Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511270016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Charter Federal Savings Bank, which has several offices in the New River Valley, will become First American Federal Savings Bank in this area when a merger takes effect Dec. 8.
The name change will include Charter Federal banks in Radford, Blacksburg, Dublin, Pulaski, Wytheville, Marion, Bluefield, Vinton and Roanoke.
First American President C.R. McCullar said in a letter to Charter Federal customers that personnel and services at the banks would remain the same.
He said there will be no need for customers to change their personal checks immediately. Account numbers will stay the same, so customers can continue to use up their existing checks and deposit slips. They will get First American checks when they re-order.
Customers will also be able to continue using their existing automatic teller machine cards. After Dec. 11, they will also be able to use them at any of the more than 190 First American National Bank and First American National Bank of Kentucky machines in Virginia, Tennessee or part of Kentucky without transaction fees.
First American Federal Savings Bank will be an affiliate of First American Corp., an $8.4 billion financial institution with headquarters in Nashville, Tenn. "All decision-making, however, will remain at a local level here in Virginia," McCullar said.
NRV Workshop surveys area firms
RADFORD - The New River Valley Workshop, which for 27 years has provided employment, training, transpotation and housing for disabled people, is surveying area firms with which it does business to find out how it can better serve its disabled clients and the customers to which it provides products and services.
The workshop is a leading maker of pallets and shipping containers in the New River Valley, employing both disabled and non-disabled workers. Using newly installed computer equipment, New River Pallets can manufacture 400 pallets in an eight-hour shift.
Elsewhere, a crew of workshop participants regularly does landscaping and clean up work at Virginia Tech, and workshop clients are active in many other areas and firms as well.
Executive director Bob Huff said the workshop, which has a $4 million annual budget, has sent surveys to the 168 valley firms to which it provides workers and products. But other businesses are welcome to contact the workshop.
The workshop needs to stay current in its knowledge of local businesses, Huff said. Recent business and economic changes, ranging from plant closings to the advent of high-tech firms in the valley, have made that need acute, he said.
"We know if we stay on top of what local businesses and companies are doing, we have a better chance of taking advantage of opportunities," Huff said.
The survey also comes at a time when the workshop is increasingly becoming a victim of its own success. More and more, Huff said, the workshop's clients are those people who are most disabled and thus require the most training and guidance. But, he said, the workshop's productivity is increasing because of better training techniques and automation.
For more information, call the workshop at 639-9027.
Tech center wins award
BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech's Economic Development Assistance Center has won a first-place award in the economic development category from the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers for work the center did in 1994 to help Hillsville come up with an economic development strategy.
Hillsville had been in the midst of years of economic decline before the center came to its aid. A graduate student class developed the plan, which helped bring a 300-employee manufacturing firm to the industrial park operated jointly by the town and Carroll County.
Last year the center won the Student Planning Project Award from the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association for its work in Hillsville.
by CNB