🌱 Christmas Is Not Cancelled Campaign + Project Lifesaver Awareness

Greetings, friends! Happy weekend! Here's a look art the news today.

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Now, today's weather:

Humid; a morning thunderstorm.

High: 84 Low: 71.

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Here are the top five stories in Roanoke today:

1. Actress and Roanoke native Jen Lilley has partnered with some local organizations to make sure as many foster kids as possible have the back to school supplies they need to get the year started right. Lilley grew up in the Cave Spring area and is one of the founders of the Christmas Is Not Cancelled campaign , a series of giving campaigns featuring family friendly celebrities. "These children fall into the cracks; only 50% of children in foster care graduate high school, and only 3% go on to a graduate school or a college,” Lilley said. “It’s very important that these kids understand that there are people all around them that believe that they can rewrite the narrative of their story." If you're interested in donating a back to school backpack click here. (WDBJ, Christmas Is Not Cancelled website)
2. Downtown Roanoke book store Book No Further is set to host the local launch of Roanoke author Beth Macy's newest book, “Raising Lazarus,” on August 22 at 7 p.m. The launch will be at the City Market building and admission is free with the purchase of the book. Raising Lazarus is a sequel of sorts to Macy's New York Bestseller, “Dopesick,” that continues to tell the story of everyday heroes fighting to stem the tide of opioid addiction. The book launch will be followed by an author signing and books can be purchased in advance here. (Roanoker, Book No Further)
3. This weekend is Virginia's "Sales Tax Holiday" that allows Virginians to forgo paying the 4.3% state sales tax on certain purchases. The items being purchased must fall into one of a few specific categories to be eligible including school supplies and emergency preparedness products. One Roanoke area business in particular is preparing for a busy weekend. "Mainly it’s because we are a Stihl dealer and we offer the chainsaws. If they can save some money on taxes, they are going to come in and spend a little more with us. With the climate change, it seems like there’s a lot more storms and weather anyways, so it’s probably the best year to take advantage of tax free savings for your hurricane preparedness,” Northwest Ace Hardware assistant manager Mike Fitzgerald said. (WDBJ)
4. Dating as far back as the 1850s, Roanoke is home to numerous historical Black churches and now a program through the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preserving Black Churches, exists as a source of potential funding to help those churches preserve black history and culture. Reverend Preston Tyler of Hill Street Baptist Church, which started in a small house with only six members, recently spoke of the grant opportunity saying "It’s information that I didn’t even know about. And I’m quite sure a lot of other churches didn’t even know about." The grants can be spent on capital improvements, staffing, and operations and can be as high as $200,000. "As the Black community, all we had was the Black church. On Monday through Friday, on Monday through Saturday, we were this, we were that, we were domestics, we were cooks, we were all of that. But on Sunday morning, we felt like we were somebody," Reverend Tyler said. The deadline to apply for the grant is September 2 and the application is located here. (WSLS)
5. The Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office has begun a new public awareness program about Project Lifesaver after 13-year-old Bobby Curry wandered away from his home last week and sparked a citywide search. Project Lifesaver provides tracking and monitoring bracelets to people with mental disabilities, though Curry had cut his off prior to leaving home. "They daily should be checking for the bracelets to make sure it is on the individual. If it’s not, they should notify us immediately. If they realize that it has been cut off or it has been removed, we come out and we try to locate the transmitter," Major Monica Perkins said. Project Lifesaver is free to Roanoke residents and the application is located here. (WDBJ)

Today in Roanoke:

• Blue Ridge Potters Guild Free Demonstrations at the Salem Museum (10 a.m.)
• Book signing: “NEWS!” by Dan Smith at Book No Further (11 a.m.)
• Downtown Food and Cultural Tour hosted by Tour Roanoke (11 a.m.)
• Big Lick Comic Con at the Berglund Special Events Center (11 a.m.)
• Charissa Joy at the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s Music by the Tracks (5:30 p.m.)
• Glam’r Kiti at Twin Creeks Brewing Company (6:30 p.m.)
• International Wine Festival at the Taubman Museum of Art (7 p.m.)
• Shakedown Street Party at Martin’s Downtown Bar and Grill (8 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• Roanoke County Public Schools: "This morning, we welcomed back teachers at our annual convocation. This year, we had the honor of hosting Gerry Brooks, who gave a very funny and inspiring presentation to help our teachers (sorry, educators) get ready for another year." (Roanoke County Public Schools via Facebook)
• Roanoke Police Department: "Command staff provided an appreciation meal for employees working today, to thank them for all their hard work. Huge thank you to Mission BBQ for providing and serving a delicious lunch! Our officers and professional staff greatly appreciate it." (Roanoke Police Department via Facebook)
• City of Roanoke Government: "Congratulations to the Branch Group on the opening of their new 58,000 square foot headquarters! The Branch Group has had ties to Roanoke for over 50 years and currently serves clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States." (City of Roanoke via Facebook)
• Roanoke Valley SPCA: "Our friend Bryce recently celebrated his 10th birthday! Bryce visits our shelter every week for our Paws to Read program and loves hanging out with the kitties. So, instead of asking for birthday gifts, he chose to collect donations for our cats and dogs!" (Roanoke Valley SPCA via Facebook)
• Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke: There are oodles and oodles of opossums. ... It is that time of year again! Opossum baby season part two is here and we need your help! We are getting opossums by the bucketful and we need YOUR help to fund their care. Opossums are an expensive animal to care for because they have to have perfectly-rationed diets throughout their entire life and they are one of the slowest developing animals we care for." (Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke via Facebook)

You're officially in the loop for today. See you all tomorrow morning!

— Ian

About me: Ian Graham is a novelist, screenwriter, and freelance contributing writer. His interests are in politics, history, and religion and the stories and characters he writes about are centered on the explosive conflicts created when the three intersect. He is a firm believer in being yourself… unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Roanoke Daily? Contact me at roanoke@patch.com