Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Friend to refugees receives FBI award
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JoAnne Poindexter
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Barbara Smith, credited with settling thousands of refugees in Roanoke, has received an FBI Director's Community Leadership Award.
The Roanoke Resident Agency of the Richmond Division of the FBI nominated Smith, who retired after 19 years as director of Roanoke Refugee and Immigration Services, in recognition of her work with law enforcement.
According to a release on the FBI's Web site, Smith taught cultural sensitivity courses to law enforcement officers and spearheaded a program that arranged for students from Virginia Tech to mentor immigrant families.
For the nearly eight years the FBI office worked with Smith, she also coordinated efforts to enlist volunteer tutors and mentors for refugees, established a low-cost interpreter service for agencies and businesses, hired counselors to practice immigration law and persuaded Roanoke city and county schools to fund school liaisons in the Refugee and Immigration Services office.
The release also said Smith's willingness to help law enforcement enhanced the Roanoke agency's awareness by introducing FBI personnel to refugees and immigrants in the Roanoke Valley.
Smith, an Ohio native, and her husband moved to Roanoke in 1988. Nearly a year later, Smith started working at Refugee and Immigration Services, one of three Virginia resettlement sites operated by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. During Smith's tenure, more than 3,000 refugees from 31 countries were settled in Roanoke, averaging close to 200 refugees a year.
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Hamilton Harris has been commissioned as a second lieutenant after completing the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program and graduating with a bachelor's degree from Virginia Military Institute. Harris is the son of Aimee Harris of Roanoke and Robert Harris of Caldwell, W.Va. He is a 2005 graduate of Patrick Henry High School.
Air Force Airman Corey Laupert recently graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He is the son of Lauri Dove of Troutville and Alan Laupert of Naples, Fla.
Army civilian Michael Modica has deployed to Afghanistan and/or Iraq as an evaluator on the Army Test and Evaluation Command's Forward Operational Assessment Team XIII.
Assessment teams are composed of about 24 soldiers, Army civilians and contractors who collect and assess data on systems, technology and equipment used by war fighters.
Modica, a general engineer with two years of military service, is assigned to the Army Evaluation Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He is the son of Richard and Marcia Modica and brother of Brian Modica of Roanoke.
