Amid Food and Recognition of Student Athletes, Reaching Out Now Anticipates the Opening of the Youth Center

“Without her advocacy within our community and Reaching Out Now as an organization, a lot of this connectedness would not be possible,” said Superintendent Christopher Ballenger on Thursday evening, March 21, at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria of Skyline High School, where members of the Warren County school system had gathered together for a meal and recognition of student-athletes, an event hosted by Reaching Out Now (RON) of which Samantha Barber is the president. Ballenger thanked her for “her leadership in bringing a lot of people together.”

Superintendent Christopher Ballenger and President of Reaching Out Now Samantha Barber come together on Thursday evening in partnership to conduct a meal and the recognition of excellence in student-athletes. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

Reaching Out Now, first and foremost, is about connectedness. Whether developing leadership in young people through the Warren County school system or bringing meals to those in need during the pandemic, RON aggressively seeks to identify needs and meet them. One of the biggest needs that Samantha Barber and her team perceive is the need for a youth center in Warren County, a safe place that eighth through twelfth graders can consider their own, where they will come together to be fed, develop friendships, and be challenged through programs to identify what they are passionate about and where their future might lead them.

Culinary artist Devin Smith of the Blue Ridge Technical Center, who oversaw Thursday evening’s meal, stands behind sisters Adisyn Waters on the left and Aniyah Waters on the right as they manage the cotton candy making.

That need has a great chance of being met. In what is, in many ways, a culmination of RON’s history going back to 2008, the revitalized Raymond E. Santmyers Student Union and Activity Center has its soft opening next month. Located at 200 East 8^th Street in Front Royal, near the Bing Crosby Stadium, this building has undergone a total overhaul that leaves it freshly painted, in adherence to safety standards, and nearly ready for young people to walk through the front door. As Barber confesses, much still needs to be done to realize the youth center fully. However, at every point, she and her team received what they needed to keep the wheel turning. With RON’s Safe at Home program gathering steam with a softball game and a baseball game in May, the RON team is anticipating many pivotal moments that will shape its history. Still, above all, it amazes Barber to see so many different people from so many walks of life with their own unique passions and skill sets coming together to make the dream of a youth center come true.

Skyline High School basketball coach Harold Chun gives a picture with Kaleb Smith on the left and Dwayne Tucker on the right.

All the student athletes from the Warren County public school system who were recognized on Monday evening for scholastic excellence and awarded certificates pose together for a group shot with Barber, Ballenger, and others.