TJ Witten shares this information about the upcoming Visa Open House on Mary 12.

Visa Open House 2012 (2)

The Golf Tournament for World Hunger is Saturday, May 12. The tournament starts at Mariner’s Landing Golf Club at noon.

Lunch is included and there will be prizes. Register your team at www.worldhungerauction.org. Look under event calendar on the website. Proceeds will benefit  various local hunger organizations and Heifer International.

Where: Mariner’s Landing Golf Club at Moneta, VA
When: 12 p.m.
Contact: 540-483-2534

Submitted by Luci Wright.

Friday, April 27 marked the 11th annual Project Faith, a community service project at Faith Christian School.

All students from Kindergarten through 12th grade helped to provide community services to several organizations. This year, the students, staff and parent volunteers at FCS helped Manna Ministries, Charity Cottage and the Rescue Mission in Vinton and Feeding America Southwest Virginia in Salem.

Their help was well-received and much needed: Manna Ministries served around 700 people on Thursday evening, April 26.

The volunteers helped to paint, clean, pull weeds, sort donations, spread new mulch, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and tossed salad, create table favors with inspirational quotes and much more. The art students at FCS also painted a mural at Manna Ministries.

In line with their theme this year, “Feed My Sheep,” the students helped to prepare “6,000 ‘gleaning bags’ for Gleaning America’s fall fruit harvest, which will go to help feed the hungry” according to Susan Childs at Faith Christian School.

Also according to Childs, fundraising efforts as part of Project Faith has totaled over $1 million in the last 11 years, and the last three years alone have totaled over $500,000. (Be sure to check back here for more information on final tallies next week!)

Working indoors and out, the students, parents, staff members and volunteers were certainly lucky to have such beautiful weather on Friday.

“We’ve been doing this for 11 years,” said Sam Cox, Head of School at Faith Christian, “and we’ve had no rain on the day of Project Faith so far. It’s poured the day before or the day after, but not on that day.”

We have photos courtesy of Angela Griffin-Brenton that show the “Underground” theme at Hidden Valley’s After Prom. You can view them in the slideshow above, or in a different view here. Here is a fuller description of the event, which came together with help of many volunteers:

At Hidden Valley High School’s After Prom, students viewed the elaborate, underground, subway setting. The hallway walls, from floor to ceiling, were covered with abstract graffiti artwork that was hand-painted by Ms. Cindy Podeschi.

The HV PTSO President Frances Stevenson and the community members created the mood by decorating the halls, hanging the art, and setting up the activities for students. The still life statues, representing the urban chic setting, introduced the blow up obstacle course, the caricature and tattoo artists, and a variety of events to keep student entertained through the morning hours.

After prom was held Saturday, April 22, 12am to 4am. It was chaperoned by administrators, local police, parents, and teachers.

Submitted by Angela Griffin-Brenton, Hidden Valley High School

We have paparazzi photos from the Hidden Valley After Prom here. You can share yours at news@swo-co.com or use the “share” tool to upload 10 at a time.

T.J. Witten shares this photo gallery from Cave Spring U13 lacrosse vs. RVLA.

Do you have photos from around Southwest Roanoke County? You can share at news@swo-co.com or use the “share” tool to upload 10 at a time.

Chuck Lionberger with Roanoke County Schools shares the following press release:

(To read Roanoke Times education reporter Courtney Cutright’s story, click here. At the same meeting last night, the school board announced that Kim Bradshaw will be the new principal at Oak Grove Elementary next year.)

ROANOKE – The Roanoke County School Board approved the 2012-2013 budget at their meeting April 26, 2012. The General Fund budget for 2012-13 reflects revenues based on aid for education in the General Assembly budget released on April 19, 2012 via the State Superintendent. The General Fund budget of $132,562,485 reflects an increase of $1,189,215 or 0.9% more than the preceding year.

“I’m pleased with this budget and I’m very thankful for the continued support of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors,” said Roanoke County School Board Chairman Fuzzy Minnix. “I’m pleased we were able to give our employees a well-deserved raise, we were able to avoid layoffs of full-time contracted employees and we did not need to close any schools. This has been a difficult, frustrating year. A great deal of work has gone into this budget.” said Minnix.

“This is a good budget. Fortunately, we were able to receive additional funding from the state that helped us afford raises. We are still making some painful cuts, though, and we will still maintain a hiring freeze,” said Roanoke County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange.

