ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Sara Davis and her family will be moving into a new home, thanks to Carilion Radford Community Hospital's sponsorship of the New River Valley Habitat for Humanity, which is building their house on 17th Street. Habitat for Humanity is a volunteer group that works with community organizations to provide homes for needy families and allows them to purchase the home at no interest. A group of 33 volunteers from Park Forest, Ill., will join volunteers from the hospital and the New River Valley to help Davis, her family and friends complete the house by Aug. 27.
New River Habitat thanks the following organizations for their sponsorship of the project: Christ Lutheran Church, First Baptist Church, Little Caesar's, Pizza Hut, St. Jude's Catholic Church, Grace Episcopal Church and Zion Hill Baptist Church, all in Radford; the Blacksburg Baptist Church; Kroger in Pulaski; the Radford Recreation Department; the psychiatric hospital gym and Carilion Radford Community Hospital at St. Albans; and Radford University. For more information about how to volunteer or help with the project, please call G.C. Duck, hospital project chairman at 731-2557.
The Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy ROTC members at Virginia Tech donated more than 100 units of blood in April to the American Red Cross. The blood drive began as an interbattalion competition in the naval company, which netted more than 60 units of blood. It was so successful that the Navy and Marine Corps decided to challenge their Army and Air Force counterparts, and after the last donor left on April 10, the Air Force was victorious with a more than 50 percent participation rate.
"If it were not for the ROTC's participation this past January and in April, the Red Cross would not have met our quota for the entire region," said Sandy Myers, the American Red Cross coordinator for the New River Valley area. "Most organizations can rally maybe 20 percent of its members, to have participation rates in the 50 to 60 percent region is unheard of!"
The Interfaith Food Pantry of Montgomery County thanks all those who contributed time and labor in the recent drive to collect and donate food for the hungry. Postal carriers distributed fliers and picked up the food packages that hundreds of residents set out by their mailboxes. Almost 8,000 pounds were collected, which will supply the Pantry through the summer.
Outback Steakhouse in Christiansburg raised $7,700 in one night for the Special Olympics and the New River Agency for Persons with Mental Retardation. Alliant Techsystems, Corning Inc., Federal Mogul Inc., Volvo and Reynolds Architects each gave $250 to sponsor a table.
"We're real tickled," Nancy Harman, local director of Special Olympics Virginia, said. "I'm afraid we had a lot of people who couldn't get in or left right away."
David Clark, Outback managing partner, said the opening was very successful. "We were real happy, and obviously it's going to a great cause," Clark said.
A six-person team representing Anderson & Associates raised $3,100 from clients and corporate sponsors to participate in the 1996 Multiple Sclerosis 150 Bike Tour June 8 and 9. Tim Stowe, Todd Carroll, Karin Black, Flavio Carvalho and John and Debbie Christman participated in a two-day, 150-mile bicycle tour from Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville to Stonewall Vineyards in Concord.
Each participant had to raise a minimum of $150 in pledges/donations to bike. For Todd Carroll, the best part of the journey was when the president of the MS Blue Ridge chapter spoke at the end of tour.
"It gave me a better idea of why we were doing this and it was nice to see how you were affecting people directly by riding that weekend," he said.
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