Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308250036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
If you're age 55 or older, out of work and meet certain federal low-income guidelines, you could be eligible for training through Green Thumb, Inc., a nonprofit group that provides both training and employment opportunities in most states through the Senior Community Service Employment Program, funded under a U.S. Department of Labor grant.
Jo Eggers, headquartered in Botetourt County, handles the program for Virginia and North Carolina.
Eggers said training is "totally unlimited" for qualified seniors, and could include anything from learning how to drive an 18-wheeler to becoming a nurse.
There also are on-the-job training opportunities with participating area employers and with qualified nonprofit organizations. Green Thumb will subsidize qualified trainees who go to work for private employers. Eggers said seniors meeting guidelines also can be assigned to work with nonprofit groups that hold Internal Revenue Service 501 (c) 3 status. They'll be paid minimum wage ($4.25 per hour) for up to 20 hours per week.
In the New River Valley, she said, Green Thumb has placed community service workers in public libraries and schools, as well as with the Community Services Board, delivering Meals on Wheels and elsewhere.
A quick word on the name, lest you think they're heavily involved in horticulture (or leaning on a shovel?): Eggers said the Green Thumb pilot project was part of Lady Bird Johnson's beautification campaign in the '60s under the sponsorship of the National Farmers Union, to put displaced farmers back to work. The Green Thumb name stuck, but almost everybody's forgotten "The Great Society" these days.
For more information in the New River Valley, call 633-1614, or write: Green Thumb, Inc., care of Jo Eggers, Route 2, Box 191-B, Buchanan, Va. 24066, telephone (703) 254-2202.
Aspiring senior artists, take note: The Radford Senior Center will offer a series of WATERCOLOR CLASSES for adult beginners. Lyndall Mason, a well-known Radford artist, will teach the classes, to be held Thursdays, 1:30-3:30 p.m., Sept. 16 through Oct. 14 at the Senior Center, 27 First St.
Register next door at the Radford Recreation Department, 29 First St., by Sept. 9.
The fee is $35.
For more information, call Mary Jane Harmon, 731-3634.
The registration deadline is Friday for the 1993 LEGACY QUILT SHOW in September. You do not have to be a senior to participate. Forms are available at the Christiansburg Senior Center.
The show is restricted to quilts, quilted items, quilting supplies or merchandise related to quilting. There's a category for antique quilts. The registration package includes show rules.
Completed registration forms go to the Christiansburg Senior Center, P.O. Box 599, Christiansburg, Va. 24073, or to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, P.O. Box 806, Christiansburg, Va. 24073.
The show will be Sept. 11, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at the National Guard Armory, College and Depot streets.
Admission: $1 for adults; children younger than 12 free. Call 382-8173 or 382-5775.
Members of the RETIRED SENIOR VOLUNTEER PROGRAM of Montgomery County are on an apple-butter fast track. They're still seeking donations of apples and pint or quart canning jars, not necessarily in that order, so they can start cranking out apple butter by the first week of September.
The fruits of their labor will be on sale during the Wilderness Trail Festival in downtown Christiansburg, Sept. 18, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. We've been told their apple-butter schedule is so tight, the jars may still be hot when you get them.
If it's successful, RSVP hopes to make the apple-butter project an annual event.
At the festival, RSVP also will sell baked goods and their "world-famous" cookbook, which contains recipes "handed down from generation to generation." The cookbooks are $7 and come highly recommended as holiday or birthday gifts.
You also can order one through the RSVP office. Call 382-5775 to reserve a copy.
If you have some canning jars you no longer need, you can take them to the RSVP office in the courthouse annex, Christiansburg, or call them at 382-5775 and arrange for pickup.
With apple-butter time, cooler weather can't be far behind. An END-OF-SUMMER PICNIC for all New River Valley seniors 55 or older will be Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at shelter No. 1 at Bisset Park in Radford. RSVP and the Christiansburg Senior Center are sponsoring the covered-dish dinner. Dessert and drinks will be furnished. Transportation is available. Call 382-5775 or 382-8173.
