Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Community Center director one of three earning Onthank Award.
Richard Cabellos director of the Southgate Community Center in Reston, was awarded the Onthank Award by Fairfax County at Wednesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. The Onthank Award is the highest honor the county bestows on employees. Also earning the award: Judy Flaig, management analyst, Office of Elections. Flaig was recognized for her "extraordinary initiative" during the state and local election district reapportionment; and Stephen Sinclair, senior utilities analyst, Department of Cable and Consumer Services. Sinclair was recognized for his efforts to safeguard consumer interests in the areas of utilities and taxicab rates. He is chief of the Public Utilities Branch. The Onthank Award was established by the Board of Supervisors in …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Hopecam founder Len Forkas—and a support crew of nine—are taking on the challenge of a 3,000-mile bike race for charity.
Vienna's Len Forkas is going for a bike ride. Forkas, founder of Reston's Milestone Communications, leaves later this week for the 12-day Race Across America (RAAM), a 3,000-mile endurance ride from Oceanside, CA, to Annapolis, MD. Forkas, 52, will ride solo, though a nine-person crew will accompany him in a specially outfitted van. He expects extreme temperature changes, sunburn, mountains, desert and exhaustion. He also expects to raise more than $150,000 for his Reston-based non-profit, Hopecam. Hopecam connects children who are homebound due to cancer or other life-threatening illnesses with their classmates via laptops, webcams and other technology assistance. Forkas founded Hopecam in 2003 after his own son, Matt, was treated for …
Friday, June 1, 2012
FACETS Executive Director, who is also on the Reston Association board, earns honor from magazine.
Reston's Amanda Andere works tirelessly on behalf of the homeless in and her own community. That's why she has been selected by Northern Virginia Magazine as a 2012 Northern Virginian of the Year. Andre, 32, is a member of the Reston Association Board of Directors and the executive director of FACETS, a Fairfax County-based nonprofit that helps the homeless and other vulnerable people. The June issue of Northern Virginia spotlights Andere and five others for their hard work helping others. "Amanda Andere works tirelessley to help erase a problem that many misunderstand - or aren't even aware existed," the article says of her work with FACETS. The June isue of Northern Virginia is on newstands now, but the Northern Virginians of the Year …
Monday, April 30, 2012
John McKeown, who is legally blind, is co-chairman of the 5k VisionWalk in Reston.
Although Centreville’s John McKeown lost his sight years ago due to a progressive eye disease, the father of two tries to prevent the disability from interfering with what he enjoys most in life. He has ridden a snow mobile through Yellowstone National Park, skied in Colorado and can be accused of having a generally sunny disposition. But don’t try to say McKeown “suffers” from the blindness-causing affliction called retinitis pigmentosa. McKeown doesn’t like the word “suffer” connected to the disease. He is blind and tries to make the best of it. “I never think of myself as suffering,” said McKeown, 50, a data architect with GTSI in Herndon. He has been with the company for 25 years. “I feel that you have to live your life and do best …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The books of children's reading specialist Bobbi Vest are donated to Lake Anne Elementary's library to continue her legacy of teaching children to read.
Bobbi Vest spent much of her life dedicated to teaching future generations how to read. The Reston resident worked as a reading specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools, starting at Dogwood Elementary and working many years at Centreville Elementary. As part of her work and her passion, she amassed a huge collection of children's books that she used in her work, providing the children she met with books she had hand-picked to appeal to their interests and advance their level of reading. When Vest died unexpectedly last year, her husband Bill decided Bobbi's collection of children's books needed to be put to good use. Wednesday morning, Bobbi's passion to help children learn to read culminated in the donation of about 1,000 books to …
38.965388
-77.344754
Lake Anne Elementary School
11510 N Shore Dr, Reston, VA
/articles/passion-turns-to-legacy-at-lake-anne-es
395783
/locations/6876491
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Reston's Holly Kearl is fighting to stop catcalls and other street harassment of women.
