Ciera Clawson and Ann Stickley pose with Hawk Hawkens Scholarship founder Susan Hawkens Whalton and several other hard-working and talented students during the Scholars & Donors Reception.
By EWVCF
By EWVCF
Just received this photo and note from Chad Conant the Band Director at Shepherdstown Middle School. The Jazz Band there has been voted Best in the State again. Congratulations to all the musicians, and we are happy to play a small role in their success. To learn more about the Community Foundation’s Youth and Education Grants, click here.
Hello Michael,
On Feb. 26, the SMS Jazz Band was awarded 1st place in the middle school state-wide jazz competition. This earned the band the WV Honor Jazz Band Award for Middle School in 2017. We were invited to perform at the Charleston Civic Center on March 2 for the West Virginia Music Educators’ Conference, and we did! Just returned last night from the trip.
Michael, this level of achievement is possible because of the financial support of the EWVCF youth grants that the band has received. The Honor Concert was one of many this year during which the jazz band has brought the community and school together through their excellent performances of jazz music.
More to come in the grant report–just wanted to share the news and send thanks.
Gratefully,
Chad Conant
By EWVCF
The Hardy County Community Foundation has provided funding for the Wardensville Lions Club Story Time program for the past few years. We think it’s a fantastic program and look forward to reading the reports the Club sends us. Here’s an excerpt from their most recent report:
“Story Time takes place each Friday at 10:00 at the library. Every Story Time gives the children a positive learning experience filled with adult interactions with guest readers and the Story Time Ladies. The adults bring their individual perspectives on the book presentations and share their personal insights, interests and knowledge and love with the children. They model respectful interactions and happy attitudes.
Children sing songs, play games, and dance at Story Time, and the activity is usually tied into the theme of the week’s book. Joy is in the air as the children’s little voices sing “Bushel and a Peck” or “Five Little Pumpkins”. “The Freeze Game” and “The Hokey Pokey” are two of their favorite musical games, and as these songs bring laughter and fun, they also help with listening skills and movement. Story Time funding provided a hopscotch rug that we can use indoors, an indoor horseshoe game, and a small colorful parachute that we can have fun with while honing those “listen to instructions” skills. All of these activities contribute to the overall learning experiences of Story Time, complementing the joys of reading and friendship.
Crafts at Story Time help the children learn to use skills such as coloring, pasting, painting, building, and thinking creatively and artistically. The books that we read inspire all kinds of crafts, and we try to vary them from week to week so that the children get well-rounded experiences. Story Time Ladies make sure that the craft pieces are prepared ahead of time so that the children will be successful with their projects. Each week the children take home their own creation. Crafts that the children have done during this grant period include plaster of Paris hand prints for Father’s Day gifts, patriotic windsocks for the 4th of July, bird feeders for Our New Budgerigar, bag holders made from milk jugs for How to Help the Earth, by the Lorax, pirate telescopes for the book Costume Fun, and cotton ball llamas for Is Your Mama a Llama?
Story Time ends each week with snacks, again related to something in the book of the week. There is usually fruit, along with something salty and something sweet, often homemade from someone’s kitchen. Story Time Ladies Esther Parker and Aggie Mason have become experts in preparing snacks in the shape of something special such as a pirate ship made from apples and cheese or donuts with teeth for a funny Halloween treat. They’ve perfected how to make s’mores in the microwave for books about camping or picnics. In December, Ann Heishman guided the children as they rolled out cookie dough, cut out the cookies, and then decorated them. The cookies baked while the children enjoyed the book, and then they got to eat their cookies for the snack!
Children and their families that come to Story Time form friendships that are meaningful. The children learn about being with other children and sharing and taking turns and other such valuable lessons. The friends that they make at Story Time carry over into school and are helpful there. Their parents and grandparents who bring them to Story Time enjoy visiting and sharing in the experiences of children growing and learning. Young mothers help each other and grandparents give loving guidance. The adults become the children’s partners in the crafts, helping when needed – working together, and often with another person’s child.
