Cruisin' and Playin' the Radio...

A reminder of those seemingly carefree days of my teens when sporty cars and pretty girls dominated my thoughts, one of southeast's premier car shows returns to Patrick County this weekend bringing to our community visitors from around the region who lift our spirits and boost our local economy. This is a homegrown event that has become a rite of spring in Patrick County. The Stuart Rotary Club proudly presents its annual Blue Ridge Mountains Car Show Saturday, Apr. 21st at the Patrick County High School parking lot. Despite the return of gasoline prices to their previous loft levels in recent days, this year's show promises to be the biggest and best ever. As a Stuart Rotarian, I can tell you that the club has put more effort into this year's show that ever before, in soliciting sponsors and preparing a first class car show booklet. This car show is one of three major projects conducted by the Stuart Rotary Club each year, also including the Patrick County Agricultural Fair (September) and the Patrick County Antique Festival (August).

The Blue Ridge Mountains Car Show will feature 46 classes this year, including antique and original cars, modified cars and trucks, street rods, and more. The public is invited to visit the show from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (judging at 11 a.m.) this Saturday on the paved, terraced, and dust-free PCHS parking lot. Admission is free and concessions will be available!

It is important to note that proceeds from the car show go to support the Stuart Rotary Club sponsored student scholarships, youth leadership programs, Hospice of Patrick County (which compassionately cares for the terminally ill and their families), the Patrick County Caring Hearts Free Clinic (which provides free medical care to those without health insurance), local Scout troops, and other local non-profit community service agencies. But these are not the only worthy causes that benefit from this event!

In conjunction with the car show, the 3rd annual Memorial Bike Ride will also take place Saturday at Patrick County High School. Money raised will go to the Cpl. Jonathan W. Bowling Memorial Scholarship Fund, established to honor the memory of heroic Patrick County soldier Jonathan Bowling who died in defense of our freedoms in Iraq. The sight of hundreds of motorcycles proceeding from their starting point at John D. Hooker stadium on the PCHS campus is heart-warming and awe-inspiring.

So classic car enthusiasts and caring citizens of Patrick and surrounding counties...please come and support this quality community event...Saturday, Apr. 21st at the PCHS parking lot. Thanks in advance for your support! The annual Blue Ridge Mountains Car Show is presented with community pride by the Stuart Rotary Club, practicing "Service Above Self"!

Another critically important community event that I urge you to support is coming up this Friday, Apr. 20th, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Stuart's Rotary Field, as many community agencies present a JOB FAIR for Patrick County and surrounding areas. More than 50 businesses will participate in this effort to bring citizens seeking jobs and employers together. I commend these agencies for sponsoring this proactive effort to address the problem of unemployment in our community: the Patrick County Department of Social Services, the Virginia Workforce Network-Stuart "One-Stop" Office, the West Piedmont Workforce Investment Board, the Patrick County Department of Economic Development, Patrick Henry Community College-Stuart Site, the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce, and the Patrick County Education Foundation. Whether your seeking employment or not, please support this FREE event (Door Prizes will be awarded throughout the day) with your attendance and find out what opportunities are available locally for employment and the enhancement of one's marketable employment skills. I'll be broadcasting live from the Job Fair Friday beginning at 11 a.m. Join me in backing this event which would positively change the course and direction of many lives in our community.

Preparations continue for "12 Hours for a Cure"...a day-long sunrise to sunset radio-thon to be presented by and broadcast on WHEO from our Wayside Rd., Stuart, studios on Fri., May 18th to benefit the annual Patrick County Relay for Life, the signature fund-raiser of the American Cancer Society. So far more than 20 local singers and musicians have indicated that they will perform live during that 12-hour broadcast in support of the war on cancer! We'll be suspending our normal programming that day to focus our attention on the effort to rid our community of the scourge of cancer. I'll announce and report at this blogspot the details of this major radio and community eventand radio station open house in weeks to come. "12 Hours for a Cure" is being presented by the WHEO Radio Relay for Life team, the Kilowatts for a Cure in Memory of Sandra Rogers (my beloved "Sweetie"). Ours is one of an incredible 25 new "Relay" teams in Patrick County who are joining forces this year in waging war against cancer, a devastating killer that affects us all directly or indirectly (remember that 1 in every 3 people and 1 of every 2 men will contract some form of cancer during their lifetime). Thanks for your support of these teams and their caring members in their individual and collective "Relay for Life" fund-raising activities that are being announced on the radio. It is an honor to work with you all to achieve our common goal, a cancer free world! As long as we remain dedicated to this cause, there is HOPE!

Please pray for this community undertaking and support all Relay for Life fund-raising events, including our "12 Hours for a Cure" radio-thon. May God bless you beyond your most teasured dreams!

A community-minded Stuart Rotarian, Kilowatt for a Cure, the proud host of WHEO's "The Great Day in the Morning Show", and...

Yours truly,
Richard