When Reston resident Holly Kearl spoke to South Lakes High School students last week about the catcalls, leering and gestures women may face when walking in public, she heard one word over and over again in response. “Creepy,” said Kearl, 29. “They all called it creepy.” But this perception is actually what Kearl has devoted her professional life to changing. “It’s not just creepy,” Kearl said. “It’s really harassment.” Since writing her master’s thesis on the topic five years ago, Kearl has seen ballooning interest in her cause, to end what she formally calls street harassment. “I saw there was this great need for information,” about the topic, Kearl said. So she decided to continue to oblige. In the next few years, she published a web …
Friday, December 23, 2011
Reston resident balances running FACETS and seat on Reston Association Board of Directors.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
- Karen Goff
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Amanda Andere has answered her community's call to service. Andere, 31, is the executive director of FACETS, a nonprofit aimed at aiding families in need and ending homelessness, as well as serving as the apartment owners' representative on the Reston Association Board of Directors. That means days that start at sunrise and sometimes end at midnight. Andere says she is up for the challenge because she is giving back to her community. Andere is a 1998 graduate of Herndon High School. She earned a B.A. in political science at James Madison University, and a Masters of Public Administration on nonprofit management at George Mason University, where she also teaches in the university's non-profit management program. Prior to joining FACETS …
Monday, December 12, 2011
After son's suicide, a local woman is making it a mission to help other families.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
- Karen Goff
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Monday, December 12, 2011
Life for Gail Romansky and her family will never be the same after her son, Shaun, took his own life in the summer of 2010. But in the wake of Shaun's death, Romansky, who lives in Herndon, has found a mission: to help raise awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention in the hopes that she can save other families from having to endure the tragedy of suicide. The first step - talking about it. "We need to get it out there," said Romansky, a Realtor with Long & Foster's Reston North Hills office. "There shouldn't be a stigma. It we don't get it out there, we won't get a cure. Look at breast cancer. Women did not used to talk about it. Now there is Susan G. Komen and the Avon Walk and there is so much awareness." Awareness starts with …
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Reston dentists team up to provide free, needed care to Reston Interfaith clients.
Reston orthodontist Frederick Dibbs has been practicing here since 1973, a time when “you knew everybody and you helped out” a fellow Restonian in need, he says. Over the years, that has meant some pro bono cases when he had the time and opportunity. But as those years have seen many more Restonians, and much more need, Dibbs decided it was time to go further. With the urging of his wife Cindy - “her idea,” he said - he tentatively contacted local dentists to see if they might consider community service. “I got a very enthusiastic response, which surprised me,” Dibbs said. “They [the dentists] embraced it with open arms.” That's how Reston Smile Partners was born. Led by Dibbs, Reston Smile Partners is a group of 10 dentists, including …
38.950712
-77.338233
Frederick N Dibbs DDS
11353 Sunset Hills Rd, Reston, VA
/articles/service-for-a-smile
394002
/locations/5797771
38.947373
-77.33004
Reston Interfaith
11150 Sunset Hills Rd, Reston, VA
/articles/service-for-a-smile
394158
/locations/5797772
38.96208
-77.36016
Embry Rucker Community Shelter
11975 Bowman Towne Dr, Reston, VA
/articles/service-for-a-smile
1337873
/locations/5797773
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Good people are doing good things in Reston. Tell us about them for future stories.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
- Karen Goff
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
At Patch we like to highlight the positive in the community and let people know more about their neighbors, coworkers and community members. This month we are starting a series called "Greatest Person" that simply features those doing great things in the community. It could be through their job, their volunteer work, their hobbies or any number of things YOU think they should be recognized for. Whether it's someone who started their own business and is now giving back to the community, a parent who's there for every PTA fundraiser and event, a coach or a teacher who's making a difference in children's lives or a student who is doing projects to help the community—we want to hear about them. We'll feature a Greatest Person at least once …
Elizabeth Vandenburg
11:21 am on Thursday, March 22, 2012
Many thanks to Reston Patch for covering Holly Kearl's presentation about Stopping Street Harassment at South Lakes High School. I attended the talk and the girls' stories were heartbreaking. While it's hardly a scientific study, approximately 5 of the 8 young women told their own story of being street harassed. One young man in the room described hearing the girls' stories as "eye opening." … more ›