Photo courtesy of the Christiansburg Lions Club
Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG- The Christiansburg Town Council approved road closures for the 2024 Christiansburg High School Homecoming parade and approved a new student representative for the Recreation Advisory Committee during its meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 10.
At the start of the meeting, Christiansburg Mayor Michael Barber dedicated the moment of silence to those lost on 9/11. September 11, 2024 was the 23rd anniversary of the tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2001.
“We will take a moment,” Barber said, “of reflection and I would like to have you all think about the events of 9/11 2001, which the 23rd anniversary is tomorrow. So, if you keep the families and first responders and all who tragically lost their life in that incident and of course any other people that you know or have a wish list for, let’s take a moment of silence, please.”
The Christiansburg Homecoming Parade will be held 7- 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Due to the parade, many downtown Christiansburg streets will be temporarily closed. Some streets will be closed as early as 3 p.m. in order for barricades along the parade route to be placed safely. This year’s route closes down much of West Main Street, some parts of Franklin Street, Pepper Street and parts of Radford Street and Roanoke Street, just to name a few. According to the parade route map on the town council’s meeting agenda, the parade route will begin on East Main Street further up the road from the courthouse, go down Main Street, hang that right onto Radford Street, turn right at the light for Depot Street and pull up into the parking lot of Christiansburg Middle School. These roads will be closed from five o’clock to nine o’clock in the evening for residents and paraders alike to enjoy the festivities safely.
A new student representative was voted in during the Sept.10 meeting. Gracie Conner, from Christiansburg High School, will serve as Student Representative for the Recreation Advisory Committee until August 2026.
(Photo 1) Christiansburg Lions Club Treasurer Tim Rosche presents a gift to the Montgomery County Emergence Assistance Program.
(Photo 2- FOR JUMP) The Annual Lions Club Holiday Crafts show, held the first Saturday in December, is the club’s largest fundraiser of the year and features thousands of hand-crafted items.
The Christiansburg Lions Club has been active in 2024.
We continue in our work in supporting our International Lions Club motto of “WE SERVE!” And in so doing, we once again set our sights on the goals of our club and Lions International, with our focus and emphasis on sight conservation, childhood diabetes awareness and prevention, the environment, drug awareness and prevention, hearing and audiology concerns, and in general, the needs and concerns of our local communities and state around us.
We were fortunate to have some new members join our club to work with us in these endeavors of concern. And in so doing, our Christiansburg Lions Club took
up again the mantle of service and involvement in our community and the various projects and programs of our Local Lions Club and of Lions International.
As usual, one of the highlights of the year is always our Annual Lions Club Holiday Crafts show which is the first Saturday in December. It is the crowning
point of our year’s activities and our biggest fund raiser for our various projects and programs which we support. And for the various volunteers who work with us and lend “a hand” in helping crafters move in and move out, it makes our work and day a lot easier and smoother. To them we owe a debt of appreciation and gratitude for a job well done. And obviously, without our crafters and their arts and crafts, our show would be greatly diminished, and we would not have much to offer our many shoppers and guests. We thank them for supporting us and making their crafts available. It is exciting to see the many crafts and realize the various talents and skills and abilities of the crafters. It is a vision of sight and sound and color at the Craft Show.
Without our sponsors our labors and work would be less than successful, for our sponsors give us the stability and the resources to continue our giving to worthy causes and programs both local and distant. Overall, we had 30 sponsors who not only supported us financially but also there are those who provided items for our snack bar in order to feed the hungry shoppers and vendors. There are three categories of sponsors: Platinum; Gold; and Silver, and each is an important part of our sponsorship. And along with the top Platinum Sponsors of The Montgomery County Department of Recreation, Horne Funeral Home, Shelor Motor Mile, Thomas and Wall Realtors, Summit Community Bank, McCoy Funeral Home, and Joe Simmons Insurance and Investments (for the parking for the Crafts Show). To all of them and our other Sponsors we are
grateful for their support and encouragement.
So, for The Christiansburg Lions Club, we have done it again and had a good time doing it! The year 2024 has been a good time to fulfill our Lions Club Motto of “WE SERVE!” in so many ways!
With the success of our Annual Lions Club Christmas Holiday Craft Show, we have the means and excitement to sponsor and contribute to so many of our community, state and international projects with the proceeds of our work at the Craft Show and other projects.
With the proceeds of our Craft Show, snack bar, and Lions Club broom sale, we raised a little over $22,000 in 2023. One of our best years yet! With these funds we were able to support 23 local, state and Lions Club International projects, to name a few: Eye Glass Sight Assistance, Eye Glass Recycling Center, Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program, four local high school scholarships, Women’s Resource Center, Service Dog Support, Pediatric Cancer Project, NRV Leading Lights, Lions Hearing Foundation, Hope to Walk, Leader Dog, Montgomery County Christmas Store, and a number of other agencies and projects such as rescue and fire departments.
Doug Kanney, Christiansburg Lions Club