TAG: 9303040219
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
RURITAN NATIONAL INTERIM EXECUTIVE APPOINTED
Curtis Graham, who has been employed by Ruritan National in a number of jobs for the past 20 years, has been appointed as interim executive secretary of the organization.He succeeds R. Bennett "Ben" Crawford, who stepped down at the end of February for a new job with Virginia Tech's Institute for Leadership and Volunteer Development. Crawford had been with Ruritan for 13 years.
Graham, 70, became a Ruritan member in 1951 and was elected to its board of directors in 1970. He is a Floyd County native, and has served as associate executive secretary for about six years.
Ruritan President Wayne Bettis named him to the interim position, to serve at least until the organization's board meeting in August.
"He is well-qualified for the responsibilities of this job. The office staff is pleased with Curtis' appointment and will be proud to work with him in providing outstanding service to the national officers, board of directors, clubs and Ruritan members," Bettis said.
Ruritan National has 37,500 members in 26 states. It is one of the few civic service organizations in the country to grow in recent years.
Graham attributes this in part to Ruritan being one of the first all-male civic service organizations to accept women as equal members.
Another reason is that Crawford established national-local partnership programs with the Boy Scouts of America, National 4-H Council, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.
It has about 14,000 members just in Virginia, giving it the largest membership of any civic service organization in the state and the only one with headquarters here, Graham said. It was founded in the Virginia community of Holland in 1928.
For Graham, the appointment means moving from one office to another in the national headquarters building at Dublin. The building was constructed in 1964 on land donated by Burlington Industries.
"They're no longer here, but we are," Graham said.
The building's first major renovation, a new heating system and new roof, has just been completed. Outside lighting was added last year, and landscaping improvements on the 8.5-acre site are under way.
The organization's objectives include promoting good will among members and citizens of communities where clubs are located, community improvement, fostering the ideal of service, and creating mutual understanding between rural and urban people.
Its Ruritan National Foundation provides financial assistance to college students, and hundreds of its clubs give annual scholarships ranging from $50 to $2,000.
Crawford, besides his Ruritan duties, has been a member of the American Society of the Association of Executives, president of the Blue Ridge Mountains Boy Scout Council, and a director of the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, New River Valley HOSTS Inc. and the Virginia 4-H Foundation Inc.