
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050301
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DOING IT FOR THE CHILDREN

"GROWING" the economy and "growing" Explore Park are connected and, fortunately, business and public sector leaders in Roanoke city and county have withstood the birthing pains during the past few years.

The vision of early Explore Park pioneers was and is clear. The journey has required fortitude and patience during hard times, and yet they persist in their dream.

Employment of Virginia Webb was a good stroke, and her programs for Roanoke area schoolchildren are planting seeds and nurturing those children in remarkable style.

Richard Burrow has struggled longer than Rupert Cutler in the tedious and time-consuming work of moving and rebuilding structures at the park, and Cutler has prodded and cajoled people such as me to hitch up and help.

For 18 months, I have contributed, as part of my stewardship, time and money for the endeavor. It is a worthy one, and I have derived joy from giving and the new associations that I have formed.

The vision of the park was and is an adventure in entrepreneurship - public and private visionaries engaged in an example of merged hope and work. Operating support is desperately needed.

It is my hope that ways and means will be found by leaders of the park "journey" to allocate more fuel for that journey and thus provide for children the heritage of their culture and a reverence for the Earth.

That is what Explore is all about! And I, for one, am for that! JOHN CAIN Chairman, Lifeship Earth BLACKSBURG

by CNB