Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090171
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
May was Foster Parent Month, and we would like to to recognize and thank foster parents. Their families provide an essential service to our community by providing care for children and adolescents who, for a variety of reasons, cannot live with their own families.
Foster families give children the priceless gifts of safety, security and a sense of being wanted at a crucial time in their lives.
We salute these outstanding foster families in our community.
Sincerely, Linda Hentschel and Members of the Foster Care Coalition Dear Neighbors:
McVey Hardware without Rambo, the store cat, is like Baskin-Robbins without vanilla.
Unhappily, Rambo was nowhere to be seen or read about in the story about McVey Hardware in the Neighbors section April 7.
Ralph Puff, McVey's proprietor, said Rambo, then nameless, walked into the store in 1991, when he was about a year old.
"He was skinny. He was hungry. I went out and got a can of cat food," Puff recalled.
Puff put a litter basket in the lavatory, and Rambo has been in residence ever since.
"Myself and another guy tried to think of a name," Puff said, "and kept coming up with Rambo."
Rambo, later neutered, is a lot bigger than the day he found a home at McVey's. He sports a beautiful coat of short, reddish hair and probably weighs about 15 pounds.
He generally can be found in the back of the store, sprawled contentedly on a box or keg. Occasionally, he wanders out and catches a little air behind the shop. Rambo is very gentle and appears to welcome petting by customers.
But Rambo earns his keep: No mice have been seen at McVey's since his arrival.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Sears Roanoke
Dear Neighbors:
On behalf of Roanoke Council 562, Knights of Columbus, I would like to thank the residents of the Roanoke Valley for supporting the 1994 Knights of Virginia Assistance for the Retarded Fund Drive. With their generosity and help, Council 562 raised more than $20,000 to benefit mentally retarded citizens.
Because all persons assisting in the KOVAR Fund Drive are volunteers, all money collected during the recent drive is donated to organizations that benefit mentally retarded citizens.
Mental retardation is a medical condition, the diagnosis of which is made by medical personnel after a person has undergone specific testing.
An organization that benefits mentally disabled people, but not mentally retarded people, is not eligible for a KOVAR grant.
Indeed, within the past year, Camp Virginia Jaycees, ARC Roanoke and the Developmental Center of Franklin County received more than $63,000 from KOVAR.
Without the assistance of the Roanoke Valley, such donations could not be made.
Once again, many thanks.
Sincerely, Steven J. Talevi KOVAR Chairman Roanoke Dear Neighbors:
Some didn't notice the flier distributed May 9. Some didn't notice the display ad so generously contributed by the Roanoke Times & World-News. Some even forgot. However, the residents of the immediate Roanoke area responded to the tune of more than 50 tons of food destined for the hungry.
Letter carriers brought back more than they delivered May 14 as they and other postal workers worked many hours on their own time, loading the many vehicles operated by the Southwest Virginia Community Food Bank. They were joined my many other volunteers, young church groups in particular, in this first of what may be an annual event.
Meanwhile, throughout the nation in 3,600 communities, those who deliver the mail performed another service for humanity. They are not expecting to be thanked, but they do thank those who contributed to the food drive so generously to this cause which is so often over-looked between holidays.
James H. Rademacher
President-emeritus
National Association of Letter Carriers
Keywords:
LETTERS
by CNB