Longwood Community Bags 40,000 Pounds of Sweet Potatoes to Feed the Hungry

About 150 Longwood students, faculty and staff recently bagged 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes that were used to feed the hungry.

The potatoes, which were dumped March 24 from a 40-foot trailer into the parking lot behind Jarman, were bagged into 10-pound bags over two-and-a-half hours, then hauled away to the F.A.C.E.S. Food Pantry in Farmville, Madeline's House in Blackstone (a shelter for abused women and children), the Peninsula Food Bank in Richmond, Lynchburg Food Bank, and food banks in Fairfax and Virginia Beach.

Longwood's effort, known as a Potato Drop, was done through the Society of St. Andrew, a hunger ministry, and was one of six such potato drops around the state in March and April. Christopher Newport University and Virginia Wesleyan College hosted potato drops a few weeks later.

Members of the Longwood community bagged the potatoes, trucked up from a farm in North Carolina, into bags made of nylon netting mesh. Among those who bagged were a member of the Board of Visitors, Joanne Sadler Butler, and Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Tim Pierson.

The event, coordinated by Ellen Masters ('97) of the G.I.V.E. office, was the kickoff to Week in Solidarity with the Homeless, or WISH Week, which featured several activities promoting awareness of and sensitivity to social issues, including hunger and homelessness.

Number Please...
Longwood Area Code Changes to 434

In compliance with the FCC and the Virginia State Corporation Commission, Longwood College is converting from the existing area code 804 to a new area code 434 over the next year. This split of area code 804 is necessary due to increased consumer demand and will affect Longwood College, Farmville and some nearby areas. Richmond will retain the 804 code.

The introduction of the 434 area code began with a "permissive" dialing period on June 1, 2001. Longwood College has made special arrangements with Sprint to have a one-year grace period for full implementation. Callers can use either the old 804 or the new 434 area code to place calls between the 804 and the new 434 calling areas by dialing just seven digits during this transition period.

Mandatory dialing of the 434 area code will begin on June 1, 2002.

To learn more about the area code conversion, please visit the official web site of the State Corporation Commission: http://www.state.va.us/scc/news/434code.html

Longwood Publications Take Home Awards

Several Longwood publications, including Longwood magazine, have garnered national awards recently.

In the print media category of the 2001 Communicator Awards, the Fall 1999 issue of Longwood magazine won the Crystal Award of Excellence (top award) for educational magazines, Kent Booty won an Award of Distinction for Feature Writing for his article in the Spring 2000 issue on Dr. Charles Ross's research, and Judy McReynolds received an Honorable Mention for Feature Writing for her article on Jane Goodall in the Fall 1999 issue. Also, the 1999-2000 President's Report won an Award of Distinction for educational annual reports.

The Communicator Awards is a national awards organization that "recognizes outstanding work in the communications field," according to the organization. "Entries are judged by industry professionals who look for individuals and organizations whose work exceeds a high standard of excellence and serves as a benchmark for the industry."

In the CASE 2001 Circle of Excellence Awards, also a national competition, bronze medal awards went to the Capital Campaign Viewbook (one of only four awards presented from among 85 entries), the new Admissions materials, consisting of the new viewbook, search piece and recruitment poster (115 entries; seven awards), and the new Admissions search piece (90 entries; seven awards). These were the first national CASE awards ever presented to Longwood. Winning entries were posted on the CASE website.

Also in the 2001 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards, a silver medal in the Year-Long Special Events category was awarded to the "Duck Events," regional programs for alumni and friends hosted by President Cormier and coordinated by the Alumni office. Only 10 medals were awarded from among 88 entries.