Blood drive next Thursday in Fincastle
Editor:
The Bloodmobile will be at the Fincastle United Methodist Church Family Life Center from 12 Noon until 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb.13.
We collected 20 units in December. Thanks to all doors and volunteers. Thanks to Sally Field and Robbin Saunders for providing the homemade cakes and cookies and Doris Rexrode for coordinating the snacks! Thanks to the Heritage Market in Fincastle for ham and turkey deli sandwiches provided for all the donors and volunteers.
Join the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society as we work together to encourage people across the country to give blood to give time!
Patients fighting cancer use nearly one quarter of the blood supply, more blood than patients fighting any other disease. Five units of blood are needed every minute of every day to help patients going through cancer treatment. Blood is essential in fighting cancer. A transfusion can give the strength necessary for cancer patients to keeping fighting.
Chances are you or someone you know has a personal connection to cancer. Cancer takes so much, but you can help by donating blood. Won’t you please come and donate this time? Be sure and mark your calendar today– we need you now. Donate blood, help us deliver life!
Sam Saunders
Fincastle Coordinator
G3 is a good long-term investment
Since 1962, Dabney S. Lancaster Community College (DSLCC) has provided opportunities that were previously unavailable to our region. Embracing a philosophy based on the value of readily accessible higher education, we have opened doors to better futures for many thousands of students. In the process of helping students meet their educational and career goals, DSLCC also has addressed the needs of employers for trained workers and played a key role in fostering economic development.
While DSLCC is proud of a record of accomplishment of sustained success over the decades, we also realize that more work remains to be done. Despite the availability of a number of support programs, too many Virginians face financial barriers that prevent college attendance. At the same time, employers throughout the region – and across the Commonwealth – struggle to find and maintain the workforce needed to compete in a global economy.
To bring a new approach to tackling these problems, a ground-breaking proposal by Gov. Ralph Northam is now being considered by the Virginia General Assembly. The G3 initiative (Get a Skill, Get a Job, Give Back) would provide tuition and other support for low-income and middle-income Virginians to attend any of the state’s two-year colleges. To qualify, students would be required first to apply for federal and state financial aid programs for which they may be eligible. They would enroll in specified high-demand programs within five targeted career areas: Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing and Skilled Trades, Early Childhood Education, and Public Safety. To remain eligible upon enrollment, students would need to maintain satisfactory academic progress and fulfill required hours of work experience, community service, or public service.
I realize that even in prosperous times, resources are not unlimited. In the case of the G3 initiative, I believe the long-term return on investment would be significant. For individuals, it would offer an affordable pathway to in-demand careers. Many of the students served would likely come from the population known as ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). This group comprises those who hold down jobs and earn more than the official federal poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living. For them, the chance to gain the credentials needed for higher paying jobs could be life changing. For businesses and other organizations, G3 would provide badly needed workers in areas where labor shortages now exist.
Certainly, the economy as a whole would benefit from an increase in productive citizens contributing to the tax base (it is estimated that completers of G3 programs would pay up to 60 percent more in state taxes than in their current low-wage jobs). And a higher level of competitiveness for employers would benefit everyone.
As the 2020 General Session continues and decisions are made regarding this promising legislation, the local board, faculty, staff and students of DSLCC urge support from not only our legislators, but also from anyone who would like to see DSLCC bring forth this bold new plan.
Dr. John J. Rainone, President
Dabney S. Lancaster Community College
250th Anniversary Celebration Facts – Week 1
Welcome to Celebration Facts for the 250th Anniversary of Botetourt County by Cathy Benson, Editor of The Botetourt Bee, your digital online community news. In agreement with the 250th Anniversary Committee, the facts are shared with the print readers of The Fincastle Herald. These facts will sometimes be historic and sometimes trivia and some times just for entertainment.
Our county is named after Lord Botetourt, Norborne Berkeley, the 4th Baron Botetourt who lived from 1718-1770. He was governor of the Colony of Virginia from 1768 to 1770.
I have met him twice in front of his mansion in Williamsburg on visits to Colonial Williamsburg. Yes, there is an actor dressed up portraying Lord Botetourt from time to time. He is a chatty fellow.
The title is currently in abatement meaning it is no longer in use.
Norborne Berkley was a bachelor and left a monetary sum to the College of William and Mary to be given as an award to two successful students. After 1775 that did not occur for over 150 years. Since 1941, a student is given this prestigious Botetourt award yearly.
Here in our county one of two prestigious high schools is named after him. Lord Botetourt opened in 1959. The other is named after King James of England via the river named after him and also opened in 1959.
The first Baron, John de Botetourt, b. in 1265, may have been the illegitimate son of Edward I, King of England, but his father is listed as Guy de Botetourt. John was an admiral of the Navy. You may have surmised they carry a French surname. The first de Botetourts came with William the Conqueror to England in 1066 from Normandy, France –Sources Wikipedia and Burke’s Peerage.
~ Cathy Benson
