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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994                   TAG: 9403110073
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Leslie Taylor
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VOLUNTEERS FOR COMMUNITIES GETS CREDIT

The Emory University students' week at the Lansdowne Park public housing development was made possible by Volunteers for Communities, an Ivanhoe-based organization that trains low-income communities in Virginia and the Southeast United States to host students in long- and short-term volunteer experiences.

The organization's projects thus far have been in rural areas, said Sharon Stacy Blackwell, coordinator. The Lansdowne volunteer project was the organization's first in an urban area.

The organization, part of the Virginia Water Project in Roanoke, trained members of the Lansdowne Park Resident Council to prepare for student visits, Blackwell said. A college had not yet been selected.

But when Emory students called, looking for a place to devote their spring break this year, "I said, `We know the place for you,' " Blackwell said.

Each student paid $100 to participate. The money was given to the Lansdowne residents' council and used to feed the students, buy supplies and anything else they needed for the week.

"We plan to use the success in Lansdowne as a model to train other neighborhood groups in urban areas," Blackwell said. "We plan to really take that to the next step in different cities in Virginia and other states as well."

Volunteers for Communities has helped residents set up programs in the Virginia communities of Fries, Damascus, Pearisburg and Buck Hill, near Natural Bridge.

This week, students from four colleges and universities cleaned the New River Trail from Austinville to Fries.

by CNB