FRWRC CenterStage with Joanne Cherefko, poet and writer of her third book, “Souls Tilled Like Soil.”  Watch this interview for great information and details about this new book:

On May 25th, there will be a book launch at 4:30pm at the Shenandoah River State Park (Andy Guest State Park). Prepaid passes, so no need to pay to enter. To get to the Massanutten Shelter, take the entrance road to the very end, take a right, and then a quick right to the shelter.  Devon Smith will be catering!

Joanne will be there to read a few poems and sign books, and copies will be available for sale, OR buy your copy on Amazon.

Front Royal Women’s Resource Center is featuring a new series called Center Stage. This is a chance for women in our community to share information about business, causes, events that are special to them. Host Jen Avery makes it fun, easy, and “empowering.” Contact the FRWRC for more information.

Are you a member of the FRWRC? Consider membership too!

Front Royal Women’s Resource Center
“Empowering Women to Change Their World”
FRWRC.org

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Watch this video for a quick summary of Warren County real estate for April 2022. Is the market starting to balance back out again as interest rates begin to climb? I can share an observation or example from a listing perspective: The buyers who are offering are asking to please lock in their rates ASAP vs. previously buyers who would allow a 60-day close if it were the seller’s preference.

Buyers were willing to do anything to win the bid. Buyer desperation is not as severe now, in my opinion. Charts demonstrate the changes in the market, so be sure to click play!

In general summary:

1. New Listings are DOWN -15.9%.

2. New Pending DOWN -15.7%.

3. Closed sales are DOWN -26%

4. Average Median Sold $350,500

5. Average Days on Market 25

*If you would like a copy of this report emailed to you, please send a request to jenaveryrealtor@gmail.com.

Resource: April 2022 Market Stats by ShowingTime
Bright MLS: Statistics calculated May 2022.

Now some Community News

House of Hope
Empty Bowl Supper 2022 – Was a success!
Thank you to all of the businesses and supporters who sponsored the Empty Bowl Supper this year. You helped make it a great success bringing in about $13,000 for the House of Hope.
Click here to view video from event.

Warren Coalition
We See You, Warren County – sign up (free) online to join this “movement” to help bring our community together. Follow on Facebook! You are going to love it! #WeCUWC
Facebook page.
Sign up here.

Rock & Stroll Event – May 10
Warren Coalition organized the Rock N Stroll
Healthy living for kids 4-13. Drug prevention week.
Rock & Stroll helps to address that by educating children about how to handle their emotions and about healthy choices regarding food and exercise.
Click here for full album.

Chamber of Commerce – May 21
34th Annual Wine & Craft Festival 2022
Watch this video with locals who became movie stars for a day!
Get your tickets here today!

Humane Society of Warren County
Rough Tough & Scruffy – DATE RESCHEDULED June 18
Grab a friend and sign up for a canoe race!!! Vendors, music, and food for all to enjoy. $10.00 entry fee. Proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Warren County. Enjoy the gorgeous venue at Hazard Mill Farms, Bentonville.

Yard Sale & Bake Sale – June 2 & 3
Stop out at the Humane Society of Warren County for a two-day yard sale! Pay by donation! Proceeds from the yard sale go to the Humane Society of Warren County.
Looking for BAKERS!! The Humane Society is pairing up with the House of Hope and has invited them to run the bake sale this year at the yard sale. Let’s donate some delicious goods for the sale!!

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Join us for a fun evening on May 11, 2022, at Vibrissa Beer, from 6pm to 10pm, of Karaoke and a 50/50 to benefit the efforts of Rotary International to eradicate Polio.

The audience will be encouraged to vote on their favorite karaoke singer, pay per vote. Bring your friends and let’s make some money for a good cause!

Learn more through the Facebook event page.

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Saturday, April 30th, in Front Royal:

Empty Bowl Supper 2022 brought in approximately $13,000 in sales and donations for the House of Hope again this year. The community support and enthusiasm means so much to the men and the program. This year, Honey & Hops Brew Works helped host the event inside their building. At one point there was a line out the door waiting to get in!

Thank you to the following Downtown merchants who made this year special by displaying bowls ahead of time including: Jean’s Jewelers, Turnmeyer Galleries, White Picket Fence, Royal Oaks Computers, I Want Candy, DL Campus Coffee, Inklings, Royal Blends Nutrition, Gourmet Delights, Front Royal Wines, Main Street Geek.

For the seventh year in a row, Passage Creek Rising has donated their talents and their music to the Empty Bowl Supper. This year they helped organize a special guest, Ed McCurdy from the House of Hope. The show was outstanding!

Wonderful work by Arline Link, Explore Art & Clay on the bowls. After Arline throws the bowls, the community is invited to paint the bowls. There were several businesses and community groups that got together this year to paint. Ruby Yoga hosted a painting party with lotus and tree of life themes for example. This event would not be able to happen without Arline’s hard work and dedication!

Thank you to all of the soup donors; the soups were delicious! Soup donors:

• Blue Wing Frog – Vegan Butternut Squash
• The Mill Restaurant – Cream of Broccoli, Beef Vegetable, Chicken Orzo
• The Apple House – Loaded Baked Potato
• Mountain Home – Chestnut Apple Soup
• Manor Line Market – Red Curry Chicken
• Downtown Catering – Potato Leek, Beef Barley
• Daily Grind – Chicken Gnocchi
• Royal Spice – Chicken Storg (chicken, beans, noodles)
• El Maguey – Aztec (rice, chicken, vegetables)
• Try Thai – Tom Yum, Coconut, and Tofu
• Vibrissa Beer – Cajun Corn and Tomato Soup
• PaveMint – Street Corn Chowder

A monumental thank you to our sponsors. Your support is sincerely appreciated.

