On Sunday, October 18, Hope for the House will hold a Poker Run, to include both motorcycles and motor vehicles from 1 to 5 p.m. to support the Nicole Hodgins Cagle Memorial Fund.
Registration will begin at 11 a.m. and the last rider out at 1 p.m. The Poker Run will begin and end at Bellacinos’ parking lot on Starkey Road. The Poker Run will be a scenic 100 plus mile ride through Southwest Virginia.
The event costs a $20 per person donation and the winning hand will receive a cash prize. During the event their will be a 50/50 raffle, door prizes, t-shirts, patches, magnets, music, food, and more.
Register by October 11 and receive an event t-shirt for $10. T-shirts will be on sale the day of the event for $15.
You can register here, but registration will be available up to the day of the event.
All proceeds from the Poker Run will benefit the Nicole Hodgins Cagle Memorial Fund and Bellacinos’ will donate a percentage of the entire days proceeds to the foundation.
Nicole Hodgins Cagle was a wife, a mother, and a friend to many. She died of breast cancer on June 11 of this year at just the age of 39. She was an active member of the American Cancer Society and was a speaker at the Pink Ribbon Luncheon one year. She was active in Star Country’s Pajama Jam as a volunteer and also active in her children’s school, Penn Forest Elementary.
Curtis Burchett was one of those friends, who has set out to help make Cagle’s dream of building a Hospice House in Roanoke to support those who are in need and battling an illness.
Two people have been charged with robbery after police say they snatched a woman’s purse on Brambleton Avenue. Witnesses chased down the one suspect; police found the other one later.
Here’s the full release from the Roanoke County Police Department:
Strong Armed Robbery
• Incident: Strong Armed Robbery
• Date of Incident: 09/28/09 Time of Incident: 3:15pm approximately
• Location of Incident: 4000 Block of Brambleton Avenue
• Investigating Officer: M.A. Hicks
• Victim Name(s):
• Suspect Name(s): Suspect # 1 King, Jerimiah, age 22, Roanoke County Resident
Suspect #2 16 year old Juvenile Male, Roanoke City Resident
• Charges if Applicable: Robbery
• Arrests Information: The suspect is being held in jail pending bond.
• Anyone with information is asked to call 540-777-8652
• Additional Remarks: On 9/28/09 at approximately 3:15 P.M. Roanoke County Police responded to the area of 4000 Brambleton Ave in reference to a Strong Arm Robbery. Police met with the victim and witness. The victim relayed her purse was taken as she entered a business. The suspect forcibly took the victim’s purse and fled the scene. The victim was not injured. Citizens who observed the crime also witnessed a total of two suspects leaving the scene. The citizens gave chase and caught the 16 year old male, holding him until police arrived. County Police began a search of the area and located King hiding in a wooded area near Postal Drive. Both males were taken into custody and charged with Robbery.
If you’ve been waiting for the paparazzi photos from the Cave Spring homecoming dance, wait no more. Here they are! Our paparazzi photo crew was at Saturday’s dance and here are all the folks who stepped onto the red carpet.
You can view the photos in the slideshow above or in this gallery format.
Growing up Abby Broughton, 16 and a junior at Hidden Valley High Schooland Casey Broughton, 19 and a sophomore at VCU,spent lots of time on what they call the family farm in New Castle. They watched as their father, Matt Broughton, who is a pilot, fly planes and fly gliders there many weekends. Over time the place became very memorable and special to the girls.
“We literally grew up there,” Abby said. “Everyone kind of looked after us.”
In 2007, on one particular occasion, Matt took his two daughters in the barn and showed them some fine wood. Casey and Abby had no idea why their father was so impressed by the wood, so they just said, “yea, Dad” and went on their way.
But recently the girls have found out why that wood was so special to him. For over a year, their father has been working that same walnut and cedar wood to create chests for his two girls.
Matt said he came up with the idea about 10 years ago.
“What we are trying to do is start a tradition,” Matt said. “About three years ago I got real serious about it.”
A few weekends ago Matt unveiled one of the chests to his eldest daughter, Casey in Richmond.
“She loved it. She learned about it a few weeks ago,” Matt said.
Abby has not yet received her chest, but she now knows about it.
“I’ve seen mine a lot. I’m really excited about it. My grandmother had one. I was happy because it’s a family thing. My sister and I are really excited about it,” Abby said.
