News and Notes

Stoke the fires in those ovens all you cooks out there. The National Cornbread Festival is soliciting entries for its National Cornbread Cook-Off sponsored by Martha White and Lodge Cast Iron. Ten finalists will compete to win the first prize of $4,000 and a FiveStar stainless steel gas range at the Festival in South Pittsburg, Tenn. Official rules can be found online at www.marthawhite.com. To enter by e-mail send your recipe to cornbreadd@dvl.com or by snail mail to 209 7th Ave. North, Nashville, Tenn. 37219. All entries must be postmarked by Feb. 28.

Congratulations to Drew Maier of Falls Church, and a vaunted member of the illustrious News-Press staff. Drew won the AECOM Founder’s Scholarship for the second year in a row, and landed himself on the dean’s list for the Falls Semester at the University of Virginia. Drew’s sister Jill Maier was nominated for and will participate in this year’s Youth Leadership Forum on Law, which will be held in February in Washington, D.C.

The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia is offering registration for its 2005 classes. For more information and a full schedule of sign-up times and locations, visit www.lcnv.org.

Kidsave International will host an orientation meeting for interested host families and volunteers for its upcoming Summer Miracles Program. The program brings older children (7-15 years old) from orphanages in Colombia and Russia to the U.S. where they spend six weeks living with American families. Ninety-percent of Summer Miracles Children have found parents by participating in this program. The meeting will be held Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. at Cameo Kitchens (7297-M Lee Highway, Falls Church). For more information, call 202-331-1110.

The Washington Capitals (remember them?) donated nearly 25 hours of ice time at Piney Orchard Ice Arena to D.C.-Area youth hockey programs during the month of December … a trend that could continue if this ridiculous lockout doesn’t soon get resolved. The time slots were donated on a first come-first serve basis to interested teams. The slots would normally have been used by the Caps, had they actually been playing.

Spring is just around the corner (despite this current cold snap) and the Fairfax Adult Softball League is accepting team applications for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. Leagues are available for men, women, coed, corporate coed, church, masters (35+) and seniors (50+). Contact FAS at 703-383-9007 or visit the website www.fairfaxadultsoftball.com.

Speaking of softball, the McLean Little League Softball Program has two more remaining walk-in registration dates Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Jan. 23 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 1836 Westmoreland St. in McLean. For more information on what documentation to bring or more details on the program, contact Chris Sowick, McLean Little League Softball’s Vice President at 703-538-6363 or online sowick@mcleanll.com.

Continuing the sports theme, Falls Church High School is accepting resumes for coaching positions with the varsity boys lacrosse, boys tennis and girls tennis teams. Resumes can be sent to Jeanne Kelly at jeannne.kelly@fcps.edu or faxed to 703-207-4012. For more information call 703-207-4025.

The Arena Stage is hosting an acting workshop featuring SITI Company member Barney O’Hanlon who will teach a free class on the Viewpoints Improvisation Technique. The class will be held in the Arena Stage Rehearsal Hall Jan. 31 from 5 – 7 p.m. Reservations are required and space is limited. Contact Chris Assing at 202-554-9066 ext. 232 or casing@arenastage.org to reserve your space.

Toastmasters Leadership Institute recently organized two training sessions, one session held by Division D on Jan. 12 at Aviation Drive at Dulles, while the second was sponsored by District 27 at South County Government Center, Alexandria on Jan. 15.

At the session sponsored by Division D, the President, Vice-President, Membership, Vice-President, Public Relations of different Toastmasters Clubs attended. Kathy Fox, DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) and Vince Caldwell, DTM were the instructors.

At the district meeting, officers of all levels, including Treasurer, Secretary and Sergeant-at-arms attended the training course. Donna Gordon, DTM (Governor) Vince Caldwell, Lt.Governor, (Education and training) of the district, Areff Dajani, Jeff Arnett, Ismael Dieppa (District Treasurer) and Janine Fannell were the instructors while Jim Heron, DTM and Cynthia Miller, DTM gave lecture on effective evaluation of speeches.

The Northern Virginia Toastmasters Club is also planning to hold speech a competition on Feb. 16 at Falls Church High School. Contestants must have completed six manual speeches in order to participate. Jaraby Alvarado, Vice-President; (Education) may be contacted for further information. Successful participants will attend an area level competition. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department will recognize eight-year-old Ellena Soule Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at Union Mill Elementary School (13611 Springston Dr., Clifton) for extraordinary actions taken during a house fire. Jan. 8, Soule and her mother were selling Girl Scout Cookies in the Rockland Drive neighborhood when she saw smoke coming from one of the homes. Soule immediately contacted a neighbor to call 911. While no one was home at the time, Soule’s actions greatly limited the potential damage. Congratulations to Ellena.

In other news from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, members of Virginia Task Force One, Fairfax County’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, will return from South Asia Jan. 19 after helping with relief efforts from the Tsunami Disaster. The team departed for South Asia Dec. 31.