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FAIRMONT - Three area organizations have been awarded grants from the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. to continue projects in West Virginia. The three are: Valley Ridge Studio, Inc., The Laughlin Memorial Chapel, and Marion County Habitat for Humanity.
Valley Ridge Studio, Inc., which is located in Thomas, was awarded $5,000 to help fund the productions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Homecoming, two productions scheduled for their 2005 "Family Series." Valley Ridge Studio, Inc. was founded in Thomas by E. Reid Gilbert and Robin Pyle in 1991. It was created to serve as a venue primarily for new or experimental theatre works. Located in a small storefront on Front Street, the "Front Street Cabernet" as it was called in the early days, took place over 2-4 weekends in the summer, and featured scenes from classic plays, storytelling, improvisation and original theatre.
Over the past 24 months, Valley Ridge Studio has produced 14 fully-staged productions, providing performance, directing and design opportunities not only to professional artists from all over the country, but also to over 30 local children and adults. For the 2005 season, Valley Ridge plans to produce five fully-staged productions. It also plans to engage the local community by developing outreach programming that brings theatre to community centers such as schools and senior centers, as well as unite the community together through the theatre.
The Laughlin Community Center, a division of the Laughlin Memorial Chapel, was awarded a grant of $5,000 to be used toward the purchased of books for its integrated reading curriculum. The center is a non-profit organization which exists solely to develop and sustain the programs of Laughlin Memorial Chapel. Both organizations share the same mission: to care for and to empower families and others by working cooperatively with existing groups to ensure the standard and quality of life in the greater Wheeling area.
The chapel has been in East Wheeling for over 130 years. Today, Laughlin Chapel serves low-income families in the urban core of Wheeling. Programs are designed to offer a safe haven for kids in an atmosphere that encourages academic competence. This past November, the Chapel received approval for sponsorship of a Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom School for the summer of 2005. The Freedom School's program is part of the CDF's Black Community Crusade for children, whose mission is to leave no child behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life.
One of the central elements of the Freedom School's program is the Integrated Reading Curriculum. The books of the reading curriculum, compromised of 80 titles, are age appropriate, encourage community involvement, feature characters that persevere and achieve, and reflect the children's own images. The books serve as the anchor resources for activity-oriented lessons, read alouds, and recreational reading. After the recent funding from the Mollohan Foundation, the Community Center will be able to purchase the necessary books to begin the Integrated Reading Program.
The Marion County Habitat for Humanity received a $2,000 grant from the Foundation to be used to support the cost of additional trainers needed to present classes on home ownership and maintenance, as well as costs associated with training volunteer mentors who support partnering families and new home owners.
This chapter of Habitat for Humanity was created in the mid-1990 by local community volunteers with the mission of eliminating substandard housing in Marion County. The initial board of directors oversaw the construction of one new home and the complete rehabilitation of another home, both in the Bellview area of Fairmont.
Each family partnered with in the construction of a new home is required to put 400 hours of "sweat equity" in the building process, working alongside community volunteers. Adult family members are also required to complete a training program in home ownership. Additionally, each family is matched with a mentor who provides assistance and support on an ongoing basis after the family moves into their new home.
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