Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502130002
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
In April, the club is planning an open basketball tournament, probably in Radford, to raise money for its scholarship program.
The club also has raked leaves, painted and distributed fruit baskets for senior citizens. It has chaperoned high school dances, held a New Year's Eve ball fund-raiser, sponsored community softball games, and co-sponsored youth day activities in a park near Vinton.
The group is sponsoring the Gospel Fest at 4 p.m. next Sunday in Dublin United Methodist Church in observance of Black History Month. Gospel groups scheduled to sing include the Willing Workers, New River Valley Gospel Singers, Stars of Faith and Gospel Voices.
``What we wanted to do is show some kids who were headed in the wrong direction that there's a right direction for them to go,'' said George Penn, a Pulaski funeral director who helped found the club several years ago.
It began when a few guys decided it was time to get together ``and start a club with some purpose to it. Our major purpose was to kind of give our youth an incentive, and to give our senior citizens a hand,'' he said.
Its focal points are youth, churches and senior citizens, said Les Pack, who is retired. ``That's what we started out about.''
``Basically, we want to give black youth some positive role models, because, every time you turn around, you see something bad about black youth on TV,'' said Benjamin Penn, who works in the accounting department at Hercules.
``We try to have some sort of events for the younger generation,'' said club president Walter Price III, who works for C&P Telephone. ``We do require them to pay. We try and get them in the frame of mind to pay as you go,'' he said. ``We supervise it ... It's good clean fun for the kids and they seem to enjoy that.''
William Calloway, a teacher at Christiansburg High School, was another of the founders. He said the club sponsors activities to raise money or just to get people out to something like a softball game.
The group also has made donations to fraternities and sororities at Virginia Tech and Radford University, and to a new church in Christiansburg.
Its members come from throughout the New River Valley. They meet monthly in one another's homes on a rotating basis. They also get together in a group to attend various churches in a body.
``We all come from humble beginnings; we all come from diverse backgrounds,'' said Howard Jenkins, an apprentice at the Penn Funeral Home. He said the members try to show young people that, with enough effort, they can ``become what you want to be.''
``Every month we meet from home to home. It keeps it from being boring. And the club is open for young men interested in making the New River Valley a better place,'' George Penn said. Applications for membership can be obtained from any member.
Other members include Tim Blassingame, a federal probation officer; Darren Washington, general manager at Wendy's in Radford; Joseph Smith, production worker at Radford Arsenal, and George Morrison III, employed by the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission.
Gospel Fest: Sunday, Feb. 19 at Dublin United Methodist Church. The New River Valley Progressive Men's Club is sponsoring the event.
by CNB