Oak Ridge Today

DOE employees boost donations to local food bank

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DOE Employees Donate to Second Harvest Food Bank

U.S. Department of Energy employees donate 13,872 pounds of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. (Photo courtesy DOE/Lynn Freeny)

U.S. Department of Energy employees donated 13,872 pounds of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. The donation was part of the national Feds Feed Families campaign.

This is the fourth year the DOE’s Oak Ridge site has participated in the annual summer campaign, which helps replenish local food banks and raises awareness about the prevalence of hunger nationally. The campaign continues to garner high participation and serve as a cornerstone charitable event for local federal employees, who have tallied more than 11,000 pounds in donations every year. In addition, the program continues to be a success, as this year’s donation total reached an all-time high. [Read more…]

Happy 71st birthday, Oak Ridge!

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Oak Ridge Birthday Sign

A sign at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road celebrates the 71st birthday of Oak Ridge on Thursday (Submitted photo)

By Martin and Anne McBride

On Sept. 19, 1942, only two days after being appointed the head of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, Gen. Leslie R. Groves selected Oak Ridge as the first major site of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

Ultimately, $1.1 billion was spent on the huge, first-of-a-kind Oak Ridge nuclear plants and the fledgling “Secret City” of Oak Ridge. This expenditure represented 72 percent of the money spent on the three principal Manhattan Project sites: Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M.

The Oak Ridge tract was approximately 17 miles long by an average of seven miles wide. The Corps of Engineers paid $2.6 million dollars for the land and initially named the site the “Kingston Demolition Range.” Local opposition to having a demolition range in the area caused the name to be changed to “Clinton Engineer Works.” [Read more…]

Historic preservation awards to be presented to bank, school Thursday

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CapitalMark Bank and Trust

CapitalMark Bank and Trust Oak Ridge President David Bradshaw is pictured at the original Hamilton National Bank vault. (Submitted photo)

A nonprofit organization will present this year’s historic preservation awards on Thursday, Oak Ridge’s birthday.

Two awards will be presented this year, one to CapitalMark Bank and Trust in Jackson Square and the other to the Oak Ridge School Administration Building, formerly the Pine Valley School.

The awards will be presented by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association in back-to-back ceremonies Thursday afternoon. The first ceremony at Pine Valley School starts at 3 p.m., and the second at CapitalMark Bank and Trust at 3:45 p.m. [Read more…]

United Way of Anderson County sets fundraising goal at $1.3 million

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Crowe Family

The 2013 United Way of Anderson County Campaign Family—Charles, Edwena, Nick, and Rebecca Crowe—ask everyone to join the UWAC family this year. (Submitted photo)

“The measure of a community is how it treats its vulnerable members.”

~ Various people including Gandhi and Pope John Paul

By Edwena, Charles, Rebecca, and Nick Crowe, the 2013 Campaign Crew for United Way of Anderson County

The United Way of Anderson County board of directors—under the leadership of the campaign crew of Edwena, Charles, Rebecca, and Nick Crowe—has established a fundraising goal of $1.3 million for the fall 2013 campaign.

“We recognize this is a bold goal, one that may be difficult to achieve,” said Charles Crowe. “Yet, we are all in this together, and together, we can begin the recovery that is so important to our county.” [Read more…]

B&W Y-12 donates $10K to Children’s Museum

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B&W Y-12 Check Presentation to Children's Museum

B&W Y-12 Public Affairs Manager Jud Simmons discusses ongoing projects with Mary Ann Damos, executive director of the Oak Ridge Children’s Museum, in the museum’s environmental center and gardens. (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12 recently donated $10,000 to the Children’s Museum in Oak Ridge. The funds will support the museum’s programs, including its planned Healthy Living exhibit.

“B&W Y-12’s support has been invaluable to the museum,” said Mary Ann Damos, the museum’s executive director. “The financial donations have helped us provide more and better services to the area’s children, but the hands-on donations of manpower also have been helpful.”

