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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 19, 1993                   TAG: 9306190238
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BIG NAMES HELP 4-H FUND DRIVE

Step 1: Name three of Western Virginia's most powerful people as honorary chairmen of the 4-H Center's fund drive. How about Virginia Tech President James McComas, Roanoke Electric Steel Chairman John Hancock and Grand Piano founder George Cartledge Sr?

Step 2: Assemble a steering committee of 14 other Southwest Virginia movers and shakers. Among the power brokers on the committee are: Advance Auto Parts President Garnett Smith; Central Fidelity Bank Regional President J. Carson Quarles; Appalachian Power Co. President Joseph Vipperman; Smith Mountain Lake developer Ronald Willard; former Virginia Tech President William Lavery; and W.E. Skelton, the committee's chairman, the idea man behind building the 4-H Center and a past president of Rotary International.

Even Ted Carroll, director of development for the 4-H Center, admits to being awed.

"It is impressive," Carroll said. "I'm very proud to be working with them, but there was no arm twisting. We had no one in the Roanoke area turn us down."

The Smith Mountain Lake 4-H Center is one of six such regional centers in Virginia. Since its inception in the mid-1960s, the 4-H Center has been pushed along by business and industry in the region. It opened in 1966 on 120 acres donated by Apco.

McComas said "busy, important people" are willing to commit to the 4-H Center, because it gives them a chance to give Virginia's young people a good start in life. McComas and others pointed out that 4-H has changed as society has changed from predominantly rural to predominantly suburban and urban living.

Teaching boys how to raise livestock and girls how to make clothes has taken a back seat in recent years to programs on self-esteem, AIDS awareness and leadership.

"I remember two or three years ago in Roanoke, when there were problems in one of the housing complexes," McComas said, "and someone said one of the best things they could do quickly was establish a good 4-H program."

Carroll said the center's goal is to raise $1.5 million over the next three years. The money would be spent to create a 6,000-square-foot classroom area, make the complex handicapped-accessible and construct a central activities center.