Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 10, 1993 TAG: 9307090136
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 10th anniversary of Potato Project has been celebrated by the Society of St. Andrew based in Bedford County. Over the past decade the ecumenical Christian community has set up a number of programs for sending commercially useless vegetables and meats to food banks for the poor in Virginia and other states.
To mark the anniversary, a program was held in Hampton in which a tractor-trailer load of sweet potatoes was unloaded for delivery to a food bank in Norfolk. Several church and political leaders including United Methodist Bishop Thomas B. Stockton and Paul Trible, former U.S. senator from Virginia, participated in the ceremony.
Since 1983, when the first vegetables were shipped from the Tidewater area to a Richmond food bank, Potato Project has salvaged and delivered more than 150 million pounds of potatoes and other farm products.
Catholic numbers grow
On the recent 40th anniversary of his ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan of Richmond noted that Virginia now has 20 more active priests than in 1953. However, Virginia's Catholic population has grown so rapidly in that time that a serious shortage of clergy to carry on sacramental ministry now exists, Sullivan said.
Since he became bishop of the Richmond Diocese 19 years ago, 24 new congregations have been established in an area that covers all but the metro Washington counties of the state. Sullivan said reports indicate that 20 percent of the people moving into southern Virginia are Roman Catholic.
Medication available
Roanoke Area Ministries, an ecumenical service agency supported by many Roanoke Valley churches, is among several groups known as the Roanoke Valley Medication Task Force.
Dr. Donald R. Stern, Roanoke health director, said the goal of the group is to make needed medicines available to those who cannot afford to pay for them. Stern said planning by the human service agencies is intended, not only to alleviate suffering, but also to keep people with serious or chronic ailments on their medicines so they will not need more expensive emergency room attention.
Ex-presidents to help
Former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan have agreed to serve as honorary co-chairmen of a major ecumenical fund drive to secure $10 million for the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. The drive will be headed by retired United Methodist Bishop James K. Mathews of Washington.
Church plans outing
Blackwell Chapel Church at Meadowview has scheduled an ice cream, hamburger and hot dog supper July 17 at 6 p.m. Its vacation Bible school is scheduled July 26 through July 30 nightly at 7. Call 429-2332 for more information.
A 90th anniversary celebration for the union church is planned on Aug. 1 beginning at 10 a.m.
by CNB