Winchester Star - 09/26/2017 Page : A01

Copyright © 2017 Winchester Star 09/26/2017September 26, 2017 6:32 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

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HURRICANE RESPONSE EFFORTS

GINGER PERRY/The Winchester Star

The Loudoun Street Mall is seen Monday from Cork Street. Winchester Development Services Director Shawn Hershberger said the mall is one feature that led to the city’s inclusion on Reader’s Digest’s 10 best small towns in America for retirees.

Volunteers share stories, ask people to remember survivors

By CATHY KUEHNERThe Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Individuals who have traveled to areas hard hit over the past month by three deadly hur-ricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — say financial and physical help will be needed for years to come.

They hope as time goes by no one forgets the residents of south-east Texas, southern Louisiana, South Florida and islands through-

o u t t h e C a -r ibbean Sea , including U.S. territory Puerto Rico.

It’s dif ficult to identify ev-er yone f r om the Winchester area who went to lend aid af-

ter the storms or who is still on the ground helping. Each will have unique stories to share, but their overall impressions are likely sim-ilar.

“Wherever we went, we met peo-ple who are just overwhelmed. Hav-ing people come in — people who are trained in disaster relief — that gave them hope,” said the Rev. Jo-anna Dietz, minister of mission and service at Braddock Street United Methodist Church in Winchester, who joined a five-person team from Virginia that spent a week in Victo-ria, Texas.

“As we drove into Texas, there were clear lines of delineation.

By ONOFRIO CASTIGLIAThe Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has authorized the Vir-ginia National Guard to send 120 soldiers to the U.S. Virgin Islands to help those affected by recent hurricanes.

Twenty to 30 of those soldiers are from the Winchester area, according to National Guard re-cruiter Robert Hucks, who is based here. They will be deployed “anywhere from 30 to 60 days.”

“Right now, it’s just aid,” Hucks said.

The 120 soldiers are assigned to the Staunton-based 116th Infan-try Brigade Combat Team.

“Up to 400 additional soldiers are scheduled to follow soon af-ter to conduct humanitarian assis-tance, clear roads and distribute essential supplies,” a news release from the governor’s office states.

The first soldiers from the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team departed Sunday, accord-ing to a news release from the Vir-ginia National Guard. They will be part of a multistate, multiagency response effort to the recent hur-ricanes.

Virginia has coordinated 10 missions to aid affected regions.

The largest single mission will be to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“Virginia is ready to help com-munities facing the long road to recovery from the devastation wrought on their cities and towns by the recent hurricanes,” McAu-liffe stated. “Commonwealth offi-cials, the Virginia National Guard, the Virginia Department of Emer-gency Management, and other agencies remain in close contact with our counterparts in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Puerto Rico

Local National Guardsmen leaving to help Virgin Islands

White House is hoping its latest travel ban holds up

By JILL COLVIN and MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump ad-ministration spent months hash-ing out new travel restrictions on more than a half-dozen countries, determined to avoid the chaos that accompanied President Donald Trump’s first travel ban. But critics say it’s a mystery why some coun-tries are included and they believe Venezuela and North Korea were added to provide legal and political cover for what they say remains a “Muslim ban.”

The new restrictions covering citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen — and some Venezuelan govern-ment officials and their families — are to go into effect Oct. 18.

As for the previous version, which expired on Sunday, the Supreme Court on Monday an-

nounced it would cancel arguments scheduled for next month to give both sides time to consider the implications of the new one. They have until Oct. 5 to weigh in.

Trump’s efforts to restrict en-

SENATE HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION

Republican ACA repeal bill collapses

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press

U.S. Capitol Police maintain order as hundreds of people, many with disabilities, arrive for a Senate Finance Committee hearing Monday on the last-ditch GOP push to overhaul the nation’s health care system, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she could not back the bill, which effectively ends the effort.

By SEAN SULLIVAN and JULIET EILPERIN

© 2017, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The latest Re-publican effort to unwind the Af-fordable Care Act collapsed on Monday as a third GOP senator an-nounced her opposition and left the proposal short of the votes needed to pass.