This grant provides books to make a difference in the lives of the children of our community. The children experience good things with books and build up their home libraries. They are hopefully developing a love of books and learning which will serve them throughout their lives. The relationships that Story Time nurtures strengthen the bonds of our community.”
By EWVCF
Born June 7, 1931, she was the daughter of the late Dr. J. Paul Gruver and Alberta Maxine Corwin Gruver.
Joanie had a special regard for many, many people in this diverse community that she loved so much. She gathered friends together to establish the Meal – on – Wheels as well as CCAP/Loaves and Fishes organizations. She had a special affection for all of the struggling folks in Martinsburg and around the world. She was a taxi for getting strangers to work and the “Book Lady”, handing out children’s books randomly throughout town and at Halloween. She has often suggested that to honor her memory we should visit a young mother, an elderly person or just volunteer somewhere.
She is survived by her husband Doug, sons Stan and wife Sara Corwin-Roach, Steve and wife Tina F. Roach, Scott and wife Linda Roach, daughter Terri Lynn Rotunda and husband Joe, special young lady Tracey Pittsnogle Crowell and husband Mike of Harpers Ferry and considered Mom by hundreds of other kids that have grown up in Martinsburg. Grandkids Josiah Corwin-Roach, Jason Roach and wife, Marlana, Matt Roach and wife, Kelly, Anthony, Alec, Maggie, Maria and Molly Rotunda; two special little great grandkids Alivia and Weston; a brother, Jacob Gruver and wife, Carol of Falling Waters, WV; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, close friends and all their families.
She was preceded in death by a special young lady Rene Pritchard
Family will receive friends on Saturday, December 17, 2016 from 3:00PM to 5:00PM at Brown Funeral Home.
Memorial service will be held at 2:00PM on Sunday, December 18, 2016 at Otterbein United Methodist Church with Rev. Mark Mooney and Rev. Ed Hall officiating .
She believed that everyone has a stake in making the world a better place and has ask that in lieu of flowers that a donation be made to one of these organizations: Maloto – Feeding, Educating and Empowering the children and women of Malawi (www.Malotoinc.org) or locally at the Eastern W V Community Foundation in the Joan Roach Volunteer Fund for the Needy, 304-264-0353 (www.ewvcf.org)
By EWVCF
Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Executive Director Steve Catlett, Phil Martin of Bedington, Parks & Rec President Jim Welton, and Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation Executive Director Michael Whalton (L to R) recently met in Bedington to hang a banner announcing plans for the new Goldie Gibbons Park. A ceremony celebrating Virginia Gibbons’ life will be held at the Bedington Fire Hall on Saturday, October 8th beginning at 11:30 am. Family members, classmates and friends of Virginia’s will be on hand to honor her memory. The public is invited to attend.
Virginia Gibbons (Martinsburg High School Class of 1964) wanted to donate the family property across from the fire hall in Bedington to Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation to be used as a park for several years. Thanks to the efforts of longtime Bedington resident Phil Martin, Steve Catlett of Parks & Recreation, and attorney David DeJarnett of Bowles Rice LLP, the plans came together early this year and Virginia Gibbons transferred ownership of the land to Berkeley County.
At the same time, Ms. Gibbons also established the Goldie Gibbons Park Fund at the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation to honor her mother and help cover some of the costs of converting the vacant 1.7-acre lot into a park that will provide a safe and fun place for dogs, kids, and families. We are delighted to have been chosen by Ms. Gibbons to provide stewardship for this lasting legacy in her mother’s memory, and we are grateful to David DeJarnett and everyone involved for helping move the project forward.
Virginia Gibbons passed away on June 15, 2016 and we are now working with her brother Tim, and other family members and friends, to make certain that her dream of creating the Goldie Gibbons Park in Bedington, West Virginia becomes a reality. A ceremony celebrating Virginia’s life will be held at the Bedington Fire Hall on Saturday, October 8th beginning at 11:30 am. Family members, classmates and friends of Virginia’s will be on hand to honor her memory. The public is invited to attend.
Hardy County Community Foundation
Post Office Box 1058
Moorefield, WV 26836
www.hardycountycf.org
info@hardycountycf.org
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304.538.3431
Fax: 888.507.8375