Local youths have made an effort to better their community, either through an Eagle Scout project, baking cookies, or by collecting toys and holiday items. An artist participated in a fundraiser to research pancreatic cancer, and a cowboy-themed event wrangled up $27,000 to support a therapeutic riding center.
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Jamestown High Student Earns Eagle Scout Award
Anthony G. Dela Pena of Williamsburg, a member of Boy Scout Troop 102, earned the Eagle Scout Award at a Court of Honor Ceremony on Dec. 7. His family and friends and leaders of the troop were in attendance to see him receive his award.
Dela Pena has held leadership roles with Troop 102, including Senior Patrol Leader. He attended multiple camps, as well as earned membership in the Order of the Arrow, the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America. His Eagle Scout leadership service project was the refurbishment of the windows for the legacy church at Jamestown Presbyterian Church, the charter organization for Troop 102.
Dela Pena is a junior at Jamestown High School.
Williamsburg Artist Auctions Art to Fight Cancer
Lori Jakubow, a local artist, recently auctioned her work at the 3rd annual artCAN at Atlanta Ballet’s Michael C. Carlos Dance Centre. The fundraising gala featured works from 44 artists whose lives have been affected by cancer.
The work auctioned with proceeds benefiting pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and Emory University School of Medicine.
Jakubow lost her husband Jake, a social studies teacher at Bruton High School, to pancreatic cancer in 2008.
York County Students Support Troops
Mrs. Williamson’s third grade class at Grafton Bethel Elementary School organized a collection of holiday items that were shipped to the Support to the Troops organization. The items will be distributed to troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and other combat zones.
A donation from the Grafton Kiwanis Club assisted the students in shipping seven boxes to the Support to the Troops headquarters in Connecticut.
Coventry Elementary School K-Kids made cookies for the annual Airmen’s cookie drive at Langley Air Force Base. K-Kids is a service organization for elementary schools sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.
K-Kids also presented a check to Bill Jurgens from the Kiwanis Club for $259.49. Students raised this money through their UNICEF Trick or Treat Drive.
Cowboys Uncorked Event Benefits Dream Catchers
A sold-out crowd of 275 rode in to the Williamsburg Winery Nov. 10 for the 2nd Annual Cowboys Uncorked event, benefiting Dream Catchers at the Cori Sikich Therapeutic Riding Center. Presented by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Cowboys Uncorked raised $27,000 to support Dream Catchers, a center that provides riding lessons to children and adults in the area with special needs.
The event featured cowboy fare of food and drink, country line dancing, a Wii “quick draw” gunslinger competition, old-fashioned photo booth, silent auction and more. It also included 18 local celebrity “arrestees” who raised “bail” donations.
For more information about Dream Catchers at the Cori Sikich Therapeutic Riding Center, call 566-1775 or visit their website.
WCA Middle School Collects Toys for Tots
The Middle School Student Council Association at Williamsburg Christian Academy recently held a holiday toy drive for Toys for Tots.
The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program collects the new, unwrapped toys during the fall and winter months, and distributes them as Christmas gifts. The program aims to bring a message of hope to those less fortunate, uniting communities in a cause to better the future.