While one top Republican sena-tor held out the possibility that the Senate might still vote on the bill, others accepted the reality that the push had sputtered out after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined two of her colleagues in formal opposi-tion.

“Everybody knows that’s going to fail,” said Senate Finance Com-mittee Chairman Orrin Hatch R-Utah, who led a raucous, five-hour hearing on the bill Monday after-

Winchester ranked among nation’s top places for retirees

By BRIAN BREHMThe Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — If you could spend your retirement years any-where in America, where would you go?

According to Reader’s Digest, one of your best options is right here at home.

A Sept. 13 report on the maga-zine’s website named Winchester one of the 10 best small towns in America for retirees based on af-fordability, location, amenities and services.

This is not the first time Win-chester has been heralded as a spot for people seeking an idyl-lic place to retire. Since 2011, the city has earned similar recogni-tions from national publications including AARP The Magazine, MarketWatch.com, Forbes mag-azine, Kiplinger’s Personal Fi-nance magazine, Fidelity.com and Where to Retire magazine.

“Retirees are an important part

of the economic tapestry of any community,” Winchester Devel-opment Services Director Shawn Hershberger said Monday. “They add value with their knowledge, they add value with their ability to attract others.”

Reader’s Digest describes Winchester, which has a median household income of $45,363 and a current unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, as a budget-friendly community where 14.5 percent of the total population of 27,516 is above the age of 65.

Today’s retirees defy the ste-reotype of senior citizens who spend their golden years doing crossword puzzles and watching TV. Hershberger said many of the so-called “baby boomers” want to apply their knowledge and skills to new jobs and volunteer service.

“They’re much more active,” he said. “They have much more in common with millennials than

Poll: Northam leads in Va. governor race

By FENIT NIRAPPIL© 2017, The Washington Post

Virginia gubernatorial con-tender Ralph Northam and other Democrats in statewide contests are leading their GOP op-ponents six weeks before Election Day, according to a new survey of likely voters.

The poll released Monday by the Wason Center for Public Pol-icy at Christopher Newport Uni-versity found Northam had the support of 47 percent of voters while Republican Ed Gillespie had 41 percent. Libertarian Cliff Hyra claimed 4 percent of the vote and another 8 percent were

undecided.It’s the latest in a series of

polls to find Northam with ei-ther a slight lead or in dead heat with Gillespie ahead of the Nov. 7 contest.

The Wason poll found Northam had double-digit leads in northern Virgin-ia and Hampton Roads,

heavily populated, urban areas that have been key to Democratic victories in recent statewide con-tests. Gillespie had a slight edge among voters in rural south and southwest Virginia, and an eight-point lead in the Richmond-cen-tral Virginia area.

GINGER PERRY/The Winchester Star

Shenandoah University students Kaitlyn Shand (left) and Jo Ann Batteiger pack 5-gallon buckets with cleaning supplies Thursday in front of SU’s Goodson Chapel. The campus’ office of Spiritual Life bought the supplies, students packed the buckets and they will be delivered to Braddock Street United Methodist Church to be taken to Texas, where local United Methodist Committee on Relief Early Response Teams have been assisting in the Hurricane Harvey relief effort.

DECISION2017

The Virginia Emergency Management Department offers tips on how best to volunteer after disasters | A10

See Volunteers, Page A10

Virginia is ready to help communities

facing the long road to recovery from the devastation wrought on their cities and

towns by the recent hurricanes.

— Terry McAuliffeVirginia governor,

in a news release

See Guard, Page A10

See Retirees, Page A10

See Poll, Page A5

The new restrictions covering citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya,

North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen —

and some Venezuelan government officials and their families — are to go into effect

on Oct. 18.

See Travel ban, Page A5 See Health care, Page A5

Winchester Star - 09/26/2017 Page : A10

Copyright © 2017 Winchester Star 09/26/2017September 26, 2017 6:34 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

Copy Reduced to 77% from original to fit letter page

THE WINCHESTER STARA10 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

Some areas were untouched and beautiful. Then there were miles of homes covered in debris with all the contents of the homes piled in yards,” she said.

