THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604010070
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
A friend called with a reminder that April 5 is the deadline for ordering citrus fruit at Norfolk's Maury High School. ``Pick up the fruit April 18,'' he commands.
He is a zealot. To get everybody around him eating citrus is his crusade. He hasn't an orchard, and he isn't a Maury grad, but, as he keeps telling me, ``An orange a day keeps a cold at bay!''
In warding off colds, an orange or two a day, he insists, is much more efficacious than an apple.
When he gets up with a scratchy throat or a vagrant twinge where he imagines the lungs are anchored, he grabs a grapefruit or oranges for breakfast and supper.
No matter what are the ups and downs of our diets or exposure to the weather, we remain cold-free. It seems to work for him and me.
Fruit straight from orchards is widespread hereabouts. Norfolk Collegiate takes orders in October for an annual sale. The Church of the Ascension, on Newport Avenue, has year-round monthly sales through March directed by George and Audrey Ramming.
Since every cent of the sales goes to the institutions, they flourish along with the customers.
``Sole purpose of the sales run by the Maury Boosters Association is to support needs not budgeted by the school board,'' association president Ellis Jones said the other day.
When the truck arrives from Florida, students from various groups help carry and stack fruit in the band room at the rear of the west side of the building and then contribute their per-hour pay to a school project of their choice.
The boosters association, made up of parents, also considers requests for funds from departments within Maury. Last year it contributed funds to the school's computer laboratory.
The citrus fruit comes packed in two sizes of boxes. The charge is $16 for four-fifths of a bushel of grapefruit and $9 for two-fifths of a bushel.
Four-fifths of a bushel of oranges costs $20; two-fifths of a bushel costs $11. They will be on sale from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., April 18.
To order by April 5, call any of three numbers: 441-2223 to reach a voice recorder or 423-7075 or 489-2350 to place an order directly with a member of the Boosters.
It is a project achieved with many hands of volunteer parents. Phil Merritt compiles and computerizes orders and deals with vendors in Florida. Christy Secrist heads the volunteers. Annette and Gene Field, assisted by Beth Browne, make arrangements for receiving orders and distributing the fruit.
It may be argued that one could simply take vitamin C tablets or drink citrus juice from a bottle, but somehow that doesn't touch oranges and grapefruit shipped fresh from the groves. ILLUSTRATION: Students help carry and stack fruit, then contribute their
per-hour pay to a school project of their choice.
To order by April 5, call any of three numbers: 441-2223 to reach a
voice recorder or 423-7075 or 489-2350 to place an order directly
with a member of the Boosters.
by CNB