CO-HOUSING BACKERS
SEEKING NEW SITE
A group of senior adults headed by Paul Wyar of Catawba, who are trying to establish the Roanoke Valley’s first co-housing community, SpiritServe, suffered a setback in their planning when they failed to secure a site on the former Countryside Golf Course near the Roanoke regional airport.
About a dozen persons interested in buying into a proposed community of compact and moderately-priced houses learned at a Nov. 13 meeting at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church that a Salem housing development partnership of Mark Henrickson and Russ Barksdale might become the catalyst for eventual construction.
Co-housing, established in several states over the past 30 years, brings together a group of singles or couples usually 55 and older who pull their finances to buy land and pay for building a series of separate or attached dwellings. While a church affiliation is not necessary, in most successful communities residents agree to help care for each other – at least until incapacitated – and engage in service to others nearby. At previous planning meetings over the past four years, Wyar has explained that a central building equipped for occasional meals and many types of fellowship events forms the heart of such communities. Although he and several others committed to the program are active Roman Catholics, not all co-housing communities have a house of worship, promotional materials state.
Because they are new in Western Virginia, the communities do not fit into the zoning codes of many cities, it was noted at the meeting. This was a significant reason the planning group could not secure a Northwest tract it had been negotiating for over several months. The land has now been sold to another party.
“We’re now looking anywhere,” Henrickson said, not ruling out a Salem site.
A successful co-housing community has existed in Abingdon for nearly 20 years. Another stays full in Blacksburg, but an effort to establish a similar community has failed in Floyd, one of its former supporters reported at the recent meeting.
Wyar continues to offer frequent meetings to educate those interested in sharing in the planning. He may be contacted at 540-520-4937.
CHRISTMAS STORE FINDS
NW MEETING PLACE
The Christmas Store, a two-day holiday event in which eligible low-income households may select several new gifts for themselves or their loved ones, will be housed in the same building at Peters Creek and Woodhaven Roads Northwest where it operated last year. It will be open on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, staffed entirely by volunteers, according to Janie Whitlow, its coordinator.
The “store” will contain household needs, toys and clothing which has been bought new throughout the year by supporters who see the community ministry as a dignified way in which those in need can choose several gifts they really want. The site is annually donated and is usually in a rent-free commercial building.
Many volunteers are needed to assist “customers.” To help, Whitlow may be called at 540-725-8730.
NEW PASTORS COMING
TO BRETHREN CHURCHES
The Rev. Thomas S. Powers and the Rev. Naomi L. Powers will begin serving as part-time pastors of Daleville Church of the Brethren on Jan. 1. Meanwhile, the Rev. Emma Jean Woodard, a former staff member of the Virlina District headquarters office of the COB church in Roanoke, is interim there.
The Rev. E.B. Shoemaker, a former pastor of Poages Mill Church of the Brethren, will become the full-time pastor of Hollins Road COB on January 1, 2018.
