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Powhatan, Virginia
The hometown paper of Tyler Marshall
Vol. XXVIII No. 19
May 6, 2015
Boy helps fight cancer, one tooth at a time By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – A Pocahontas Middle School fifth-grader, a local dentist and the Tooth Fairy teamed up recently to help fight cancer. Cade Van Buskirk of Powhatan had six teeth pulled on April 2 at Murry and Kuhn Dentistry in Powhatan, according to his mom, Angie Van Buskirk. What could be anybody’s recipe for a bad day turned out
great for the 11-year-old when an offhand comment to his dentist yielded a show of support. During the procedure, Cade told Dr. Todd Kuhn, his dentist, that he planned to put the teeth under his pillow that night and whatever he got, he was donating to Pennies for Pasta. Pennies for Pasta is a fundraising campaign where students at the middle school bring in their spare change, which will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for research for blood
cancers. Lynn Stephens, special education teacher at the middle school and coordinator of Pennies for Pasta, was not surprised by Cade’s gesture given how dedicated the students at Pocahontas Middle School have been to the program since it became a schoolwide effort. Since the school started participating in 2007 in Pennies for Pasta, it has raised $44,811.31,
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
see Tooth Fairy page 2A Cade Van Buskirk holds the $20 given to him for Pennies for Pasta by Dr. Todd Kuhn.
TAG program pushes county students to reach next level By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The word third-graders Isaac Rambo and Mikey Scioscia are learning about in class on this day is “etymology.” Where did a word come from and how might that help them understand the meaning of the word used through time, Rose Browning, their Talented and Gifted (TAG) resource teacher at Powhatan Elementary School, asked them during a recent lesson. The lesson is meant to take the boys a step beyond a standard vocabulary lesson, she said. “We are trying to get them to think more critically and more deeply and come at issues from another perspective,” Browning said. Only an hour earlier in neighboring Powhatan Junior High School, Patty Haskins, gifted resource coordinator for Powhatan County Public Schools, took the same approach with students in Joanna Fillman’s Algebra 1 class. Haskins handed the students a sheet of questions see Gifted page 2A
Ayers seeking re-election to school board By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – Valarie Ayers has announced she will seek re-election for the District 3 seat on the Powhatan County School Board. Ayers said she continues to realize that her passion for education and Powhatan County Public Schools is as strong now as it was when she first ran 20 years ago. “I love our students, teachers and staff and am very proud of our school system. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life that would be Ayers more rewarding,” she said. Education in Powhatan and the world is evolving rapidly, she said, and she is eager to continue to support the education of Powhatan students as the county moves forward. Ayers said she is committed to continuing her edusee Ayers page 3A
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Cindy Bailey has made multiple medical mission trips to Haiti and hopes to return in the fall.
On a mission Powhatan woman finds calling helping Haiti’s poorest residents
Bailey said she knows her life is now deeply entwined with the small island country in the CaBy Laura McFarland ribbean. News Editor A big part of that connection is through eople would have a hard time Haiti’s Kidz Foundation, finding the places on the map, a ministry she started but for Cindy Bailey they are with fellow Powhatan resident Fritz Sassine stamped on her heart. under the umbrella of St. Naran, Fort Resolu, baby, born to a woman John Neumann Catholic Cabailley, Hinche – who went into labor on Church. But Bailey doesn’t small Haitian villages a sidewalk while passlimit the chances she has where the Powhatan ersby looked on. resident has seen pain, “If you are poor to make a difference in suffering and unthink- here, you still have a Haiti, having helped on able poverty during phone and get your many medical mission frequent medical mis- nails done. If you are trips since she went on sion trips. poor there, you die,” her first one in 2008. She stopped counting after They are the kind of she said. places where people These villages and 10 trips there and she stand in line for seven others like them in hopes to take more frehours just to receive as- Haiti also are places quent and longer stays pirin or medicine to where Bailey said she in the country in the fuhelp a stomach ache has witnessed hope and ture. “You know that from a visiting medical gratitude over the simphrase ‘Where but for team, she said. It was plest acts of kindness. in Haiti where the midAnd for all the sor- the grace of God …?’ wife “caught” her first row she has seen there, Why wasn’t I born into
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Sports
A5At your leisure : See what’s happening in Powhatan.
B1 Powhatan boys varsity soccer team gets “back on the right track” against Monticello
that? The Bible is very clear about serving others and serving God. I have tried to let that be my creed,” she said. That first trip to Haiti with the group Midwives for Haiti in November 2008 was life-changing for Bailey, she said. The group focuses on teaching Haitian women to be midwives to help other women there. A nurse practitioner for more than 20 years, Bailey went along on the trip to provide primary medical care for men. When she heard a team was going to do mobile clinics, she imagined they would be working out of a van. The reality was much more stark: “cockfighting pits and under trees and in the middle of dirt.” Bailey said she see Mission page 3A
Index
Calendar A9 Classified B9 Crime Report A11 Letters A10 Obituaries A9 Opinion A10 TV Listings B10-11