The School Board is required by state code to adopt an annual school budget by April 1 of each year. Despite the fact that the General Assembly had not yet adopted a state budget, the School Board adopted a school budget at their meeting on March 27, 2012 in accordance with this provision. Since that time, the General Assembly has passed a state budget which is expected to be approved by the Governor in the next few weeks. The 2012-13 school budget approved on March 27, 2012 has been revised to reflect the final state aid for education and the Superintendent’s recommendations to balance the budget.

The revenue changes include the following: Read more »

The Roanoke County Police Department is pleased to announce that Detective Keshia Saul has completed the Virginia Forensic Science Academy. Detective Saul finished the nine-week program and was awarded a graduation certificate on April 13.

Detective Saul began her career with Roanoke County as a patrol officer in April 2003. In October 2008, she was promoted to the rank of detective.

The Academy’s objective is to provide high-level training to qualified crime scene search officers. Law enforcement personnel learn to properly recognize, document, collect, and preserve – for laboratory examination – items of physical evidence found at crime scenes. The Academy participant becomes familiar with the capabilities and limitations of the modern forensic laboratory in examining the spectrum of materials, which can be collected as evidence in criminal cases.

The nine-week course of study also provides officers with the necessary background information and practical application techniques that, coupled with the student’s previous experience, permit maximum utilization of the forensic sciences to their department and the Criminal Justice System of the Commonwealth.

Submitted by Teresa Hall, Roanoke County

The members of the Cave Spring Rescue Squad Auxiliary will be sponsoring their annual Spring Chicken Barbecue on Saturday, May 5.

The cost of the dinner is $7, and dinner will consist of 1/2 barbecued chicken, green beans, cole slaw and a roll. Eat In or Take Out Service is offered and the serving hours are 4 to 7 p.m. Those wishing to eat at the rescue squad building will be provided with lemonade, coffee or tea to drink. Homemade bake sale items are also available for sale.

Tickets can be reserved by calling 772-2943, and reserved tickets will be held until 6 p.m. on May 5. Tickets are also available from any volunteer member of the rescue squad or from members the day of the barbecue.

Proceeds from this money making project are used to purchase the latest in pre-hospital equipment used on the ambulances manned by the volunteer members.

Submitted by Sharon Campbell, Cave Spring Rescue Squad Auxiliary.

The members of the Cave Spring Rescue Squad Auxiliary will be holding a Indoor Yard Sale on Saturday, April 28 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The sale will be held at the Cave Spring Rescue Squad building (upper level) located at the corner of Valley Forge and Brambleton Avenues (across from Sonic). The sale will consist of a large variety of household items, toys, clothing for all ages, some sewing supplies, craft items and some antiques.

All proceeds are used to purchase necessary equipment for the Volunteer Members of the Cave Spring Rescue Squad.

Submitted by Sharon Campbell, Cave Spring Rescue Squad Auxiliary.

Featuring Luis Carlos Montalvan, author of “Until Tuesday”; Tickets on sale at the door–the first 500 guests will be given gift bags

PetEx 2012 features pets for adoption, over 100 exhibitors, hundreds of products and services and a chance to surround yourself with other animal lovers. Luis Carlos Montalvan, Iraq war veteran and author of “Until Tuesday,” and his dog, Tuesday, will be at PetEx on Saturday only.

PetEx takes place on Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Roanoke Special Events Center. Tickets for adults are $7, seniors (65 and older) and kids three to 12 years old are $5 and kids 2 and under are free.

Montalvan joined the U.S. Army in 1990 and spent his time as a communications  specialist, military policeman and infantryman. After suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (and traumatic brain injury), Montalvan’s service dog was able to give him hope and healing by helping him battle his injuries. Montalvan speaks Saturday at noon and 3 p.m.

Montalvan’s visit to the region includes a private luncheon at Friendship Retirement Community with area mental-health and PTSD professionals and patients. His invitation-only presentation,  “Coping with Post Traumatic Stress  Disorder” at  Friendship is sponsored by Mental Health America of Roanoke Valley.

Also at the Pet Expo:

• Microchipping will be available on site. It will be limited to two animals per paid ticket and is available on a first-come, first-served basis for the first 200 animals. Please make sure to bring your ID and your animal’s rabies certificate if you wish to have them microchipped.
• Miriam Fields-Babineau, an animal trainer and behavioralist, speaks Sunday, April 29 at noon. Does your dog or cat have what it takes to be an animal actor? Let Miriam give you pointers on how it’s done.
• Karen Wrigley, an animal communicator/medium, speaks Sunday at 1 p.m. Karen can help you develop closer communication and understanding with your pets by recognizing signs that you may not have noticed before.

View the full speaker and event schedule at www.RoanokePetEx.com.

Submitted by Jonathan Carlin.