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The 2022 Leigh Ann Bolinskey Memorial 5K Run/Walk will be on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Big Stone Gap. Mountain Empire Older Citizens hosts the event to raise money for the agency’s Mountain Laurel Cancer Support and Resource Center. Bolinskey was the center’s director from 2004 until 2014 when she died of leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer. The 5K will begin at the Big Stone Gap Visitor Center and follow the Greenbelt Trail. Registration will open at 8 a.m. The race will start at 9 a.m.

The 11th Annual Harold Lester Memorial Golf Tournament raised $12,500 to assist local cancer patients and their families. Nineteen teams participated in the June 17 tournament. The event, held at Lonesome Pine Country Club in Big Stone Gap, benefits the Harold Lester Memorial Fund of the Mountain Laurel Cancer Support and Resource Center. The center is operated by Mountain Empire Older Citizens, Inc., the local Area Agency on Aging serving Lee, Scott, and Wise counties and the City of Norton.

Proceeds from a June 17 golf tournament in Big Stone Gap will provide direct help to local cancer patients throughout the community. The 11th Annual Harold Lester Memorial Golf Tournament will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Lonesome Pine Country Club. Registration opens at 8 a.m. The event supports the Harold Lester Memorial Fund of MEOC’s Mountain Laurel Cancer Support and Resource Center.

The 46th Annual Mountain Empire Older Citizens Walkathon has brought in more than $123,800 so far, and every cent will help heat an older adult’s home in our area this coming winter. Held Sunday, May 15, on Big Stone Gap’s Greenbelt Trail under beautiful blue skies and great weather, the event was a fundraiser for MEOC’s Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly.

Seventy-four-year-old Barbara Taylor began raising money for the Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly about 20 years ago. Back then, she was a personal care aide for Mountain Empire Older Citizens, the area agency on aging that has operated the fuel fund since 1975. Relying entirely on donations, with no money ever used for administrative costs, the fuel fund helps older adults in Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the City of Norton with emergency heating expenses.

Living on a fixed income, 96-year-old Magdalene Stipe says increased heating costs in the winter months means she may have to do without something else she needs. So she was appreciative when her MEOC personal care aide told her about the Emergency Fuel Fund for the Elderly. “I was so thankful she told me about it,” said Stipe.

The Southwest Virginia Children’s Advocacy Center marks its 20th anniversary this month of helping child abuse victims in the region. The CAC opened on April 29, 2002, allowing a multidisciplinary team to work together to handle child abuse cases in the region. The center is located at Mountain Empire Older Citizens in Big Stone Gap and serves Lee, Scott, Wise and Dickenson counties and the City of Norton. Since opening its doors, the CAC has assisted child abuse victims and their families in more than 2,300 cases.

Mountain Empire Transit veteran driver Jon Lovell brought home the top award from the 2022 Community Transportation Association of Virginia’s Paratransit Roadeo, and MET’s four-member team earned the overall highest score in the competition. MET driver Jeff Whisman placed third in the best driver competition, giving MEOC two of the three top awards, and all MET team members earned the highest score in at least one category. The event was held on Saturday, April 2, at Salem Civic Center and tested competitors on various skills, focusing on safety and passenger sensitivity.