Thanks for supporting fundraiser
Editor:
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the horseshoes fundraiser for Lily of the Valley Baptist Church– stores, churches and individuals. It was a great success.
Josephine Thompson & Family
Fincastle
CAMS PTA fundraiser benefits many projects
Editor:
On Saturday, Sept. 2, Central Academy Middle School (CAMS) PTA and students are holding a fundraiser in Troutville where they’ll have ice cream, sodas and shakes from 12-6 p.m. at the Sunshine Station.
The CAMS PTA has a budget of over $8,000 this year. We hope for this to be our main fundraiser for the year in lieu of students having to sell items to their friends, family and neighbors.
We hope the community will come out and join us for fun and ice cream and support the PTA so that we can in turn support the students and faculty of the school in many different ways, including:
- Help in funding the eighth grade field trip and party at the end of the school year.
- Help in funding both the James River HS and Lord Botetourt HS After Prom Parties.
- Providing a CAMS Scholarship to a graduating high school senior.
- Supporting the County Council of PTAs.
- Providing cultural arts performances for the CAMS students.
- Providing educational and/or technology enhancements for CAMS students.
- Providing an educational opportunity for parents (possibly county wide) detailing social media dangers our students are exposed to and how to deal with these dangers.
- Other evening PTA programs for our parents and students including choral and band performances and a talent show.
- Supporting Red Ribbon Week and the Reflections Program at CAMS.
- Providing scholarship assistance for students in need.
- Staff appreciation and recognition.
- Help in funding of student club activities.
- Help in funding reading incentives.
- Help in funding of Patriot Resort for Character Counts rewards.
The address for anyone not able to attend but would like to make a donation would be CAMS PTA, 367 Poor Farm Road, Fincastle, 24090.
Ava Guilliam
CAMS PTA
Campaign kickoff more than expected
Editor:
On August 13, I held my campaign kickoff at Ashley Plantation Pavilion as a formal beginning for my campaign initiative. It was a fun event, and everyone had a good time. “An old fashioned good time” is a fair way to describe it.
I could stop there, because that is what most mattered to me – that everyone enjoyed themselves.
But even before people took in the wonderful décor, even before the music started, even before the food was served, even before Curtis Alderson made his exquisite introductory remarks, it was clear that this was going to be a successful event.
Why?
Because the crowd was much larger than I expected! Not only that, but the nature of the crowd was exactly what you want in an event of this kind: diverse in many ways, like demographics, political orientation, etc., but united in several important matters, like a mutual longing for a responsive, citizen-centered local government. It was, for me, an example of our citizenry’s desire to be involved in our local government, to help Botetourt become the best county possible not only for businesses but also for those of us who live here. The many different people who took time out of their Sunday afternoon to support my campaign humbled me and reminded me of our national motto: out of many, one (e Pluribus Unum).
We can be, and should be, a local government that functions as a unit that is responsible to its citizens. As I learned last week, the citizens want to be part of this democratic process.
As the afternoon wore on, the evidence that this event would be a success continued to mount. Lively conversation, impromptu dances, “Clinton” sun visor modeling, and people staying, not leaving, indicated that my campaign committee and I were on the right track.
By the time all was said and done, I heard countless complimentary remarks, with some calling it, “the best and most organized political event I have ever been to!” And we found ourselves the beneficiary of generous financial donations that exceeded our most hopeful projections.
As I watched people leave (well past the scheduled completion time) – with yard signs in hand and sun visors on their foreheads – I thought of the modest beginnings of this event (and indeed of this entire campaign), and I felt a powerful sense of gratitude for the energy, commitment, and perseverance of my campaign committee. The members of that committee made the event the success that it was, and they are making this campaign the “movement” that it has become.
For the remainder of the campaign, I will emphasize those points of my presentation that clearly resonated with the crowd; the things that I said that elicited nodding heads and spontaneous applause. Paraphrased and taken out of context, they were . . .
- Botetourt needs a board of supervisors that is citizen-centered, like it used to be, and not self-centered, like it has become.
- My campaign will be principle-based, and that principle is maximum participation in the democratic process.
- Private enterprise innovates; local government facilitates.
- The convenience store and gas station proposed in Daleville is a poor use of one of Botetourt’s most desirable tracts of land.
- Preserving and celebrating our heritage and unique identity is critical to our future. One way to do that is to honor the names of William Preston and the slave families who worked Greenfield.
- I will continue to practice the tenet of my favorite Virginian of antiquity, James Madison, who said, “The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is through them that the government derives its power.”
The six statements above are not mere polemic; they are assertions of sound public policy. The crowning achievement of last Sunday’s kickoff event may be that it revealed broad public support for policies of this kind.
Maybe the event kicked off more than a mere political campaign. Maybe it served as a reminder that we are all in this together, and nothing, not political parties, race, gender, or other differences, should divert our local county government from its mission of serving all of our people fairly and honorably.
Steve Clinton
Daleville
