Rotary Club honors Citizens of the Year
BLACKSBURG – The Rotary Club of Blacksburg announced its 2010 Citizens of the Year during a ceremony this month at the Blacksburg Country Club.
The winners this year are LaVina Tyndall, Glenn Tyndall and Sally Bohland, who helped establish the Montgomery County Christmas Store.
Sally Bohland, Glenn Tyndall, and LaVina Tyndall were selected this month as the 2010 Citizens of the Year by the Rotary Club of Blacksburg. These three citizens played important roles in establishing the Montgomery County Christmas Store, which provides free holiday shopping opportunities for the County's low-income residents. (Photo courtesy of Karin Clark).
The MCCS opened in 1982. In its first year, the store served 267 families with the $18,000 it raised, according to Karin Clark, public relations director for Blacksburg Rotary. The store has had an approximate 10 percent per year increase in need for the past three years, Clark said.
MCCS provides a way for low-income citizens to purchase holiday gifts for their loved-ones with a sense of dignity, as they are able to choose which items they would like to buy, according to MCCS organizers. Most of them items at MCCS are new. In addition to gifts and clothing, the store also gives out holiday food items. A host assists buyers with their purchases as they go through the store.
Shoppers do not spend money to purchase items at the store. Rather, the number of items they can purchase is based on a points system. The number of points per shopper depends on how many children they have, whether they are disabled or a senior citizen 62 or older, or if they were involved in an emergency situation such as a burnout. The point prices of the items vary according to how much they originally cost.
“The Christmas Store is a true blessing to the folks who rely on it to help make the holidays a little more special for their families,” said a statement from Tommy Loflin, Chairman of the Vocational Service Committee. “And, to many of the individuals and companies who help out by volunteering and donating, it has become a cherished tradition. It’s a way to give back to the community. The positive impact of the organization touches many of us in Montgomery County, and for this we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Tyndalls and Mrs. Bohland.”
Glenn Tyndall, a retired director of the United Methodist Campus Ministry, is president-elect of the MCCS for 2011. He played an important role in fundraising for the MCCS budget this year and helped raise funds for the store’s new location in downtown Christiansburg, Clark said.
The Citizen of the Year Award, established in 1990, is officially known as the Pat Cupp/Ward Teel Citizen of the Year Award. Cupp and Teel, now deceased, were former Rotarians and model citizens, Clark said. Their award goes out each year to non-Rotarians who see a problem, get involved, achieve results and lives by the Rotary motto “SERVICE ABOVE SELF”, Clark said.