Dietz is trained and certified to be among the first wave of volunteers through United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and its Early Response Team training. After receiving ERT training, it is the United Meth-odist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) that co-ordinates volunteers from across the country, sending them where they are needed.

“When we’re out there, it’s not just about feeding people. They want to talk. They need to share their stories as part of the recovery process,” said American Red Cross disaster relief volunteer Pam Pampe, who arrived in Beaumont, Texas, on Sept. 18 and will return to her Winchester home Oct. 2.

“It’s bad here, and I’ve seen it before in my own front yard,” said Pampe, who lived in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. It’s because of the Red Cross response to Andrew that Pampe joined the organiza-tion when she moved to Winchester in 2004.

Like Dietz, Pampe is a trained disaster relief volunteer, having received her certi-fication from the Red Cross. And, like Unit-ed Methodist Volunteers in Mission, the Red Cross maintains a database of trained volun-teers it can call on to deploy where they’re needed.

“The hardest-hit areas around Port Arthur got power back on Sept. 20, almost a month after the hurricane,” Pampe said during a re-cent phone interview.

“I’m in an area where there were many fatalities, which creates more trauma for the survivors. They are in shock.”

Pampe, who is living in a motorcycle deal-ership building with 300 other volunteers, spends much of her time in Beaumont deliv-ering food.

After volunteers prepare and serve food each morning at a church, Red Cross vehicles are loaded with meals and snacks.

“We are feeding families that are living in what’s left of their homes, homeless families in shelters and people who are living in the woods,” she said.

“I think the Red Cross will probably be here feeding 10,000 people for two to three months,” Pampe said, referring to the Beau-mont area. Pampe could not estimate the vast-ness of the Red Cross meal program in all hurricane-affected areas.

Vanessa Santiago is a program specialist with Project HOPE’s Global Volunteer Pro-grams. She was part of a HOPE team de-ployed to clinics in Houston, Katy, Tomball and Rosenberg, Texas. Santiago spent three weeks in Texas, returning to her Winchester home late last week.

“Some roads were still flooded, and you could see watermarks on houses 6 feet high. People literally lost everything,” she said.

“I speak Spanish, so I did a lot of interpret-ing in the clinics,” she said. “I broke down and cried a few times.”

Santiago said many residents of the hard-est-hit areas in Texas don’t have health insur-ance, don’t speak English and fear that asking for help may result in immigration issues.

“We made sure people felt safe. Working out of churches helped,” she said.

“We saw a lot of health issues — allergies and asthma — related to mold and contami-

nated floodwaters,” Santiago said, adding that the disaster also contributed to high blood pressure, high anxiety and stress.

Mental health professionals are as in de-mand as doctors and nurses, she said.

Santiago said she was struck by the fact that many of the health care professionals and first responders who are helping live in the same neighborhoods.

“Their homes were damaged or de-stroyed, too.”

Dietz and her team members arrived in Victoria with 33 “flood buckets” — 5-gallon buckets with resealable lids filled with spe-cific cleaning supplies. Other volunteers at the church serving as the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission facility in Victoria had just distributed the last of their flood buckets.

“So, before preparing for work, we imme-diately handed out our buckets,” Dietz said.

Many of the flood buckets Dietz and her team took to Victoria were prepared by Shenandoah University students, who raised funds, purchased the specific supplies and packed the buckets.

“Students always want to do something immediately after a disaster. We are educat-ing them to wait. Be patient. Let people [in the disaster area] tell us what they need,” said Shenandoah’s Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Spiritual Life Justin Allen. “Don’t rush in and do something just to make yourself feel good.”

The university, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, has long part-nered with United Methodist Committee on Relief, supporting its humanitarian relief ef-forts around the world. Allen reminds stu-dents of the church’s guiding principles: Do no harm. Do good.

“We know cleaning buckets are need-ed now, and we can go to the Dollar Store, Lowe’s and Walmart and prepare buckets for about $65 each,” Allen said.

