Outside Old Town: What’s Happening in Manassas

By CINDY BROOKSHIRE
For Potomac Local News

If you missed the talented student performances at Osbourn High School’s HolidayFEST 2012 on Dec. 13, you can still enjoy video highlights on the OHS Choirs’ YouTube Channel. The Choirs are directed by Matthew Harrison, with choral assistants Lynn Jost and Milton Rodgers. See and hear:

• Riu, Riu, Chiu, performed by the OHS Guitar Ensembles and OHS Concert Choir

• You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch, performed by the OHS Men’s Choir

• Ave Maria, performed by OHS Women’s Select

• For the Beauty of the Earth, performed by OHS Eclipse

• Fum, Fum, Fum and Carol of the Bells, performed by OHS CenterStage

• Festival Sanctus and Hallelujah Chorus, performed by OHS Combined Ensembles

The eight performances are less than 30 minutes and are worth the views. For more glimpses into life at the City of Manassas’ one-and-only public high school, check out the Osbourn High School YouTube Channel.

Holtzlander new Neighborhood Coordinator

Here’s great news for neighborhoods and community capacity building in Prince William County and the Manassas area: the county has hired Cathy Holtzlander as the new Neighborhood Coordinator in the county’s Neighborhood Services Division. Holtzlander served as Assistant Town Manager and was Director of Community Services for Dumfries.

“Cathy has extensive experience with community event planning and civic engagement, upon which we will rely heavily,” said Patricia M. Reilly, Neighborhood Services Division Chief for Prince William County’s Department of Public Works.

If you’re a representative of your neighborhood association, you can connect with Holtzlander at [email protected] and 703-792-6864.

The information hubs for “all things neighborhood” are pwcgov.org/government/dept/publicworks/ns/Pages/default.aspx for Prince William County residents and manassascity.org/index.aspx?NID=302 for Manassas residents.

Save the date! The county’s Neighborhood Conference will be Feb. 23, 2013.

Lou Balboni honored with section of trail

Volunteer Prince William’s RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) congratulates RSVP volunteer Lou Balboni, who was honored when a section of trail along the Prince William Parkway was dedicated to him for being a great civic leader. Balboni has lived in Prince William County for more than 30 years. He has been an active member of the Old Town Business Association, the Manassas Business Council, the Woodbine Woods Civic Association, the Prince William County Landfill Solid Waste Citizen Advisory Committee and Landfill Citizen Oversight Committee, the Prince William Health System Auxiliary and Prince William Health System Foundation and the Local Emergency Planning Committee, among others. He continues to volunteer with RSVP, the local part of America’s largest volunteer network for people age 65 and over.

If you’ve gained a lifetime of experience, put your skills and talents to good use by volunteering with Lou Balboni and others as they tackle the tough issues in the Manassas and Prince William area. Contact Coleen Hersson at chersson[at]volunteerprincewilliam.org or call 703-369-5292. Applications are available online.

Backpack Snack Attack reaches third year

Sandy Thompson, R.N., M.S.N., Supervisor of Administrative Services for Manassas City Public Schools reports that Manassas Backpack Snack Attack, now in its third year of providing weekend food packs for selected students, is going great. Community partners for the 2012-13 year are Trinity Episcopal Church, Grace United Methodist Church, Manassas Pediatrics, Manassas Lioness Lions Club and the fitness club, Just Raise the Bar. So far the partners have packed 294 bags and provided 1,764 weekend meals.

“This program is a great community engagement project in which all are working together to address childhood hunger for those students who families have lost jobs or are experiencing an illness,” said Thompson. Church youth groups and students, such as the Life Skills class at Osbourn High School, pack the items. “Healthy eating has been a real plus to our program.”

Manassas Backpack Snack Attack runs through May and is inspiring similar programs in elementary schools in Dale City and Haymarket. For more information on how you can help, contact Sandy Thompson at 571-377-6043 or sthompson[at]manassas.k12.va.us.

Leadership Prince William headed to Richmond to meet Gov. McDonnell

Leadership Prince William program participants, both current class and alumni, are headed on a Road to Richmond Trip on Jan. 10. Plans are for participants to be welcomed by Governor Bob McDonnell, take a personal tour of the Virginia Capitol, have the opportunity to talk with Secretary of Commerce Jim Cheng, visit with Prince William area legislators and be recognized by the General Assembly. LPW alumni seek to be agents of change in Manassas and the greater Prince William area and leave a positive footprint in the community. Application for Leadership Prince William’s Class of 2014 opens in Feb. 2013. For more information, go to leadershipprincewilliam.org.

Americans in Wartime Museum looking for storytellers

The Americans in Wartime Museum is looking for more local veterans, spouses and others to share their personal experiences with the museum’s wartime oral history project. A team of volunteers, led by Greg Pass, is preserving these memories of citizens serving the cause of freedom for researchers and the public. Forty interviews have been conducted to date.

“We interview veterans from all wars, although World War II veterans take priority for obvious reasons,” Pass explained in the Winter 2012 issue of the museum’s newsletter.

Short, edited versions are posted on the museum’s website and YouTube channel, including interviews with Bill Becker, a WWII veteran from Manassas; Jack Lilley, a Korean War veteran from Catharpin; Jerry Martin, a Vietnam veteran from Nokesville and Gary West, a Gulf War veteran from Bristow. Raw video will be retained by the Museum and shared with the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project. Oral histories are also shared at roundtables and school programs.

Volunteers with video and/or editing experience are needed to continue and expand the Wartime Oral History Project at the Museum, which will be housed on a 70-acre site in eastern Prince William. For more information, contact Greg Pass at gpass[at]nmaw.org.

Walk with Walgreen’s

As 2012 ends…and thoughts of a healthy new 2013 come to mind, here’s a boost from the Walk with Walgreen’s Step Up Challenge. Neighborhood participants who bonded in the program continue to walk and share health and wellness tips. For more information, contact City of Manassas Neighborhood Services, [email protected] or the pharmacist at the Walgreens store nearest you.

Peacock produces pre-dawn VRE video

Earlier this month, rail advocate and Manassas resident Dan Peacock shot scenes of a pre-dawn VRE commuter train arriving out of the night time blackness and into a blaze of lights at the Old Town Manassas train station, and added his visual effects. Enjoy.

Cindy Brookshire is a professional writer and editor who lives in Manassas. Reach her at cindybrookshire.com.