Send announcements to The Loudoun Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102, e-mail to loudoun@connectionnewspapers.com or fax to 703-917-0991. Deadline is Friday, two weeks before the event. Photos/artwork encouraged. For more information, call Jennifer Lesinski at 703-917-6454.
The first ÒWalk to Shelter HomelessÓ took place Saturday, Oct. 22 in historic Leesburg and was sponsored by the Good Shepherd Alliance (GSA) and Fannie Mae Foundation. Fifty-five men, women and children registered to walk in the event to raise funds for homeless programs and to foster volunteerism in service to homeless people.
Loudoun Sheriff Steve Simpson was one of the more than 500 community leaders from across the country invited Thursday, Oct. 27, to the first White House Conference on Helping America's Youth hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.
The conference, held at Howard University in Washington, D.C., included parents, civic leaders, faith-based and community service providers, foundations, educators, researchers, and experts in child development who discussed the various problems facing America's youth and solutions shown to be successful in overcoming those challenges
Part of the initiative includes a new Web-based guide to support community efforts to improve the lives of youth. The guide includes an online assessment tool, available now for the first time at www.helpingamericasyouth.gov.
At its annual membership meeting Oct. 17, members of the Loudoun Arts Council elected its 2006 Board of Directors.
New and returning officers include: president, Jeffrey Stern, director, The Barns at Franklin Park; vice president, Roxann Henze, public relations consultant and marketing and communications manager for Leadership Fairfax; secretary, Dan Williams, painter and senior associate/manager of engineering at Dewberry; and treasurer, Tom Fischetti, CPA with Leesburg practice.
The four new board members are Mary Glale Holden, attorney with Sterling general law practice; Linda Ifert, theater technical director, Reston Community Center; Meredith Bean McMath, artistic director, Aurora Studio Theatre; and Heather Valdez Stillings, theater instructor, Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center.
The Good Shepherd Alliance (GSA) announces that Robert Ohneiser, attorney-at-law and Broad Run District Loudoun County School Board member, has joined its Board of Directors as a volunteer. Ohneiser runs a law practice, contributes to the well-being of the county public school system and now plans to assist GSA in establishing homeless awareness and supporting homeless programs in Loudoun County. He is a St. Theresa parishioner and has lived in Ashburn Village since 1994. His children have previously been involved in homeless support efforts by setting up a program to pick up GSA "Wish List" items in Ashburn Village and deliver them directly to the Family Shelter in Lucketts.
Ohneiser earned his bachelor of science from General Motors Institute of Technology, which was a cooperative work study program, paying his way through college and graduated with work experience. He also earned an MBA from Pace University and his Juris Doctorate from Pace Law School in New York.
Ohneiser is one of the founding members of the Loudoun County adult soccer league and still plays weekly on Ashburn United. His two sons play soccer and attend Loudoun County Public School.
The Virginia Health Care Foundation announces the election of Dr. Thom Mayer to its Board of Trustees. Mayer is the president and CEO of Best Practices and has been widely recognized as the nationÕs foremost expert in leadership and management in emergency medicine and hospital care. He also devised one of the most widely known customer service training courses, the Survival Skills course.
Mayer currently chairs the Board of Visitors of Duke Medicine and is the Medical Director of the NFL Players Association. Mayer has also served on the following boards: Inova Health Foundation, American Board of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The Potomac School, The Society for Pediatric Trauma, the Society for Pediatric Emergency Medicine, the Virginia and Florida chapters of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Trauma Society. On Sept. 11, 2001, he served as one of the Command Physicians at the Pentagon Rescue Operation, coordinating medical assets at the site. Mayer is a graduate of Hanover College (Summa Cum Laude) and Duke University School of Medicine.
The Virginia Health Care Foundation is a nonprofit public/private partnership dedicated to increasing access to primary care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians, by strengthening and growing VirginiaÕs health care safety net.
Loudoun Clerk of the Circuit Court Gary M. Clemens announces that eight deputy clerks have completed the
certification program for deputy clerks offered by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.
The recently certified deputy clerks and their areas of expertise are Bobby Anderson, case management division; Susan Barbini, courtroom clerk; James Bohnaker, public services division; Laura Boudreaux, bookkeeping and accounting; Joan Hope, public services division; Leslie
Kelly, jury management; Terry Sealock, bookkeeping and accounting and Michele Timmons, probate.