The City Sheriff’s Office Foundation and the City Fire and Rescue Foundation were

among the local organizations that heard the call for cleaning supplies and responded.

Over one weekend in mid-September, Win-chester-based Shine Transportation parked a tractor-trailer outside the Costco Wholesale warehouse on Front Royal Pike (U.S. 522). Customers were handed lists of specific clean-ing supplies and items such as flashlights, bat-teries and water.

“It was amazing,” said Winchester Sheriff Les Taylor. “I didn’t think we’d fill the truck in a weekend, but we live in such a good, caring community. We filled the truck with 26 pallets of supplies and water.”

Taylor said organizing the collection was a huge undertaking, but once Shine Transpor-tation came through with a truck, the biggest challenge was met.

“Costco let us hand out flyers, and people gave generously,” Taylor said. “Some people gave us cash — one man handed us $500 — so we were able to buy another $500 worth of supplies and give Shine Transportation $500 toward fuel for the trip to Texas.”

Recovery in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands will take years. Volunteers from the Winchester area and across the country will be helping families and communities clean and rebuild long after the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30.

Dietz, Pampe and Santiago encourage anyone who can physically help, or serve as translators, to work with organizations to re-ceive proper certification.

Because working in disaster areas is phys-ically demanding and emotionally draining, most agencies sent relief workers for two or three weeks, and then required them to go home to recover.

Everyone who has experience in disaster relief says the best way to help is to send mon-ey to reputable agencies.

“I strongly recommend [United Method-ist Committee on Relief] and the American

Red Cross, because every penny goes where it is needed,” said Dietz, noting volunteers pay their own expenses, sleep in donated facilities — usually churches — and do all they can not to take resources away from residents.

Pampe said financial contributions can be turned into debit cards for hurricane survi-vors.

“Individuals can take those cards, buy ex-actly what they need, and the money supports local businesses, which desperately need to recover, too.”

Santiago said, “Organizations like Project HOPE are successful because we don’t show up and tell people what we’re going to do. We show up and ask, ‘What is your need?’”

Dietz said everything residents need — from diapers to tarps for covering roofs to mold removal products — are available lo-cally.

“Sending stuff may make you feel good, but it diverts the energy and focus of people who are working in disaster areas,” Allen said.

Another reason to wait, Allen said, is help will be needed long after the disaster is no lon-ger front-page news. In December, he is tak-ing a group of students on a mission trip to Virginia Beach to help with ongoing rebuild-ing efforts there — more than a year after Hurricane Matthew.

Dietz said it was hard to return to Win-chester when there is so much that needs to be done to help hurricane survivors recover and rebuild.

“This disaster is far from over. We moved so quickly from Harvey to Irma to Maria,” said Dietz. “But there is hope when we can continue to work at it piece by piece, day by day.”

— Contact Cathy Kuehner at ckuehner@winchesterstar.com

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WEATHER & NEWS

The Virginia Depar t-ment of Emergency Man-agement wants individuals to know how best to help communities devastated by hurricanes without risk-ing their own economic or personal safety and with-out putting additional bur-den on those areas receiv-ing unsolicited aid.

The most effective way to support communities impacted by hurricanes is to donate money and time to trusted, reputable non-profit charitable organiza-tions, according to the de-partment. Additionally:

• Cash donations offer nonprofit agencies flex-ibility to address urgent needs, and allow them to obtain needed re-sources nearer to the disaster location. This also provides an eco-

nomic boost to local businesses.

• Do not donate unso-licited goods such as used clothing, house-hold items, medicine or perishable food. When used personal items ar-rive, the helping agen-cies must redirect staff away from providing di-rect services to survi-vors in order to sort, package, transpor t, warehouse and distrib-ute items that may not meet the needs of di-saster survivors.

• Donate money through trusted organizations. Many volunteer-, faith- and community-based organizations are active in disasters and are trusted conduits for fi-nancial donations.

• Volunteers should not

self-deploy. Unexpected volunteers showing up in impacted areas will cre-ate additional burdens for first responders.

• Potential volunteers are asked to register with a voluntary or charita-ble organization of their choice, many of which are already deployed and supporting survi-vors on the ground.