“The funny thing was Abby’s reaction,” Matt, who kept the secret for a year and a half, said. “Abby said, ‘Dad, I’m not going to lie to you, I wouldn’t have believed you did this’.”
Matt borrowed the idea from back in the day when women would have hope chests, sometimes called a glory box, which were used to collect items of clothing or household linens by single women, anticipating married life.
The chests he made were 45 inches long and 18 inches deep. It took him a year and a half to finish, but he was proud of the outcome. Matt had no prior experience in building chests.
Three dads were involved in Matt’s project and did it for their own daughters. One father, which will remain unnamed also made it for his two daughters, and Sam Shields created one for his daughter, Stephanie Shields.
“I asked them if they wanted to do it and said ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to make something for our daughters?’. I did not have traditions growing up so I wanted them to have one- an heirloom.” Matt said.
Matt and his friends researched their idea and found an 18-century French Chest that they used as a guide.
The chests have no screws or nails in them, are completely book matched and are complete with old skeleton keys. All the hardware used on the chest was ordered from England including the hinges. Every piece is hand milled, including the molding. Inside each chest, Matt wrote each of his daughters a message.
“I messed up a few boards. Several times I had to start over,” he said.
In one he wrote, “Made by Dad. Made from wood in New Castle, Virginia. May your life be full of treasures, some of which you keep in here. Summer 07, Fall 09″.
“It was more time than I thought- four times more time than I thought it was going to be. Every stage you have to hand rub it to make it glass smooth. That tells you how important it is to us.”
Matt said that he worked a couple times a week and about once a weekend on the chests, sometimes until two or three in the morning. Even his daughter’s caught on to how busy their father seemed to be.
“I’m very proud of it. My girls are so top-notch. They were a good incentive to do it the best I could.”
Every year Oak Grove Elementary School holds its annual Picnic in the Park event. This year, the event was held on Friday, September 25 beginning at 6 p.m. Despite the rain, many students, parents, and faculty came out to enjoy some of Henry’s Memphis Barbecue, Homestead Creamery Ice Cream, and Chris Burton and Band.
Check out the slideshow above of the photos we have from the event, or click here for a more traditional view.
In preparation for its 50th Anniversary Celebration in November, Oak Grove is hoping to find former students, teachers, and staff who can share their memories of the last half century.
Fifty years ago this month, the current Oak Grove Elementary School opened its doors. Current students, faculty, staff and alumni will celebrate the anniversary with a parade, video remembrances, class reunions, and a reception on November 8 from 2:00 – 4:00 at the school. The entire community is invited to celebrate this special event.
Organizers will videotape recollections of people who were affiliated with Oak Grove from
1959 – 2009. They will be shown at the celebration.
If you can make your own video talking about your memories of Oak Grove, we can provide a Web link for you to upload the video so it can be included in the production. If not, we can come to you to record your memories.
People with memories to share should contact Gwen Vieth at 776-1101 or Vieths@cox.net.
Both Cave Spring and Hidden Valley High School students have the opportunity to participate in Young Life, an international, non-profit, non-denominational christian group. Young Life has been in the words for 70 years in every state in the nation and 50 different countries.
Young Life area director, Andy Fetzer said,”the uniqueness with young life is contact work, we go to where the students are. It is an outreach ministry and we have an interesting group. We are folks that love Christ but we do it in a very non-threatening atmosphere.”
Fetzer says that Young Life is not big into numbers but in Roanoke County between the high schools and the middle schools they have 200 students at least, which includes about 100 from Hidden Valley and 75 from Cave Spring.
Young Life is made possible by a group of adults in the community who volunteer to spend time with students to develop relationship with them. Young Life has eight volunteers in Roanoke and two staff members, 250 donors and eight churches that sponsors Young Life.
Carey Schneckenburger, a volunteer was also involved in Young Life growing up and has been leading at Hidden Valley for the past eight years.
“Young Life made me who I am today,” Schneckburger said. “It’s the people who made me who I am. I wanted to give back and I fell in love with it in high school. It’s a privilege for me to hang out with these students. I feel like I get more out of it than I can offer them.”
Young Life is not sponsored by the school, but Fetzer said they have a relationship with the school system.
“We really want to serve the schools. Many of our volunteers are coaches and teachers,” Fetzer said. “We are acting as a bunch of adults that are joining the schools and what they want. We have relationships with the good kids and the kids people say aren’t good kids.”
