Last Monday while I was in Pageton, I noticed a group of young men and women painting, making repairs to several homes, and rebuilding a small deck at another house. A van was parked nearby with James Madison University emblazoned on the sides. I asked the group who they were and what they were doing spending their Christmas break in McDowell County. One young lady with a dollop of white paint on her nose told me that they were doing volunteer work to help folks in the area. I asked her to take me to their leader and she did. Michael Maguire a senior finance and history major at JMU who hails from Midlothian, Va., stepped down from his ladder, extended his hand and introduced himself.
He told me that the JMU group is affiliated with Aid for America, a branch of Aid for the World. Many of the volunteers were members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a Greek letter college fraternity that, incidentally, is the largest college fraternity in the nation with more than 14,000 undergraduate members. Volunteers representing Delta Delta Delta sorority; Kappa Alpha Theta, an international women’s fraternity founded in 1870 (the ladies do not call themselves a sorority); Alpha Sigma Tau National Sorority; and a few non-Greek letter volunteers also came down to the Free State with the Sig Eps to help. This was the group’s second visit to the area. They are under the direction of Dr. Mary Slade, a professor at JMU College of Education’s Exceptional Education program. Slade offered the intercultural practicum trip to Welch through the JMU Office of International Programs. Dr. Slade also led students on a relief trip to Biloxi, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005.
JMU and Sigma Phi Epsilon volunteers have also volunteered their time to help with other beneficial projects in Welch. One of those projects was gutting out the Tyson Towers Apartments after a fire destroyed the building. Nathan Plowman with Aid for the World was also instrumental in working with Dr. Slade to bring the JMU volunteers to McDowell County.
The work that was going on in Pageton is just a small part of the JMU sponsored programs for Welch and McDowell County.
The area certainly appreciates these folks and they certainly deserve thanks and gratitude for their efforts. The JMU students sure were nice.
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The students and staff at the Davis Stuart Home in Bluefield held a Holiday Open House last Friday evening. The resident girls decorated the place to the nines, shined and polished everything in sight, baked cookies and other goodies, made crock pot candy, and served as hostesses to more than 40 visitors. The group’s sponsors are George and Gwen Larue. The girls also decorated the outside of the home to the hilt and are contenders in the City of Lights Contest. They hope to win the money so that they can take a little outing next summer.
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City Board member Mike Vinciguerra commented that the Save the Ridge Runner restoration committee has nearly reached their $150,000 goal and that about half of the new track and ties are now in place. Vinciguerra said he is really proud of the effort that the fund-raising group has put forth and is thankful for the generosity of the supporters in the area.
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There you have it, a few comments on items of interest to the area. I hope the weather remains nice today and that there are some blue skies for you to enjoy. And one more thing… Concord University and the Four Seasons area are going to miss Dr. Joseph Marsh.
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West Virginia’s 80th Legislature will convene Jan. 13, 2010. Regular sessions commence on the second Wednesday of January of each year except when following the election of a new governor. Then the session starts in January with the governor’s address but adjourns until February.
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The Bluefield-Princeton Italian Lodge Fratelli Tricolore (OSIA) 2631 Sons and Daughters of Italy now has more that 200 members and has the largest membership of any of the organization’s lodges in West Virginia. Nick Ameli is president of the local chapter.
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Gary Boyce of Bluefield was elected Chief Rabban of the Beni Kedem Shrine in Charleston. John E. Thomas of Sissonsville was elected as their new potentate. Next year Boyce will be eligible to be elected Potentate (president) of the organization. Outgoing Potentate is Sam Kapourales of Williamson. Boyce is a member of the Bluefield Shrine Club and Bluefield Shrine Patrol.
Wilson Butt, a resident of Bluefield, is a retired Department of Highways official.
Columns
December 16, 2009
JMU volunteers spruce up McDowell
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