Cathy Benson | The Botetourt View

The birthday girl, Sydney Harris, at her party at Candy Girlz.

Just before the snow began to fall on Sunday, March 1, Dana Shelton and Lara Bingeman, owners of Candy Girlz (and boyz) in Daleville hosted a party full of lively children. Birthday girl Sydney Harris, 9, wore a tiara and boa for the event and hails from the Blue Ridge area. A student at Colonial Elementary, she invited her friends for a fun afternoon of stuffed animal making, games, cake and ice cream.

Candy Girlz has been in Daleville a year. Bingeman moved the shop from the mall to a spot across from Lord Botetourt High School. She and Shelton offer a wide variety of services from candy to gently used clothing up to a child's size 14 and that includes shoes. They also have hand made hair bows, an ice cream freezer, new children's items and a really cool thing. They have a build it yourself stuffed animal or doll factory.

Each child at the party picked an animal, doll or appropriately enough for the winter's day a snowman to be filled and dressed. They call that portion of the enterprise, "Bears and Buddies." The shop offers a variety of outfits that can be purchased for the newly stuffed friend to wear home. Divided into two groups, the party goers either blew stuffing into the animal or prepared a birth certificate for the new toy. Most of the children really liked a lightly stuffed soft and cuddly toy. After it was filled and sealed, the children dressed their creation in anything form a lady bug costume to a sports outfit. The kids delighted with their animals posed for a group photo with the birthday girl. Prices per child for a party range from $10 to $30.

The shop filled with laughter. The party room in the back keeps the excitement localized from the store. Besides birthday parties, they also offer tea parties.

Candy Girlz can be reached at: 1430 Roanoke Rd., Daleville, (540) 966-5696.

For more photos, visit The Notebook on botetourtview.com

The members of Botetourt's Beta Theta Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa (ADK), an honorary sorority of women educators, have had a busy year. They collected a wide assortment of school supplies and household goods for Refugee and Immigration Services in the Roanoke Valley in both September and January. These were distributed to school age children who have recently been resettled in the area from many different countries including Somalia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Iraq.

In January, members Patty King and Karla Karr were recognized for Excellence in Education. King retired from Breckinridge Elementary in 2008 after a 37-year teaching career in Special Education. She continues to be active in the community and recently organized tours offered through the Botetourt County Historical Museum and Historic Fincastle (HFI) for local elementary schoolchildren that support the Social Studies Standards of Learning (SOLs). Karr is a technology resource teacher (IRT) for Cloverdale and Colonial Elementary Schools and has given a number of workshops and inservices to teachers at the district and state levels on expanding the use of technology in the classroom.

The sorority welcomed two new members at a ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 8. New members Karen Gobble, a special education teacher at Cloverdale Elementary, and Melissa Amos, a Spanish teacher at Lord Botetourt High School, were installed by District President Mary Jo Fassie.

Submitted by Kathleen Sloan