You can help at Churchland pillow sew-ins

It’s amazing how far a good idea can go. When Carol Armstrong made and shipped a small pillow to her soldier son Nick, it was her way of reminding him of home. He asked for a few for his buddies, and then the idea became a hit in his unit. Three years later, Carol has made and shipped 13,000 pillows to Afghanistan through her Operation Pocket Field Pillow. Small enough to fit into a uniform pants leg pocket, the pillow is used when soldiers are on missions away from their outposts. Local groups support Carol’s dream by hosting sew-ins to assemble and stuff the pillows. Carol provides the material and filling, most of which is donated. I dropped in on Resurrection Church’s monthly fourth Tuesday sew-in last week. Also, the Beazley Senior Center has a sew-in every second Tuesday. Carol has started a new endeavor: key chains. Designed from old uniforms Nick wore on missions, the chain has a yellow ribbon embroidered on one side and “I support our troops” on the other. They are $10 each and the proceeds will be used to help offset shipping costs for the pillows. Do you like to sew or want to help? Bring your sewing machine and/or willing hands to either sew-in. Visit http://justforbabygifts.wordpress.com to buy a chain. See pictures from Resurrection’s sewing day at my blog.

            Tidewater Community College’s outgoing president, Deborah DiCroce, gave a presentation to city leaders on the success of Portsmouth’s Fred W. Beazley campus as they celebrated the second year at the new location. It was impressive. The school moved from its longtime Suffolk home to a new Victory Village site just before the spring semester of 2010. Since then, attendance in all categories – college transfer, career and technical, women, men, African-American, and all age groups – has increased dramatically. The news pleased TCC alumnus Mayor Kenneth Wright. The campus is planning a student center. Terry Zenisek of Hatton Point is taking classes in a special-education program that transfers to ODU. “The school is beautiful, and the instructors are great. Everyone should take a class at TCC,” she said.

If you need to thin out your book collection, the Friends of the Portsmouth Public Library can help. The combination of canceled sales after the December 2010 closure of the main branch coupled with robust sales after the August restart has left the group in need of stock. Funds from the first-of-the-month sales pay for children’s programs, new equipment and furniture and all library copiers, supplies and maintenance costs. Paperback and hardback titles in all categories are needed. New magazines, CDs and DVDs are also welcome. They cannot accept encyclopedias, Reader’s Digests and old magazines. Quality, clean books in good condition should be put in small boxes or sturdy bags and brought to The Book Nook at the entrance to the Churchland library. Free pickup can also be arranged by calling Stormy at 686-8034 or Jeanne at 397-8830.     

       Portsmouth offers free group exercise classes at various park and recreation centers throughout the city. The four-year-old program has options for all fitness levels and classes include Zumba, body sculpting, aerobics, line dancing, yoga, step and cardio. Churchland Middle School cheerleading coach Porlicia Brown is one of the facilitators. She teaches yoga, zumba and a class called Instructor’s Choice. The Norfolk State University junior is working toward a degree in heath fitness and exercise science. She’s been involved in fitness for eight years – in Portsmouth’s schools and recreation departments, at NSU and at Norfolk’s Dance Dimension studio. Porlicia hopes to open her own family fitness studio one day, including after-school homework assistance. A list of free classes and locations can be found under the parks and recreation tab at the city’s website.

Contact me at pamelawrites@hotmail.com or 717-0628 with Churchland news you’d like  to see on this page.

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.