Letters to the Editor

EventZone thanks residents for event support at DTC

Editor:

EventZone wishes to thank the residents of Botetourt County and the surrounding areas for the last four years of support for our events at the Daleville Town Center.

We enjoyed being the first to produce events on the lovely green and to have a positive economic impact in the Botetourt area.

We are greatly indebted to the sponsors who worked with us to bring a wide variety of outstanding music and fun to the area. We made many great friends and hope to see you at our upcoming events that are being planned for 2017.

Join us for our Cabin Fever events on February 10 and March 10 at the Vinton War Memorial. We will be producing Party in the Park at the Vinton Farmers’ Market on the fourth Friday of each month beginning in May.

Our schedule of bands will be announced soon and please follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/EventZone.Org/ or our website, eventzone.org.

EventZone Board of Directors

Botetourt’s support helped fill 12,200 shoeboxes for Christmas

Editor:

I am writing to thank and celebrate Botetourt residents for spreading joy to children in need around the world. Hundreds of area volunteers, families and groups take time every year to carefully shop for and create gifts by filling as many shoeboxes as possible. With the help of generous Botetourt residents, the Roanoke Valley/Alleghany area collected 12,200 shoebox gifts in 2016 as part of the global effort to reach more than 12 million children for the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child— the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind.

The gift-filled shoeboxes are tangible expressions of God’s love for children around the world suffering from poverty, natural disaster, war, disease and famine. These children, many of whom have never received a gift before, learn they are loved and not forgotten. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 135 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 150 countries and territories.

It’s not too late for people to make a difference. Though the area drop-off locations are closed until November 2017, gift-filled shoeboxes are collected year-round at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C. Additionally, anyone can conveniently pack a personalized Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift at samaritanspurse.org/occ. Information about year-round volunteer opportunities can also be found on the website or by calling 540-353-5595.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in this project and for those who do so year after year. These simple gifts, packed with love, send a message of hope and continue to transform the lives of children worldwide.

Kris Stutsman

Operation Christmas Child

Friends of Greenfield recognized by Sen. Warner

Editor:

The Friends of Greenfield Preston Plantation would like to share the letter the organization received in January from U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. It was sent to FGPP President Danny Kyle

Dear Mr. Kyle

I am pleased to extend my warmest congratulations to Friends of Greenfield Preston Plantation upon receiving the 2016 Award for Advocacy from the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation.

This honor is a testament to your organization’s commitment to historic and cultural preservation. Your efforts to explore the site of two 1800s slave cabins and uncover approximately 120 artifacts perpetuate the history of the region and the Commonwealth. Your work to keep our past alive is critical to educating the next generation of American citizens.

On this important occasion, I am very pleased to join with your families, friends, and community in saluting your accomplishments and wishing you the very best of continued success in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Warner

United States Senator