My Digital Community

There's Hope For Thanksgiving Meal Sponsored By SML Community Church

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:11:18 PST

The Smith Mountain Lake Community Church is sponsoring a There's Hope Thanksgiving Day Meal. Read more about the Thanksgiving Meal and Finally There's Hope projects at their website http://smlcommunitychurch.sboa.biz/

There's Hope For Thanksgiving...

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:09:12 PST

Join Us For Thanksgiving!

Make your reservations today and spend Thanksgiving with others who care. Find out more at smlcommunitychurch.sboa.biz

There's Hope For Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:09:24 PST

If you’re looking to add to the meaning of Thanksgiving, plan on attending, volunteering, or donating to our Community Thanksgiving Meal.

Community Dinner
Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 24th
11:30am - 1:30 pm
Smith Mountain Lake Community Church

All are welcome to attend...young, old, home alone, shut-ins, needy, travelers, or just to meet and greet your neighbors.

The meal will be served Thanksgiving day between 11:30am - 2pm across the street from our church at the Dudley Mart. We are so appreciative of the generosity by our neighbors at the Dudley Mart for donating their facility and joining our mission to offer hope to our community. (Burnt Chimney Rd and Lovely Valley Rd...Wirtz, VA)

We will be serving turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, cranberry salad, various vegetables and casseroles, rolls, butter, coffee, tea and many home made desserts.

Because we have limited seating, reservations are necessary. Call Smith Mountain Lake Community Church’s “Hope Line”, 540-315-HOPE (4673). Please leave your name, phone number and the number in your party. We will call to confirm your reservation...Donations are not required but appreciated.

Learn more about “Finally There’s Hope” at smlcommunitychurch.sboa.biz.
For Directions go to SML Community Church
Email us at smlcommunitychurch@gmail.com

Become a fan of SBOA

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:28:28 PST

Region 2000 Digital Community Facebook

Check out The Region 2000 Facebook

Sustainability In Action...The Effect of "Lake Effects"

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:00:26 PST

My wife Ann and I went to the Premier of the film, Lake Effects. With red carpet, tuxedos, and evening gowns, this was an event not often found at Smith Mountain Lake.

There was a lot of fanfare last year during filming with a feel good story about a local resident, Sara Elizabeth Timmons, returning home to visit her parents and having the vision to create this film. She was able to attract writer Scott Winters, Director Michael McKay and the list of solid actors including Jane Seymour, Scottie Thompson, Madeline Zima, Ben Savage, Casper Van Dien, Sean Patrick Flannery and Richard Moll. She was able to find local investors who bought into her passion.

With all of the hype behind, we settled in with 500 others to watch the movie with a lot of hope and little expectations.

Surprise...Surprise!! It was terrific. It had everything you could want during it's 90 minutes. It is the ultimate family film filled with laughter, tears and every emotion in between.

Thank you Sara Elizabeth for a wonderful evening. More importantly, thanks for sharing the spotlight with the Smith Mountain Lake Community. Unlike most movies that try to mask the actual location of the filming, Sara and her local investors insisted on SML being front and center throughout the entire movie. The focus on SML will no doubt promote this community for years to come and therefore qualifies as a prime example of ...sustainability in action.

Mini Graceland Lives Through Sustainability In Action

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:29:29 PDT

My Digital Community acknowledges every effort, by individuals, businesses, and organizations in the community, that make our community better in some way and ultimately has a positive effect on our growth and sustainability.

I'm very proud to share the following story about one such effort. When I first moved from Lynchburg, Va to Roanoke, Va., I discovered Mini Graceland. It was a project of love for a family that wanted nothing more than to pay tribute to one of their heroes and share their passion with others in the Roanoke Valley. I had such a good time taking my family and our out of town guests to tour this very special yard on Riverland Rd. When the children were younger, we would take a family ride each December, around the Roanoke Valley to experience the Christmas lights. Nothing was more fun than walking through Mini Graceland when it was all decorated for Christmas with Elvis singing Christmas songs in the background.

It's unfortunate that the family that provided so much time, money, love and attention have been unable to keep the maintenance up because of health issues.

It's fortunate that my son, Tyler Godsey, appreciated those visits to Mini Graceland as much as I did. I have linked an article about a recent fund raising event planned and executed by Tyler and his friends, that raised over $2000 to establish a fund to begin to address the long term reconstruction of this Roanoke attraction. I'm very proud of Tyler and friends for their example of "sustainability in Action".

RecycleEasy

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:16:49 PST

It's easy to Go Green with curbside recycling. Check out Recycleeasy in the Region 2000 Digital Community

My Digital Community Focuses On The Environment

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:43:53 PST

Focus On The Region 2000

Environmental sustainability is development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. To accomplish this we must constantly focus on the following areas.

Air and Water Quality
Waste Management
Food & Energy
How we use our land
Human consumption

OUR GOALS...Focus On The Environment

To encourage discussions on the environment in our own communities.
To incorporate the principle of sustainability into everyday business activities, illustrated by real-life examples that we call Sustainability In Action.
To create business opportunities arising from sustainable development
To forge working partnerships with businesses, the government, and universities.
To discuss how universities and professional training providers can help industry leaders incorporate sustainability into their business strategies

My Digital Community Focuses On Education.

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:49:28 PST

The Small Business Owners Alliance, the founding partner of My Digital Community believes the key to long term sustainability in the community is Education.

Our economic crisis has changed how people view the importance of education and what the returns of getting an education really are in today’s society. We believe education is the single most important activity there is. With good education, our other problems, on all levels, will take care of themselves

Our Educational Goals...

* To identify and develop authentic learning opportunities for students in the community.

* To promote an active continuing education program for small business owners.

* To identify and develop relationships with key stakeholders as resources to the schools

* To develop K-12 Partnerships with educators and communities

* To identify ways the school can be an authentic resource to other schools and to the community.

* To identify ways in which the school(s) and community can learn together.

* To encourage and support mentoring programs.

* To encourage and support student-led initiatives.

* To create enthusiasm and make the feedback/results visible to the community to inspire more action.

Lynchburg Public Schools...1960's

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Godsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:42:49 PST

While recently going through some of my late father's boxes of saved paperwork, I found a book that was given to each member of the Lynchburg School Board during the 60's. The book contained a picture and description of each facility as well as well as the written policies. Unlike today, the entire written policy was less than 10 single pages. I'll continue sharing some of the key differences that have occurred during the last 50 years.

The attached picture is the Administrative Building at 11th and Court Streets. The building was constructed in 1916 for a total cost of $41,000 and housed the John C. Wyatt Elementary School. The school was closed in 1959 and became the Administrative Building in 1960...renovation cost to convert was approximately $150,000.