Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501160084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
By the first week in January, nearly $100,000 had been raised. RAM director Julie Hollingsworth believes that when the final figures are added up, this year's donations will equal last year's total of $102,000.
"We're extremely pleased and extremely grateful," she said.
Some checks were sent directly to RAM, Hollingsworth said. Many of them were from people whose friends or relatives had requested donations in their names rather than Christmas gifts.
But some people gave more than money to RAM this year.
For the kickoff newspaper story for the fund drive, Hollingsworth made up a "wish list" of things the agency wants and needs. At the top of the list was money for new gas lines to the ovens. The old ones were too small, Hollingsworth said, so the ovens could not operate efficiently. It would have taken an entire day to cook the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys for the RAM day shelter's hot lunch program, but after reading the newspaper story, a Roanoke restaurant volunteered to cook them.
In the meantime, eight members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 515 decided to fix the problem permanently. They asked their employer, Roanoke Gas Co., to donate the materials, and on the Saturday before Christmas they gave their time and their skills to install new gas lines.
"We had a good time," said Doug Moore. Moore was the most recent Roanoke Gas employee to inspect RAM's gas lines, and he spearheaded the idea.
Each Christmas, the union is involved in some type of charitable activity, he said, but this year's project was an effort toward a more "hands-on" approach.
"They really understood our problem," Hollingsworth said. "They knew we were never going to get enough money" to pay for the repairs.
The ovens are now operating at 100 percent capacity, at no cost to RAM.
Since the fund drive began, volunteer participation and food donations have increased.
"People have seen the plight of others," Hollingsworth said.
Although donations to the Good Neighbors Fund cannot be earmarked for any one person, some readers sent checks to some of the individuals who were featured in the weekly stories.
Their generosity is "a sign of how caring this community is, how involved people here are in helping to provide for those who fall on hard times," said Walter Rugaber, publisher of the Roanoke Times & World-News.
"We're proud to sponsor the Good Neighbors Fund, and we're deeply grateful to all those who have contributed to making it a success."
Although the season for giving is officially over, RAM accepts donations of food, clothing, towels, and just about anything else year-round. And Hollingsworth has added another item to her list. The tarpaulin that used to shelter an outside area for smokers is in shreds, and a new one would be very welcome, Hollingsworth said.
Final contributors:
Star City Auto Parts
Eleanor Lemon, in memory of her parents
Mrs. R.K. Johnson
Employees of John Norman Inc., in honor of Jeff Wendell
Anonymous, in memory of S.G. Loving, Flossie Canter and Miss Peepers
O.D. Palmer Masonry Contractor
Alan and Lucie Stone, in honor of Jerry Stone
Ann Stone
The Herbert W. Harris Family, in memory of Albert H. Jacoby
Jeanne C. Bowen
Dick, Mary and Rich Moore, in memory of Vera Moore
Russell, Dorothy and Marilyn Bussey, in memory of George "Peanut" Simmons.
Becky Marsh, in memory of Elizabeth R. Hinebaugh
Staff of the old 9-East nurses station of Roanoke Memorial Hospital, in remembrance of Rebecca Richardson, a former co-worker.
Harley and Joyce Crawford
Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Berry
Holly Peters
William H. and Joyce A. Meyers
Susan P. Millinger
Laura Blasiole, in honor of the office staff at Cave Spring United Methodist Church - Carole Click and Betty Wilson
Harold and Mary Walts, in memory of their parents
Mickie and Bill Kagey
Garst G. Bishop
Samuel T. and Barbara Crockett, in memory of Albert Jacoby
John and Diane Brock
Kathryn K. Alwine, in honor of Joel Williams and the Youth Group of Barnhardt Baptist Church in Goodview.
Margaret B. Payne
M.B. Campbell, in honor of his friends and all former and current employees of Shoney's
Raleigh Court Health Care Center residents and their families
J.P. Taney, in memory of Anne R. Taney
Ruth V. Beavers, in memory of her family, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Thomas Sr., and her brothers, James and Jessie
In memory of Paul H. and Bernice Frye Erb
Julianne L. Hollingsworth
Johanna Henretta
Annie B. Lee, in memory of Maria W. Lee
Dorcas Lofland
Wilma S. Frye, in memory of her husband, Otis R. Frye, and her mother, Beulah E. Sayers
In honor of Julia H. Overstreet
In memory of my grandmothers, Edna Hutchens and Beulah Holdren
Adele Giles
In memory of John P. Chaffee
Mrs. L.B. Agee, in memory of her husband, Louie B. Agee
Ed and Becky Allen, in memory of Sarah E. Davis
Rosa Grubb
Martha, Betsy and Meg, in memory of Vivian S. McCall (Bibbi) of Richlands
Pattie and Ken McKinney, in memory of Charles Williams and Beulah Snavely
Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church
Susanne Sellars on behalf of Samantha and Ben, in honor of Sunday school teachers at Covenant Presbyterian Church; Richard Rudolph; Girl Scout leaders Debbie Henderson, Sara Campbell and Susan Kirk; schoolteachers at Raleigh Court Elementary School.
by CNB