University of Virginia Library

'Can You Move A Piano This Afternoon?'

By HUGH BRENT

"What a wonderful group of
boys!" says Mrs. Dorothy
Crenshaw of volunteers in
Madison Hall's SCRUB
Program. Mrs. Crenshaw lives
in a gray stucco house across
from the Sheraton Motel on
Rt. 250 with her handicapped
husband and four sons.

"Some of the ladies out
here are hoping to get their
homes improved soon." She
needed a new flue, a new floor
furnace, and a back porch
addition and these have been
completed through the efforts
of SCRUB (Students
Concerned for Rural and
Urban Betterment).

Project SCRUB is one of
five programs coordinated by
The Office of Volunteer
Community Service of Madison
Hall. The Office acts as a
directive through which
students help Charlottesville
and Albemarle County, by
promoting social encounters,
physical improvement projects
and education programs.

Dennis Moyer is the present
director of Project SCRUB,
which was conceived in the
summer of 1969 in response to
the destruction wrought by
Hurricane Camille.

"Last year we did a survey
on slum housing in
Charlottesville, those houses
assessed at a value of less than
$500 a room, and inspected
200 of the worst ones," he
said"We are now looking for
photographers or people
willing to drive them to the
various sites" so that their
research can be documented
with pictures.

Lynn Ivey is one of two
directors of The Tutorial
Program which has about 200
men and women working on an
individual basis with local
school children and adults.
"The most satisfying aspect of
the Tutorial Program is the
marked improvement in the
attitude of the person and,
very often, a rise in the grades
in the student's next
semester."

Through the Big
Brother/Big Sister Program
over 250 students and
community members have

been brought together with
children who have only one
parent or guardian or have
both parents working.

Volunteers work closely
with Charlottesville churches,
the Welfare Departments, the
Westhaven Federal Housing
Project, city schools, the
Probation Department, and the
University of Virginia Hospital
to find the children who need
help and what their special
problems are.

"These kids have very rarely
been out of their immediate
neighborhoods and are
typically getting little or no
attention at home because of
their parents working different
shifts," said Program Director
Mason Granger. "Our goal is to
bring out in the child his own
personality, help him gin
self-confidence and
self-respect, and contribute this
latent potential to the
community."

Group activities, such as the
Easter' Egg Hunt at President
Shannon's home on Carr's Hill,
are planned throughout the
year. Big Brothers and Sisters
are free to do things
independently with their
companions, and are
encouraged to spend at least
tow hours a week with them.
Recreational programs are
organized in cooperation with
the Inter Fraternity Council.

Last year there was a
basketball league in the fall and
winter seasons and a soccer
league in the spring. Film
shows, visits to the Community
Children's Theater and U.Va.
basketball games are planned
for the coming year.

Jay Paradise, a 3rd year Law
student, directs, the
Professional Services Center.
"This past summer the wife of
an Indian chief living in
Albemarle County came to us
for assistance in getting a
hospital claim processed," he
said, Neither she nor her
husband can read so the Center
helped process the
paperwork."

More volunteers are needed
from the Commerce, Graduate
Business, and Law Schools to
aid area small businessmen.
The Professional Services
Center helps channel
volunteers to meet specific
needs which require some
professional expertise.

Law student volunteers
serve as researchers in the
Student Attorney office. By
counseling court-bound
juvenile offenders and their
parents at home and assisting
the court-appointed attorney
in case research, they help the
court handle its caseload more
effectively.

Consumer service is one goal
of the Center. Moira Donahue
warned about "door to door
magazine sales campaigns with
altered receipt books, inflated
prices, and vocal promises not
expressed in writing." New
publications from the
Professional Services Center
writing to help consumers
protect themselves include
Landlord/Tenant Handbook,
Where-to-Call Directory, and a
consumer newsletter Trouble
Shooter.

New programs for this year
include "Madison Hall want
Ads," which will seek
volunteers for instant projects
on short notice ("Can you
move a piano this afternoon?")
and a Skills Bank which will
register people who have
normal and special skills.

Director of the Office of
Volunteer Services Frederick
A. Noble said, "students with
new ideas should approach the
Office and use our resources
and facilities to initiate action
and change." The office is
located at 1908A Lewis
Mountain Rd., across from
Memorial Gym.

Volunteers are desperately
needed for a short term project
to tutor and care for children
of migrant workers picking
apples in Albemarle County.
Can you spare a few hours one afternoon a week until the
crop is picked? If so, please call
977-7051.