The wheels were set in motion last Thursday for the implementation of a new after school program for students in Buchanan County when members of the Buchanan County School Board approved a proposal by Youth Outreach of Buchanan County to use county high school sites at which to offer the program.
   According to YOBC Coordinator Belinda Honaker, the program, PICK (Playing Instruments Changes Kids) could be up and running as early as the next school year provided grant funding now being sought to implement the program is obtained.
   Students who become involved in the program will learn to play an instrument and in the process will also learn about their Appalachian heritage and traditions.
   The PICK program is based on a successful program operated in North Carolina and is an outgrowth of the Appalachian School of Law leadership seminar which members of the PICK Advisory Board attended and graduated from this summer.
   The concept proposal was developed as a group project during that seminar and now participants have taken it one step further, combining their efforts with those of YOBC to see that it is implemented.
   A proposal on the project submitted to board members for their consideration notes that the traditional music of the Appalachian region has taken its place “as one of the nation’s renowned art forms.”
   The music is that which was introduced by immigrants from the British Isles, Africa and Europe and further influenced by American Indian tradition.
   “The stringed instruments, tunes and songs of our mountains play an enduring and dynamic role in the development of American popular and classical music,” a PICK program prospectus notes. “The PICK programs will provide a number of students with the opportunity to learn the music of their region from master players.”
    The program will teach students to play traditional tunes on the guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer and bass and, as proposed, it will be open to students in the third through twelfth grades.
   Teachers in the programs, it was noted, will be volunteers who perform traditional mountain music in the area. In the event grant funding is obtained, those volunteering will be paid a $400 stipend for their participation in the program.

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
  For the first time in 17 years, there will be no Gift of Love Dinner at Christmas.
  Lois Null, who first organized the event, along with others some 17 years ago, said this year she is unable to go forward with the dinner which has been held for the past 16 years.
  Her health, she said prevents her from being able to organize the event this year and additionally, she said she needs to spend more time with family, including her 87-year-old mother.
  Null said she is facing the prospect of surgery to correct a neck and back problem.
  “I’m not saying we won’t ever do it again, but I just can’t do it this year,” Null said.
  She added she wanted to get the word out now since the dinner, as a result of its 16-year history, has become a tradition and has grown to become an expected community event every December.
  “At the time we started doing the dinner, there wasn’t any help for the people (n Buchanan County) during the Christmas season, but now, there are several organizations that help families at Christmas,” Null said.
  Specifically, she recognized the Rapoca Children’s Christmas Fund, which targets needy children in the Buchanan County Public School System and the Alliance for the Children group, which comes out of Chicago, Ill, to help out annually at Christmas.
  Since she and other first started the Gift of Love Dinner, Null said, there has been a full-time ministry grow out of it at the Gift of Love Building now located at Keen Mountain. That program operates year-round, she added, noting needy people have needs year-round and not just at Christmas.
  “Already this year, we have given school clothes and school supplies to several children in the county,” Null said. Additionally, the group has given bedding and other housewares to families who have suffered losses due to house fires and to those who have been victims of domestic violence.
  “Although we are not having the Christmas dinner, we still need funds,” Null said, noting the Gift of Love will continue to provide services for low income families in the county.
  Fruit baskets and food boxes, she added, will be given to the elderly and to the needy at Thanksgiving and she said food boxes and children’s clothing will be available on a smaller scale at Christmas.
  A toy ministry will continue under the leadership of Joey and Debbie Snead, Null said, adding funds will be needed to purchase toys for that project.
  “It has been an honor and a blessing to have served the people of Buchanan County,” Null said. “I thank God for helping the Gift of Love to be a success.”
  She recognized the many volunteers who have helped with the dinner each year and those in the community who gave their financial support to the program.
  “Without that funding, it would not have been possible to have had the dinner for the past 16 years,” Null said. “I pray God will bless everyone who has helped the Gift of Love and I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to work with everyone.”

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  A grant in the amount of $50,000 to Buchanan County and a second grant in the amount of $30,000 to the Town of Grundy to purchase three new police vehicles for the Buchanan County Sheriff's office, as well as to purchase a new police vehicle for the Town of Grundy, was announced last week.
  The funds are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency.
  "The federal funding which I am announcing today will enable the purchase of new police vehicles which will be used by law enforcement officials in Buchanan County and the Town of Grundy," said Ninth District Rep. Rick Boucher.
  With the benefit of the federal funds, the Buchanan County Sheriff's office will purchase three new police SUV's. The new vehicles will replace older models with more than 200,000 miles which have become costly to maintain.
  The funding will also enable the purchase of a new police car or SUV, including lights and prisoner restraint gates, for the Town of Grundy. A radio package will also be purchased for the vehicle so it will be fully equipped to communicate with all other emergency services vehicles throughout the county.
  The Town of Grundy is providing $25,000 in matching funds for the new police vehicle and equipment.
  "I am pleased that the Rural Development Agency is providing these grants to the Buchanan County and the Town of Grundy," Boucher said. "It is important to ensure the safety of our police officers by providing the best equipment and training possible. This is a necessary step in protecting the people who protect us."