• Volunteers should only go into affected areas with a specific volun-teer assignment, prop-er safety gear and valid identification to ensure volunteer safety, as well as the safety of disas-ter survivors.

• Visit the National Volun-tary Organizations Ac-tive in Disaster at nvoad.org/howtohelp to learn how to help.

State offers tips on volunteeringVolunteers

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GINGER PERRY/The Winchester Star

Shenandoah University sophomore Alaina Anderson (left) and SU office of Spiritual Life intern Joy Chappell unwrap cleaning items Thursday in front of the school’s Goodson Chapel. The items will be packed in 5-gallon buckets to be used by local United Methodist Committee on Relief Early Response Teams that have been assisting in Victoria, Texas, after Hurricane Harvey.

and the Virgin Islands. We will continue to offer Vir-ginia’s assistance for short- and long-term recovery.”

Hurricanes Har vey, Irma and Maria are among the storms that have left a path of destr uction throughout the Caribbean, Texas and the southeast-ern United States during the 2017 hurricane season.

Houston was particu-larly hard hit by Harvey, while Irma tore through the Caribbean before hit-ting Florida. Maria has pummeled the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Now a Category 1 hurri-cane, Maria was threat-ening the North Carolina coast as of Monday, ac-cording to USA Today.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, home to about 106,000 peo-ple, and Puerto Rico, home to more than 3 million peo-ple, are both American ter-ritories. In the wake of the hurricanes, the islands are

experiencing widespread power outages, loss of com-munications systems and a shortage of clean water and food, according to The Washington Post.

The New York Times reports 80 percent of crop value in Puerto Rico was wiped out by Maria. The governor there has warned of a coming humanitarian crisis.

The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands has publicly asked for help af-ter Irma and Maria. He said Maria hammered the island of St. Croix, which was the base of operations for hurricane relief efforts after Irma.

Anyone who wants to learn more about aid vol-unteering can visit vaemer-gency.gov/want-help-hurricane-vic-tims-heres-right/.

— Contact Onofrio Castiglia at ocastiglia@winchesterstar.com

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retirees from 20 years ago. They want a lot of the same things, and they’re way more tech-savvy than a lot of young people.”

In terms of recreational activities for retirees, Win-chester is well-suited for golf, equestrian and cycling enthu-siasts, Reader’s Digest wrote.

Amy Simmons, communi-cations director for the city, said creating recreational and cultural opportunities is one of four specific goals list-ed in the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan adopted by City Coun-cil, because that helps attract retirees to the community and improve the city’s over-all financial health.

“Typically, they have ex-pendable income and they contribute to the larger eco-nomic picture,” Hershberg-er said.

“Without the econom-ic impact on schools,” Sim-mons added.

Reader’s Digest also tout-ed Winchester’s “room to

roam, clean air to breathe” and called it “a quiet space to reflect and relax” just 65 miles west of Washington, D.C., and about 100 miles from Baltimore.

“Our proximity to major markets is a huge advan-tage,” Hershberger said.

Closer to home, Win-chester’s appeal to retirees starts downtown.

“There are over 30 res-taurants and eateries, over 60 shops, constant activities. It’s a fun place to be,” Hersh-berger said. “Once you get outside of the downtown, there are even more ameni-ties, more things to do.”

While some nearby com-munities offer housing at a lower price than Winchester, Hershberger said the con-venience of being in the city adds to its overall appeal.

“Similar to the habits of millennials, you see retirees wanting to be in walkable communities, close to ame-nities and businesses so they don’t have to drive anymore,” he said. “That extra added

value of walkability differen-tiates Winchester from ev-erybody else.”

In addition to Winchester, Reader’s Digest said the best small towns in Amer-ica for retirees are: Palm Springs, Calif.; Burlington, Vt.; San Marcos, Texas;

Bloomington, Ind.; Lewiston, Maine; Naples, Fla.; Holly-wood, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Bellingham, Wash. The complete article is available at RD.com/advice/saving-money/best-places-to-retire.

— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com

Retirees

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