Senior Volunteers Stay Active
Fifty percent of Mount Vernon RECenter’s volunteers are senior citizens.
The Mount Vernon RECenter is known for its ice skating rink, massive indoor swimming pool and fitness center with spa and sauna. It has 46 volunteers who help greet guests, clean up the fitness room, landscape the grounds and assist people with adapted swimming and ice-skating. Exactly half of them are retired senior citizens over 50 who want to stay active while giving back to the community.
Choosing a Home for the Golden Years
Many options for retirement communities in the region.
Jim Harkin, 81, and his wife, Phyllis, 80, have little free time these days. Jim spends his days protecting and photographing wildlife on the 60-acre campus at The Fairfax, a Sunrise Senior Living Community, in Fort Belvoir. He helped build, refurbish and maintain more than 20 birdhouses on the grounds, including homes for tree swallows and purple martins.
Active Seniors Compete for Glory
fter 11 days of more than 50 events held Sept. 7-19, the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics finished with a golf event at Forest Greens Golf Course in Triangle, Va. Other events ranged from cycling, swimming and pickle ball to Mexican train dominos and Scrabble.
Column: Supporting Incorporated Brickyard Coalition
For the last two years, WMCCA has been deeply committed to saving the Brickyard School site from becoming a commercial sports enterprise on public land.
Diverse Needs, Desires Drive Mobility Solutions
Seniors increasingly seek innovative plans that embrace both the present and the future.
Russ Glickman was a traditional full-service remodeler until the late 1990s when he abruptly added a host of accessibility certifications to a long list of building industry credentials. The service extension was less about opportunity than a personal call to apply what he’d learned from personal experience in helping his son, Michael, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Documentary Highlights Wounded Warriors Program
Documentary Highlights Wounded Warriors Program
Wounded Warrior J.D. Hartley credits a horse for changing his life. “I was scared at first, but I haven’t had a nightmare since I met Peanut, my horse.
Help Cure Ocular Melanoma on Sunday
This is a personal fight for Harvey Levine of Potomac, coordinator of the concert. His sister Sheila is fighting ocular melanoma – and he is doing everything in his power to raise funds for research.
Column: “Mor-Tality” or Less
Meaning, in my head anyway, the future and what there is left of it. More specifically, I mean life expectancy. When you’re given a “13-month to two-year” prognosis—at age 54 and a half, by a cancer doctor, your cancer doctor—the timeline between where you are and where you thought you’d be when becomes as clear as mud.
Residential Studios Put on Hold
Supervisors establish committee, plan additional public outreach.
At the recommendation of Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Michael Frey (R-Sully), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday deferred its Nov. 20 public hearing on a proposed residential studios (RSUs) amendment to conduct additional community outreach.
Shutdown: Towpath, Glen Echo Closed
Federal shutdown closes area National Parks.
The federal government’s shutdown has closed C&O Canal National Historical Park, Glen Echo Park, as well as use of the towpath from Washington D.C. through Potomac and to Cumberland.
Now What?
Fairfax County braces for “domino effect” of federal government shutdown.
“We live in a ‘company town’ and the company is the federal government, so most of us have family and friends who are federal employees or contractors impacted by this shutdown,” Long said in a memo emailed to county employees Tuesday. Long said his biggest concern was the “domino effect” the shutdown will have on the local economy, and “the short-term uncertainty that will impact business decisions.”
Social Justice Matters
SALT forum gives candidates a chance to tell voters where they stand on social justice issues.
But one group also thinks voters should know where candidates stand on social justice issues when they go to the polls Nov. 5. “Our elected officials have a great deal of influence on the common good, so it’s reasonable that we find out where candidates stand on these issues,” said John Horejsi, founder of SALT (Social Action Linking Together), a non-partisan, faith-based advocacy group started in 1983.
Leadership Fairfax Honors Community Leaders Who Make a Difference
Leadership Fairfax (LFI) has chosen the 2013 Northern Virginia Leadership Awards (NVLA) recipients via a panel of community and business leaders evaluating nominations submitted by Leadership Fairfax alumni and the general public. The award recipients will be honored at the Northern Virginia Leadership Awards luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 7, at Westwood Country Club in Vienna.
Minority Chambers of Commerce to Host Candidates’ Forum
The recently formed alliance of Northern Virginia Minority Chambers of Commerce will give members of the fast growing minority business community the opportunity to meet with the commonwealth’s gubernatorial and statewide candidates at the first-ever joint Candidates’ Forum, Sunday, Oct. 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus.
Ready to Fight: Intersection Controversy Intensifies
Design public hearing on roundabout is Oct. 9 at Stone Middle.
In the long-distant past, Civil War soldiers from the North and South fought in the Centreville area. And although the newest battle brewing on the horizon doesn’t involve weapons, it’s a bitter fight, nonetheless. In it, Fairfax County is pitted against Loudoun County. The issue is the roundabout proposed for the intersection of Braddock and Pleasant Valley roads — and an upcoming meeting about it promises to be anything but civil.
On the Job and Hot on the Trail
Finding people is fun for new, police bloodhound pups.
“We’ll get them out here and acclimate them to the noises — gunfire, [vehicle] brakes and birds,” said Masood. They’ll also be exposed to airplanes, wind, rain, heat, car horns honking, plus obstacles such as fences. And they’ll learn how it feels on their paws to walk in the woods, through brush, on cement, carpet, tile floors, etc. That way, said Clarke, “When they get out on the street, when they’re almost a year old, they’ll be ready.”
It’s Almost Time for Clifton Day
46th annual festival is Sunday, Oct. 13.
Featuring everything from a strolling bagpiper to a woman on a unicycle—plus handmade crafts, pony rides, Civil War re-enactors, live bands and food galore—the 46th annual Clifton Day is set for Sunday, Oct. 13, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Rain date, Oct. 20).
Paul VI Freshman Takes Silver at National Skating Competition
Clifton ninth-grader LaDan Nemati earned the silver medal at the Solo Ice Dance National Championships at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. last weekend. The 14-year-old Nemati bested most of the field of 25 skaters from across the country who qualified to compete at the bronze level with an elegant performance of the "Willow Waltz."
Week in Fairfax
Richard Walker, 32, of Fair Oaks, was killed last week after his car crashed into a tree on Popes Head Read. The tragedy occurred last Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 1:52 p.m., near the Fairfax County Parkway. According to Fairfax County police, preliminary investigation indicates that he was driving a 2012 Mercedes sedan westbound on Popes Head Road “at an excessive speed” as he approached a curve. He was unable to negotiate the curve, ran off the road to the right and struck a tree.
Fairfax Library’s Book Sale a Success
The City of Fairfax Regional Library’s book sale was a huge success last Friday through Sunday. Its Children’s Book Sale the previous weekend was the best in the last three sales. On Friday, 1,600 people attended.