Mark these TRIPS FOR SENIORS your calendar:
Pulaski Senior Center, 106 N. Washington Ave., Oct. 30: "Picnic with the Pops" to see the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and guest Roberta Flack. These trips fill up fast; call 980-1000.
Christiansburg Senior Center, 655 Montgomery St., Monday: A mystery trip. Transportation is $3, but you won't know where you're headed until you get there. The van leaves the National Guard Armory, College and Depot streets, at 9 a.m.
Call 382-8173.
Radford Senior Center, 27 First St., has itineraries and information on Road Runner Trips with All America Tours Inc. A Road Runner trip is set for Sept. 24 through Oct. 1 to Mackinac Island, Mich. Another in early October will take in the Ozarks, including Branson, Mo., as well as Eureka Springs and Hot Springs, Ark. Call 731-3634.
At the CHRISTIANSBURG SENIOR CENTER, Montgomery St.:
The Senior Choir will meet today and every Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The director is Mary Dotson. New voices are welcome.
Senior aerobics are offered each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8-9 a.m., at the armory. The class is free.
The less-strenuous exercise class for seniors, "Easy Motions," will be Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9-10 a.m., at the armory.
It's card night the second and fourth Monday of each month, 6:30-9 p.m., with all levels of bridge and other games.
Call 382-8173.
At the RADFORD SENIOR CENTER 27 First St.:
The ceramics class meets Tuesdays at 10 a.m. Bring a sandwich for lunch. The fee is $2 plus the cost of your ceramic item.
Enjoy the free concert Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the gazebo in Bisset Park with Jack Hinshelwood and Friends. Bring lawn chairs or blankets.
The creative writing class meets Wednesdays at 10 a.m.
The walking group meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the Radford Recreation Center gym at 9 a.m. There's no fee. Wear comfortable sneakers. Call Mary Jane Harmon, 731-3634.
At the PULASKI SENIOR CENTER, N. Washington Ave.:
There will be a coffee hour today at 9:30 a.m.
Ceramics classes are held each Monday, 1-3 p.m.
Seniors can make free copies every third Wednesday, 9 a.m.-noon. At other times, copies cost 10 cents for seniors and 20 cents for everyone else. Call 980-1000.
At the GILES COUNTY SENIOR CENTER, 1320 Wenonah Ave., Pearisburg:
There will be free water aerobics or recreational swimming every day, weather permitting, 11 a.m.-noon, at the Pearisburg town swimming pool.
Transportation for the swimming program at the Blacksburg Aquatic Center pool leaves the center Mondays at 11:15 a.m. and Fridays at 9:15 a.m.
Contract bridge meets Mondays and party bridge Wednesdays, 1-4 p.m. Anyone who would like to learn to play bridge - or who wants to learn some new bidding techniques - should call the center, 921-3924.
New River Valley residents still have a chance to get a SENIOR IDENTIFICATION and DISCOUNT CARD. The New River Valley Agency on Aging is sponsoring this program. Here's the schedule:
\ Blacksburg Community Center, 725 Patrick Henry Drive, today, 10 a.m.-noon.
\ Floyd Community Center, Community Action Building, Monday, 10 a.m.-noon.
\ Christiansburg Senior Center, 655 Montgomery St., Sept. 13, 10 a.m.-noon.
If you're at least 60 and want a card, visit one of the locations and bring proof of age, such as a driver's license, birth certificate or Social Security card, and your Social Security number.
Each card will have the person's photograph, name, address, birth date and Social Security number and may be used to obtain discounts or other special services available to seniors. It also may serve as a form of ID. A $1.50 donation is requested to cover the cost of the card.
Shut-ins should contact the New River Valley Agency on Aging to make arrangements to have a card made. Call 980-7720 or 639-9677.
by CNB