Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994 TAG: 9405260100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Under the guidance of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, they worked for change. Three years ago, residents formed councils, dedicated to improving the quality of life in each development. Eventually, they pooled their energies into a Joint Resident Council.
"The idea was to have the residents involved as a group in each of the public housing communities; and then, because there were so many similarities from one community to the next, draw upon the leadership into a joint resident council," said Rob Glenn, a member of the authority's board of commissioners.
"We wanted to get residents more involved in shaping their lives, rather than just going through the paces of day-to-day living in public housing communities."
On Sunday, Gov. George Allen presented awards for volunteer excellence to individuals and organizations from all parts of the state. The Joint Resident Council and Roanoke resident David Camper - who both worked to better their communities - were two of the 44 award recipients. Today, they will be recognized locally at a Jefferson Center ceremony.
"These are individuals and groups who have identified a need in their community, and they give of themselves, their time and energies to try to address those needs," said E. Janet Riddick, program evaluation manager for the Virginia Office of Volunteerism. "They range from educational and literacy issues to housing issue for the homeless to environmental issues to general human service issues."
Shirley Eley, president of the Jamestown Place resident council and member of the Joint Resident Council, was determined to make change happen.
"There were a lot of things that needed to be done, and we could only get them done as a group," she said. "That's what we were trying to do - still trying to do."
The council, representing seven family developments and two high-rise complexes for the elderly, has worked to rid their neighborhoods of drugs and crime and provide improvement opportunities for residents.
They have organized cleanup days, holiday dinners, open houses, food delivery programs and block festivals. They persuaded the housing authority to allow residents to plant flowers and shrubs in their yards, an effort that blossomed into a beautification program. They encouraged the housing authority to enact a more thorough method of screening resident applicants.
"It was important for us to come up with solutions to our own problems," said Jamie Booker, a Lansdowne Park resident who serves as president of the Joint Resident Council. "We were tired of asking people to take care of this or that.
"We're not the projects anymore. There are people who live here not because they have to, but because they want to."
Concerns vary from development to development. What may be prevalent in one might be foreign to another. But council leadership shared a concern for the many children who live in the developments, Eley said.
"When there's drugs, there's guns and violence," she said. "We have too many children for that. And they are our main concern, because they are our future. We will go as far as we have to go to for our children - for them to have a better place to live."
When a burglar crept into homes in the Raleigh Court area and stole from residents as they slept - 27 times - David Camper worked to ease a panicked neighborhood.
He coordinated and recruited volunteers. With the Roanoke City Police Department, they devised a project - dubbed SCAT/CAT - to catch the thief.
"We worked closely with police, trying to find out how to catch him," Camper said. "We had 50 or 60 neighbors sitting in alleys with portable phones watching for the fellow to move down the alley."
Residents posted a $1,000 reward using "Crime Line" funds, set aside for unsolved crimes.
"We put up 400 to 500 posters in the neighborhood offering rewards for information," Camper said. "One of his buddies turned him in."
The project won national recognition when it received the "Neighborhoods U.S.A." Award for Neighborhood of the Year in 1992.
The list of Camper's volunteer activities is extensive: member of the Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership steering committee; board member of the American Red Cross; board member and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
He initiated improvements in the Grandin Road shopping area by advocating more accessible parking conditions, increased street lighting and sitting areas. He organized Roanoke's first Police Appreciation Day.
"Why do I volunteer?" Camper, 43, asked. "I guess just seeing a need out there. And not being able to say 'No.'''
by CNB