Inside A4 Local World War II veteran, Otis Duke, remembered
Powhatan, Virginia
B1 BSH Football Players make All-State teams
Vol. XXXII No.. 32
January 30, 2019
Program aims to help existing businesses By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – Terry Awad said he would have been happy if the only thing he got out of his visit from Powhatan County’s Business Retention and Expansion team was help in getting access to high-speed internet for his business. While other businesses around him were able to make that connection, he had been unsuccessful in getting it hooked up for his company, Fortune Auto, which manufactures performance suspension systems for Japanese and European vehicles. A few weeks after assistant county administrator Bret Schardein reached out to him in September 2018 and asked how the county could help his Powhatan business, he connected Awad to the right people and the company had high-speed internet. But it didn’t stop there, because the county’s economic development team – which consists of Schardein and Roxanne Salerno, economic development program manager – helped get Awad involved in a program
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Roxanne Salerno, left, economic development program manager, talks to Bette Davis at New Horizon Bank. Visiting with local businesses and finding out their needs is the focus of the county’s Business Retention and Expansion program.
that led to a free market research study and the potential for grants to attend trade shows to better market the company’s products. Awad said he was never an anti-government person, but he also felt more often than not that it would be more of a hindrance than a help. The effort Schardein and Salerno have put into helping his and other local businesses changed that opinion. “My attitude is 180. I didn’t even think something like this was possible,” Awad said. While Awad’s results with Powhatan’s Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) program aren’t typical of every case of the county’s efforts to reach out to and help local businesses, they also aren’t atypical of the program’s purpose. In summer 2018, Salerno and Schardein started setting up meetings with local business owners as part of a business visitation program. They knew there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to helping each one of Powhatan’s 560 brick and mortar businesses (the number jumps higher with home-based businesses, which are also insee BUSINESS, pg. 5
Coalition’s Food Pantry seeks community help By Laura McFarland News Editor
Casino Night draws winning hand PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Urbine accepts Kathy Budner Award
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Guests at the Rotary Club of Powhatan’s annual Pair-A-Dice in Powhatan fundraiser enjoy gaming with funny money at the event on Jan. 18. The money Rotary raises at the event goes to help fund many local activities and nonprofits. See more photos page 6.
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Robbie Urbine accepts the Powhatan Chamber of Commerce’s Kathy Budner Award of Excellence from Budner on Jan. 24.
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – Even as Robbie Urbine walked forward to be recognized as the 2019 recipient
of the annual Kathy Budner Award of Excellence, his face was covered with disbelief. The same look was still on his face as Urbine accepted the award see AWARD, pg. 4
POWHATAN – The coordinators and volunteers of the Powhatan Food Pantry love helping people in need in the community each month, but they are looking for more help to do it. The mission of the food pantry, which is run by the Coalition of Powhatan Churches, is to assist low-income families with the burden of stretching their dollars so they don’t have to make hard decisions like whether to buy medicine or pay an electric bill or eat, said Patsy Goodwyn, director of the Coalition of Powhatan Churches. The food pantry serves 150 households, or 351 individuals, in Powhatan County. That number has stayed steady since the food pantry opened its new building in May 2016, with some people getting on their feet and not needing the help anymore and new people replacing them. Coming off of the holiday season, the food pantry had a great end to 2018, with the community showing up and opening their hearts to help others in their community, as they do every year, Goodwyn said. But with the start of 2019, the pantry is already seeing a decrease in food donation, a lack of individuals or groups wanting to do food drives and having issues making sure all of the volunteer shifts are filled, she said.
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Powhatan Food Pantry volunteer Lynda Burk stocks the shelves with baked goods from a local grocery story. The food pantry is in need of donations, food drives and more volunteers.
“At Christmas and Thanksgiving we get a lot of food, but then it peters off to nothing,” Goodwyn said. The biggest need now is for organizations to be willing to hold food drives, either now or sometime later in the year, manager Theresa Fields said. It can be as simple as putting out a box with a sign on it asking for donations or requesting people in your office, church or organization donate what they can. There are a few local organizations that have continuous food drives, such as Essex Bank and Powhatan United Methodist Church, and churches that regularly hold see PANTRY, pg. 3
County holds comp plan open houses As part of its updating of the 2019 Comprehensive Plan Update, Powhatan County held two open houses on Jan. 17 at the library and PHOTO COURTESY OF POWHATAN COUNTY on Jan. 22 at Huguenot Volunteer Fire Department. Citizens were invited to come in and ask questions of staff and offer their opinions or suggestions. The open houses drew 23 people on Jan. 17 and 53 people on Jan. 22. The board of Supervisors was set to review the comp plan again at its meeting on Jan. 28.