Front row, from left: Andrew Hudick, merit badge for Finger Printing; Jake Bryant and Noah Bryant, merit badges for Finger Printing and Crime Prevention. Back row, from left: Matt Kvasnicka; Mason Lavinder, received his rank of First Class; Johnny Weber, received his rank of First Class and Braden Dean, received his rank of First Class and merit badges for Environmental Science, Computer, and Law.
Troop 632 of Faith Christian School honored their Boy Scouts during an awards ceremony on Monday, June 27. All the scouts received a patch for attending the ITT Scout Day and their Quality Unit patch 2010, plus rank badges and merit badges.
Some of these scouts have camped out a total of 17 outings from last Fall to this Spring, making them eligible for “Order of The Arrow.” They may be “taped” out during their week of summer camp, July 24, to join this prestigious fraternity of scouts.
Following the awards ceremony Mr. Jon Blank of the Cave Spring Fire Department conducted a CPR class for the scouts in order to finish their merit badge in First Aid. Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster are John Weber and Mitch Dean. Both of these gentlemen (volunteers) are Eagle Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness. Think about what these boys are doing and learning. Give it a try. Call the BSA office 265-0656 and join a unit near your home.
Submitted by Lee Anderson.
Jon Blank, of the Cave Spring Fire Department, trains the scouts in CPR.
In 2009, nearly 5,500 people were killed and 500,000 more were injured in distracted driving crashes. And tragically, younger, more inexperienced drivers under the age of 20 are the most likely to be involved in distraction-related fatal crashes. In fact, car crashes remain the leading killer of American teens overall, with nearly 4,000 teens killed and 300,000 injured annually.
To help save lives and encourage families to make a pledge together to limit or eliminate distractions in the car, Allstate is bringing Allstate’s Safe Driving Challenge course to Roanoke. Local teens and their parents will drive through the course, trying to avoid cones and focus on the road, while learning firsthand about the dangers of driving distracted.
Who: Interviews with Roanoke area teens and their parents, Allstate Insurance Company representatives and safe driving experts.
What: A safe driving challenge course for teens and their parents aimed at reducing distracted driving practices such as texting and talking on the phone.
Visuals: In-car camera access to capture teens and parents attempting to safely drive while texting, talking on the phone, listening to loud music and handling rowdy passengers. Learn tips for teens and parents to drive safely and distracted driving statistics.
When: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Where: Ronaoke Civic Center, Parking Lots A and E
For more information, contact Shelva Clemons at (703) 218-0184.
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval Tuesday to lease the coffee shop space in the new South County Library to Mill Mountain.
That would mean two locations in Southwest Roanoke County for the coffee chain. We previously reported the coffee shop in The Forum will close and move to a new location on 419 in late July or early August.
John Wimmer shares this photo gallery from Monday’s swim meet between Stonegate and Hunting Hills.
Do you have news or photos from around Southwest Roanoke County? You can share at news@swo-co.com or use the “share” tool at right to upload 10 at a time.
Do you have photos involving rec league teams from Southwest Roanoke County? Or anything else involving Southwest Roanoke County? You can share at news@swo-co.com or use the “share” tool at right to upload 10 at a time.
It is almost time for our first performance for our Second Annual “Summer Stock Dinner Theater” with Shakespearean performances of “Twelfth Night” and a traditional Elizabethan meal. The first performance takes place on Saturday July 16 at AmRhein’s Wine Cellars (9243 Patterson Drive, Bent Mountain, VA 24059) The second performance at Camp Roanoke (6498 Dry Hollow Road, Salem, VA 24153) is on Saturday August 20. Doors open at 6PM, and performances will begin at 7PM outdoors under a lovely night sky. So bring your own lawn chairs or blankets and sit back and enjoy a great performance and a fabulous night!
This true Shakespearean classic, “Twelfth Night” is filled with catchy songs, dozens of colorful characters, and some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful poetry. It is guaranteed to put a song in your heart and tickle your funny bone. This show will be performed by Tailgate Shakespeare. This Troupe travels around Virginia offering exceptional Shakespearean performances with no set, minimal props and live music, as Shakespeare’s original actors would have done.
A traditional Elizabethan meal will also be available at each performance. The menu choices are Chicken Pie or Poached Salmon both with Bread, Compound Sallet (salad), and Rice Pudding. Additional beverages will also be available for sale at the AmRhein’s Wine Cellars.
The show plus the catered meal will be available for $17 per person, or $7 for admission only, in which case you may bring your own picnic dinner. Children under five years of age are admitted free. Dinner reservations must be made by the Monday proceeding the performance date however theater only tickets will also be available at the door. For more information or reservations please visit us on our website at www.RoanokeCountyParks.com or call 540-387-6078 ext 251. “Summer Stock Dinner Theater” is an event of Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
Submitted by Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism
Volunteer opportunities come in all forms, as Southwest Roanoke County resident Joanna Merritt well knows. And sometimes those volunteer opportunities like to chew on your shoes.
