Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040823
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: TRACY VAN MOORLEHEM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FUND CAMPAIGN OPENS FOR 'TO RESCUE' EXHIBIT

The announcement was made by Foundation President I.B. Heinemann at a news conference at the Roanoke Lifesaving and First Aid Crew headquarters.

"To The Rescue" is scheduled to open in mid-1991 in a new permanent wing at the Roanoke Valley History Museum in Center in the Square. The exhibit is to feature interactive and video displays that will simulate rescues and enable visitors to experience the drama and satisfaction of saving lives.

The exhibit is a joint effort of the Julian Stanley Wise Foundation, the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads, the Roanoke Valley Historical Society and Museum, and friends of Wise. The city of Roanoke is also committed to the project.

Other speakers included Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, and Conover Hunt of Dallas, director of the project.

Cranwell was instrumental in obtaining a $500,000 grant from the state for "To The Rescue." The Foundation must match the state's challenge grant by June 30. To date, it has raised $265,000 toward this figure in corporate and private donations, Heinemann said.

Hunt, whose museum credits include the John F. Kennedy Museum in Dallas, agreed to take on the Roanoke exhibit because, "It's a story that needs to be told and a story that needs to be told well."

At age 9, Julian Wise stood by helplessly while two canoeists drowned in the Roanoke River. This event haunted him, and he devoted his life to preventing needless deaths.

Wise started the Roanoke Volunteer Rescue Squad with 10 men in 1928, the first volunteer squad in the world. In the first year, they received only three calls.

Wise died in 1985, but he left a legacy of volunteer rescue squads across America and in other countries. Today, more than 15,000 men and women in Virginia volunteer their time in 295 rescue squads. Roanoke volunteers respond to 17,000 calls per year.

Volunteer squads in the United States provide over 70 percent of all rescues, saving tax dollars. Because of the Roanoke squad, for example, the city saves $1.25 million per year, Heinemann said.

Hunt is to be assisted in the project by Boston design firm Krent/Paffett Associates and Cynthia and Allen Mondell, documentary film makers of Media Projects, Inc., also of Dallas. The Mondells' work can be seen at "The Crystal World" at the Science Museum of Virginia.

Donations for the exhibit can be sent to the Julian Stanley Wise Foundation at One Market Square, Third Floor, Roanoke 24011. For more information, call Lin Chaff at (703) 343-5551 during office hours and (703) 774-9221 after hours.