ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The good neighbors fund
Contributions to this year's Good Neighbors Fund are ahead of last year's for the first four weeks of the drive.
Donations through Wednesday had reached $72,537.02 - $13,500 more than the amount collected by Dec. 20, 1994.
Wendy Moore, executive director of Roanoke Area Ministries, thinks the rise in giving this year will enable RAM to help more people.
More middle-income Roanoke-area residents have asked for assistance after being laid off from work or suffering financial difficulties, she said. Such people eventually will return to being self-supporting, but in the meantime, RAM can get them back on track - especially with a larger Good Neighbors Fund.
"It allows us to help them more than we normally would," Moore said.
The Roanoke Times has sponsored the Good Neighbors Fund for the past 12 years as a community service. All contributions are given to RAM.
Walter Rugaber, president and publisher of the newspaper, said he's encouraged by the way individuals and organizations have reached into their purses to help others.
Contributions have come from various sources, including schoolchildren, social, civic and church groups, and people who have been helped by others.
Becky Ayres said she was giving in return for the help she and her husband, Ron, received in years past.
In a letter enclosed with the Ayres' contribution, she wrote that Ron, then 49, lost his job in 1988 when the company he worked for went bankrupt. Three months later, he got a new job, only to lose it two days before Christmas because of downsizing at the business.
The company took him back nine months later but let him go again when it left Roanoke.
"For the second time, he lost his job during Christmas week," Becky Ayres wrote.
During this time, however, the family paid all its bills and kept two children in college. Ron Ayres worked odd jobs and has enjoyed steady employment since January 1993.
Because they were able to battle back from adversity, Becky Ayres wrote that she and her husband were giving to the Good Neighbors Fund "in honor of those who kept the faith with us" and in honor of their first grandchild, who will be born in the spring.
"It's time we gave back," she wrote.
Wednesday's contributors included:
In memory of Anne Harper
Vera Smith, in memory of her husband, Lonza Smith
Frieda W. Hiner, in memory of her mother, Eleanor M. Walthall
Morris and Marti Turner, in memory of Lorana T. Moomaw
G. Murrell and Patricia Smith
Mary Frances Petty, in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Lee Tucker
In honor of the College of Health Sciences, Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley
Bob and Jackie Martin
Anne Baldridge Cox, in honor of the staff of MKB Realtors
Mr. and Mrs. Jack F. Wright Jr.
W.W. and Phyllis Burch, in memory of their parents
Betty Stanley
Geraldine Brumberg, in loving memory of Howard Hammersley
Martha Turner, in memory of Greta Sturrock
Susan Kramer, in memory of her sister, Linda Saunders
Tootie Brown, in honor of her fellow teacher at South Salem School, Myra Crew
In honor of Bruce W. Janney, Robert L. Price and Robert E. Hadley
The Hardee's Brambleton Avenue Breakfast Club, in memory of Frank Baker, Joe Byrum, Pete Miller and Ben Stultz
AMVETS Auxiliary No.2, in honor of Virginia Arquilla
Susan Fry
George A. Shelor
William H. Meyers, in honor of his grandchildren
Dale and Muriel Bennett
The fifth-grade students at Mount Pleasant School
The Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield Telemarketing Fun Fund
Mrs. Virginia International Pageant, in honor of 1996 contestants
Willing Workers Sunday school class, Peters Creek Church of the Brethren, in honor of their pastor, Jack Lowe and family and Rodney Long
Wendy and Bill Moore, in honor of RAM volunteers
In honor of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly T. Fitzpatrick
Mabel Dulaney, Laretta Hodges and Cynthia Frozier, in honor of Dr. James Gooding
Jean Seleno, in memory of her mother and father, Blanche and Ralph Daniel
Glen and Barbara Fleenor, in memory of their parents
Joanna Hardie, in honor of Mrs. Tabor, her teacher at Penn Forest Elementary School
The employees of Virginia Truck Center, in honor of Frank Ellett, Pete Plunkett and Mickey Dowling
J.M. White
Daniel R. Duffy, in memory of Patricia R. Whitby
Wayne White, Susan Gill and S.E. Staff, in honor of Richard Dickson, executive director of ARC Roanoke Inc.
The Worleys, Mullins, Hulls, Fitzhughs and Gregory Smith, in honor of James A. King Jr. upon his retirement from New River Electrical Corp.
Ronnie and Gail Blanchard, in memory of her parents, Charlie V. Carter and Kyma A. Carter
Christine and Herbert Abernathy, in memory of Dave Lamanca
Rhonda Gusler, in memory of Jimmy Shively
Robert and Frances Henderson
Lois K. Powers, in memory of loved ones
Julian and Dot Ferguson, in memory of their parents, Fitzhugh and Maybelle Ferguson, and Henry and Gladys Wright
Daily Bread Sunday School Class, Cloverdale Church of the Brethren
Paul and Beverly White, in honor of their neighbors
Jimmy and Linda Bush, in memory of Bessie McLain
Eric, Diane and Sarah Lawson, in honor of the Rev. and Mrs. Bill Klein
Cely Mangus, in honor of the wonderful volunteers at Roanoke Memorial Hospital
Sally and Merritt Nichols, in honor of their team coaches past and present
Willard and Mildred Epperly, in memory of their parents
Fred and Elise Knowles, in memory of their loved ones
Billie Pavich, in memory of Jesse
Melvin and Carol Williams
Bob and Carol Johnston, in memory of Martha Ferguson
Drs. Nevin, Lebow, Bell, Priddy and Polverino, nurse practitioners Susan Adamson and Dody Raplee and physicians' assistant Sharon Bruce, in honor of the staff, administration and residents of Camelot Hall of Salem, Richfield Nursing Center and Snyder Nursing Home
Betsy and Greg Feldmann, in honor of their friends and neighbors
Marie Wells, in memory of T.K. Austin
Nell Deaner, in memory of her sisters, Alice D. Hicks, Geneva Mathena, Alma D. Humbert; her husband, F.L. Deaner; her son, Ronnie Deaner
Margaret and Ron Schomisch, in honor of their sister and brother-in-law, Virginia and Howard Emmons.
Ron and Becky Ayres
ANONYMOUS DONATIONS - $300.00
SUBTOTAL - $3,439.50
TOTAL AS OF 12/20/95 - $72,537.02
Checks should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to The Roanoke Times, P.0. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed in the newspaper. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Gifts cannot be earmarked for any particular individual or family. Gifts are tax-deductible.
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