Friday, January 02, 2009
Volunteers keep Botetourt running all year long
Find them everywhere, from Historic Fincastle Inc. to the town of Buchanan's Special Events Committee
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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Botetourt folks just volunteer. As you look back over 2008, so much of what you remember fondly was done by volunteers. Examples come to mind immediately: Historic Fincastle Inc., with its Gather to Gavel art sale and its town tours. Then the entire Attic Theater organization and whole year of plays. The Botetourt Historical Society, with a volunteer staffed museum open seven days a week.
And let's not forget the town of Buchanan, where its all-volunteer Special Events Committee fills the entire year from spring through Mountain Magic to New Year's Eve. In much the same spirit, the Buchanan Theatre's Standing Room Only (SRO) volunteers offer movies or live shows every Friday and Saturday night.
This leaves out the hard work the volunteer fire and rescue folks all over the county put in, day in and sometimes day or night out. They don't just decide to do this work and hop on the truck. It takes hours and hours of training to learn skills ready for any emergency. Johnny Carson exemplified the fine work all those folks do all the time, as they carry on his tradition.
There's another thing about Botetourt folks -- so many work at jobs they do very well. Botetourt's Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom and his staff have earned the gratitude of law abiding residents. And let's not forget Linda Gavel Webb, who works in Roanoke for the United Way, but whose efforts benefit many Botetourt citizens.
Our public school teachers shine in their work, too. One example: Dorothy Etzler Barnett doesn't just teach her classes, she helps her students learn and exhibit their work outside the school.
Then there's Buchanan's Carol Kelly, who combines volunteering with her work. Kelly runs The Fountain & Grill at Ransone's drug store on Main Street in Buchanan. Ever since Kelly took over a few months ago the place has been bustling again with folks dropping in for a sandwich or hot meal.
She works with druggist Jeff Goldstein, a man who has earned the devotion of so many in the Buchanan area. Why? He puts his customers first. One friend told me that one night she was suffering from an infection and called Goldstein. He met her husband at the drug store long after closing hours to fill her doctor's prescription.
An extension of this caring for customers came out this past Thanksgiving, when Kelly and Goldstein fed over 60 local needy people. She knew some, he knew some, others came in response to fliers they put out. Goldstein, Dudley Trucking, Cuz's Auto Body, Diane and Randy Conner and "travelers having lunch that day" combined funds to pay for the five turkeys and fixings, according to Kelly. Buchanan's Sue Ord helped with pumpkin, peach and apple pies and her husband Bill delivered some meals.
Buchanan's Pamela Markham, a courier for the store, remembers how busy it was that day before Thanksgiving. "My mother [Mildred Markham] and I both volunteered to come in and help her get food prepared and served up," she said. "We had a little assembly line to get the food out. And if they wanted more, they were more than welcome to have more."
To cap this effort, the Goldstein-Kelly team handed out 50 free turkeys and canned goods to families in need just before Christmas.
Do we live in a great place or what? A place with the year round spirit of giving. So, in that spirit, a happy Botetourt 2009 to you all.