This year’s 2022 sponsorship lineup:

• Super Sponsor:
  • Explore Art & Clay – Arline Link
• Gold Sponsors:
  • MayAnne and Joe Biggs
  • Sigrid Hepp-Dax
  • No Doubt Accounting
• Silver Sponsors:
  • Rotary Club of Front Royal
  • Rotary Club of Warren County
  • Front Royal Dental
  • Craig Zunka and JoEllen McNeal
• Bronze Sponsors:
  • Jennifer Avery, Realtor – Crum Realty Inc
  • Blue Ink Original
  • Eric Reploeg, Realtor – RE/MAX Real Estate Connections
  • TLC Settlements
  • The Auto Care Clinic
  • Clear Title, Escrow & Settlements
  • Element Risk Management
  • Hazard Mill Farms
  • Aire Serv of the Shenandoah Valley
• IN KIND Sponsors:
  • Ellen Aders – Aders Insurance/State Farm
  • Card My Yard Front Royal
  • Finance of America – Blue Ridge donated a Roku TV to be used as a raffle item. House of Hope resident Will helped run this station. Thank you to Vanessa Boies, Mortgage Advisor for making this happen.

Thank you again to our wonderful community of Warren County. We thank you for your support through the Empty Bowl Supper and pledge to keep updates coming on the growth of the House of Hope program.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook as we look to celebrate our success with all! Occasional needs are posted. You just might have that extra microwave we may need for a graduate! Let’s stay connected! facebook.com/HOPEinFrontRoyal

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Safe At Home – the Logan Series:

Join us on April 30th, from 4pm to 8pm, at Bing Stadium! This series will benefit the Logan Maiatico Foundation. Watch this video and meet the Skyline High School Baseball Captains as they invite you to join us on Saturday at this first Safe At Home series! Three exciting games will be played. Alumni (Skyline vs Warren County) game is going to be INTENSE!!

Why Safe At Home? Listen to Samantha Barber, founder of Reaching Out Now, explain the heart behind “Safe At Home.” Our community needs to come together as ONE to help our children feel SAFE AT HOME. Tickets sold at the event for $5.00. Ages 13 and under FREE.

Event link: Facebook

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Warren County is home to some amazing people. Last month our local Rotary clubs celebrated two Rotarians who are doing and have done outstanding work both locally and internationally. Ron (Rotary Club of Front Royal) and Kathy Napier (Rotary Club of Warren County) were both welcomed into the Arch Klumph Society. Named after the sixth president of Rotary, the Arch Klumph Society recognizes the Foundation’s most significant donors — those who have personally contributed $250,000 or more.

The society is an international network of philanthropists who are strong advocates for Rotary’s collective impact. Through the generosity of its supporters, the Foundation is able to continue its work toward a more caring and just world. The generosity of donors sustains Rotary’s work today, tomorrow, and far into the future.

Ron & Kathy’s generosity promotes peace, fights disease, provides clean water, saves mothers and children, supports education, and grows local economies through grants that brings peacebuilding seminars to 200 teachers and 1,300 students in Uganda; distributes insecticide-treated mosquito nets and medical services that help prevent malaria in Mali; Trains teachers who are establishing an early-childhood education center in South Africa; provides water filters, toilet blocks, and hygiene training to prevent fluorosis in a community in India; funds a scholarship for a medical professional to research ways to minimize mortality rates among premature babies in Italy; and protects children around the world from polio.

In honor of Ron & Kathy, a few club members were asked to share some thoughts and memories about this couple throughout the years.

Ron Mabry, founding President of the Rotary Club of Warren County reflects:

They are and have been strong supporters of Rotary at all levels: Club, District, Zone and International. Most times their work and support is behind the scenes and is not done for recognition but for the improvement of the organization.

Ron was assigned by the Front Royal club to work with a core group of people to form the Rotary Club of Linden (now Rotary Club of Warren County) and was instrumental in guiding that group through the process to form the club and secure the charter. Ron continued to mentor and support the club through its infancy and provided the backing and support necessary for the club to be successful.

Both Ron and Kathy have been mentors to many of the club members, me included, and they continue in that role throughout the District.

June & Herb Rinehart, Honorary Member and Prior Active Member of Rotary Club of Warren County, continue fondly:

Kathy and Ron Napier are the best example that we can imagine for what it means to be a Rotarian. We have known them several years, beginning as newcomers to Front Royal in the mid/late 90s. Ron was the one that helped form the Rotary Club of Warren County, originally known as the Rotary Club of Linden. Kathy was there right by Ron to help with the formation of the club and has been very active in all aspects of the club since the beginning— she is definitely one of the anchors that kept the club progressing and growing to its current state. 

Kathy was and still is available (with a smile) to help with Rotary service and fundraising projects (including parking cars at the WC Fair – the club’s first fundraiser.) She was always a good sport about doing what was needed to have a successful event including dressing up for the many themed fundraisers the club sponsored over its 15+ years. They came dressed as pirates for the “Pirates of the Shenandoah” and as characters in the Roaring 20s gala.

Kathy and Ron have supported the Rotary Student Exchange Program and hosted many children from all over the world. They have a heart for young people and give so much to help with that avenue of Rotary service.

Kathy has been an example for all of us to follow to “do good in the world”. She has been the glue that kept the club growing together. She and Ron are generous with their resources and time to “do good” in the world. We love and appreciate them.

Story by Jen Avery and Hank Ecton – Rotary Club of Warren County

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