Those who participate in Young Life often meet on Monday’s at one of the participants homes. They also have other events throughout the year.
“It’s a heart to heart, life to life type thing,” Fetzer said. “We’ll meet kids and hang out, we’ll play wiffle ball, eat at Katie’s Ice Cream. Most of the time there is no agenda- we just hang out. We sing songs, there’s skits, a 15 minute talk where we share a story in the bible.”
Every year, Young Life holds a Fall Weekend and sends about 150 kids to Rockbridge.
“It’s build on our philosophy,” Fetzer said about the weekend in Rockbridge. “If these kids knew how much they are worth in the eyes of God. We spend tongs of time figuring out how we can reach these kids and teach them who Christ is, so that they’d want to know Him more.”
Another event that is held annually is the Dodge ball Tournament in January where 500 kids get together and play dodge ball. And during the summer, Young Life participants have the opportunity to attend one of the 23 summer camps that Young Life has in the country.
They also participate in service projects like, Adopt-a-Highway or the Rescue Mission and once a month all area Young Lifers meet at churches like St. John Lutheran Church or Church of the Holy Spirit.
Young Life is also made possible by the students, who Fetzer called “campaigners” who reach out to others in the school who have a vision for their school, like Abby Broughton, who has been involved with Young Life since she was in middle school.
“I found out about Young Life through a friends. We had one Wildlife meeting and we thought it was cool. Carey has had a big impact on my life. Anything I feel like I can’t talk to my parents about and I need an adult to talk to, I can go to them (Young Life). It’s a good place to hang out and not feel pressure,” Abby said. “It’s more than just learning. It helps me to be a better person. It’s helped me to be closer to people I wouldn’t have known.”
Adam Hager, a young lifer and senior at Cave Spring High School became familiar with Young Life after his friends finally convinced him to go to one of the meetings.
“I went to my first young life club two years ago, during my sophomore year. I was asked to go by all my friends and my sophomore year, a teammate of mine on the basketball team decided he was going to drag me to one of the meeting. I go and end up having the best night of my life,” he said.
Hager said that during that particular night, for about 20 minutes they just hung out and met new people. They then had mixers and games and watch a skit put on by the leaders and then listen to a 15-minute message.
“It’s no different than just hanging out at a football game,” Hager said. “The funny thing about it, is it’s an entirely different environment than anything and the leaders get up and talk about God in a relational way and everything is based on love. What I get most out of it is fulfillment and satisfaction.”
Hager said that he plans to attend Mary Washington next fall and hopes to reach out to kids the way that his leaders reached out to him. There currently is not a Young Life program there, Hager said.
“The leaders, they commit so much of their time and their life just loving high school kids where they are at. Our leaders give us this great picture of who God is by they way they live their lives. They spend so much of their time just hanging out with kids and just loving them,” Hager said.
Young Life also has Capermaum with an emphasis on disabled kids, Young Lives, for teen moms and girls in a crisis and a middle school ministry.
Young Life has been available at Cave Spring for 20 plus years and at Hidden Valley since they opened.
Jennifer Romeiser sent us these photos of Hidden Valley Alumni, Maddy Elder and Anna Romeiser. Here is what she had to say:
“Virginia Tech Women’s Soccer Game vs. Clemson on Thursday 9/24. In the picture are two Hidden Valley High School Alumni who each play Div. 1 soccer. Maddy Elder (Clemson) and Anna Romeiser (VT). VT won 2-1. First time VT has ever beaten Clemson! 2nd picture: Moir, Anna Moir & Kevin Hurley cheering on VT!”
Jennifer Romeiser sent us these photos from a recent trip out west to pick us her son after going to Philmont. Jennifer said:
“In July, we flew out to Denver and drove down to pick up Dan (my son in picture) who had just completed a 90 mile trek at the Boy Scout Ranch Philmont in Cimmeron, NM. We drove to Sedona, Grand Canyon, Telluride, CO & Breckenridgd, CO. This is a picture of my kids Dan Romeiser & Anna Romeiser in Breckenridge. We had just completed a ATV
ride, and our elevation in the picture is above 13,900 ft. Gorgeous
Courtesy of Jennifer Romeiser
views!”
Send us your vacation photos. Email them to us at news@swo-co.com!
Elizabeth Jones is the community journalist for SWoCo and can be reached at 981-3191. You can share your news and photos through the “Share” button below or at news@swo-co.com.