A few months ago, Joanna became a volunteer foster parent for the Roanoke Valley SPCA, taking in puppies for two weeks at a time in order to create additional cage space at the SPCA and to help save the lives of more dogs.
“It [fostering] is the most awesome volunteer opportunity,” Joanna said. “You get to smile and laugh all the time, you get to play with puppies all the time. Nothing costs a penny. They give you food, the dog bowl, the collar, the leash, treats.”
Her work has been such that she has been able to create and maintain a blog about her fostering experiences, Foster Dogz Blog.
“With fostering dogs, you have an experience every single day,” said Joanna. “I always have something to write about. Sometimes it may be only four sentences and a picture, but I usually put something on every day.”
Every few weeks, Joanna and her family get a new puppy; they take care of it for two weeks and then return it to the SPCA, when the dogs are then spayed or neutered and microchipped. They get to do fun things with the puppies, like name them. For instance, in April, the Merritts fostered Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, or Kate, for short (she has since been adopted). They also get to do some of the hard work, like housebreaking the dogs.
“It’s always rewarding,” Joanna said. “Housebreaking for the first two days is tough, but after the first two days, pack mentality sets in with my other dogs. The animal learns, oh, we go outside to use the bathroom. And, of course, letting the dog go [is hard]. What’s maybe even harder is waiting for the dogs to be adopted.”
Joanna has fostered several dogs, including Max, Jackson, Rosalina, Kate and Omega. Of all the fosters, Rosalina has been the most shy, and Joanna has been nearly obsessive in tracking her adoptiong.
“I got poison ivy trying to get [Rosa] out from behind the bushes,” Joanna said, “but in these few short weeks she’s come a long, long way. I kept checking back on Rosa every day to see if she’d been adopted.” (She finally has been.)
“If I had a dime for every time I tell people I foster dogs and they say, ‘oh, I couldn’t do that,’ I would be a rich, rich woman,” Joanna said. “Because I think that everybody kind of feels like that–including me before I started fostering dogs–like I might end up adopting them all. But after the first time you boo-hoo on your way home from [returning the dog to] the SPCA, you kind of get used to it.”
The family quickly becomes attached to the dogs during each two week period, Joanna said, but she and her husband, Kevin, have made sure that their children, Lindsay and Alex, understand that the foster dogs belong to the SPCA; they’re just dogsitting.
Letting go of the dogs can be “heartbreaking,” Joanna said, but fostering offers a larger reward.
“After [returning] your first one you realize how many dogs you’re actually saving,” said Merritt’s daughter, Lindsay, a student at Green Valley Elementary.
Right now, the RVSPCA has over 100 animals in foster homes, according to Ann Marie Sweeney, foster coordinator for the RVSPCA.
“One hundred is a lot. That’s 100 lives saved,” Sweeney said, and each new foster home means even more lives saved.
“I love all our fosters; they’re just so good to us,” Sweeney continued, admittedly getting a little emotional. “You want to do something for them because you know they’ve done so much. It floors me that people are so big-hearted that way. They would go through hoops [for these animals]. You become friends with the fosters. I can’t say enough about the people who foster.”
Becoming a foster parent takes conviction and heart, but Joanna is convinced that people are more capable of fostering than they think.
“People say ‘I’m too busy for that, there’s no way I could do it,’ ” Joanna said. “I work full time. My husband works full time. My son goes to preschool. He has a babysitter. He goes to flag football. Lindsay goes to dance: ballet, tap, jazz. She’s getting ready to start point. She plays soccer–indoor and outdoor. She’s in girl scouts. She plays softball and piano… In other words, we’re busy. It’s not that people don’t have time for it. They could do it.”
That’s not to say, of course, that it’s isn’t hard.
Of all the members of the Merritt household, “I would say that I’m probably the most attached to [the fosters], but I know they need to go to another family so I can save more dogs,” Joanna said. “Somebody needs to be fostered all the time.”
When asked how long she can see herself fostering animals, Joanna said “forever, as long as possible. I’m obsessed.”
For more on Joanna and the Merritts’ adventures in fostering, visit her blog, Foster Dogz Blog, or learn more about the pet foster program at the Roanoke Valley SPCA.
Wine Gourmet’s new location in Promenade Park opened on Thursday, June 23rd.
Owner Kimberly Kolb Eakin‘s excitement about the move was clear as she showed off the store’s new features: two check-out registers, more racks for Wine Gourmet’s beer offerings and, of course, plenty of space for the wine.
The new location is more convenient for distributors to access, Eakin said, and is more convenient for customers as well, with a corner location and a nearby traffic light.
Wine Gourmet will continue to offer wine and beer tastings as well as a large selection of wine, beer and other gourmet food items, like hot sauces.
Wine Gourmet is now located at 3524 Electric Road. For more information, visit Wine Gourmet online.
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.