B&W Y-12 employees and their families have donated their time and skills on various museum projects for the past 10 years, including painting, planting, and repairs and maintenance to the museum’s heating and air conditioning system. [Read more…]

Attorney to discuss impact of new laws on long-term health care

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Mary Lyn Goodman

Mary Lyn Goodman

A Legal Aid attorney will discuss new laws affecting long-term health care during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

Mary Lyn Goodman, an attorney with Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, will be the guest speaker. The talk begins at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Y-12 collects school supplies for ADFAC

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Y-12 Donates School Supplies to ADFAC

Y-12 National Security Complex employees Stacy DeMonbrun, Judy Allen, Stacy Cotton, Dana Davis, Becky Hook (ADFAC), Janie Hoard, Susan Beckham, Telesa Kaye Weaver, and John Fellers deliver school supplies to ADFAC. (Photo courtesy B&W Y-12/Scott Fraker)

Kids around the country are heading back to school, and with help from employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex, many in East Tennessee will head back with all the supplies they’ll need for a successful school year, a press release said.

The release said Y-12 recently collected thousands of individual items for Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties’ annual school supply drive as part of the United Way Days of Caring drive. That total included more than 230 boxes of crayons and markers, 320 notebooks, 300 glue sticks, and 220 packs of pens and pencils. Employees also donated more than $2,500. [Read more…]

Altrusa launches weekly meeting of international women on Sept. 12

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Around the World Hands and Globe

Altrusa International of Oak Ridge will launch a weekly gathering of international women called Women of the World, or WOW, on Thursday, Sept. 12. The gathering will welcome women from countries around the world who are interested in making friends, practicing English, and learning more about Oak Ridge and its resources.

The group will hold its first meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in Room 102 of the Activities Building of the First Presbyterian Church, 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike at Lafayette Drive, for the beginning of a 12-week program this fall and winter. [Read more…]

ORHPA meeting offers rare look inside historic church in west Oak Ridge

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George Jones Memorial Baptist Church

A Sept. 12 meeting at the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, will provide a rare look inside the church and include an overview of the history of the former Wheat community. (Photos courtesy Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association)

Next week’s meeting of a historic preservation organization will feature a rare chance to see inside the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church in west Oak Ridge, a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association’s monthly membership and public meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. It includes a field trip to the former Wheat community and the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church and cemetery, which is located off Blair Road, near the former K-25 site, which is now known as the Heritage Center. [Read more…]

First local Habitat for Humanity family celebrates mortgage payoff with mortgage burning

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Habitat for Humanity Mortgage Burning

The first family to pay off its mortgage in the traditional manner through Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County celebrates with a mortgage burning ceremony last week. Pictured from left are homeowners Becky and Ray Seiber and HFHAC Executive Director Jennifer Sheehan.

The first family to pay off its mortgage in the traditional manner through Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County, making monthly mortgage payments, celebrated with a mortgage burning ceremony last week.

Owned by Becky and Ray Seiber, the home just north of Oliver Springs in the Cove community was also the first house built by the then-new Habitat for Humanity chapter in 1992. The Seibers are considered the affiliate’s first family. [Read more…]

Officials, volunteers celebrate new Cedar Barren kiosk near JMS

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Oak Ridge Cedar Barrens Celebration

Officials and volunteers celebrate a new kiosk with a ribbon-cutting at Oak Ridge Cedar Barrens near Jefferson Middle School on Aug. 17. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Cedar Barren has a new kiosk, thanks to Thomas Crout and his Eagle Scout project. There was a ribbon cutting on Saturday, Aug. 17, followed by a brief interpretive tour and some cleanup work.

Located next to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, this barren is a joint project of the City of Oak Ridge, the State Natural Areas Division, and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning. This area is one of just a few cedar barrens in East Tennessee.

IIa pledges $5,000 to Education Foundation grants program

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IIa and ORPSEF Grant

Bonnie Carroll, left, Information International Associates CEO and owner, and Kelly Callison, right, IIa chief operating officer, present Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation Executive Director Lila Metcalf with a check for $1,000 for the “Making the Critical Difference Campaign.” (Submitted photo)

Information International Associates Inc., or IIa, has pledged $5,000 to the “Making the Critical Difference” campaign conducted by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation. Bonnie Carroll, IIa chief executive officer and founder, and Kelly Callison, the company’s chief operating officer, recently presented the foundation with a $1,000 annual payment toward the pledge.

The Education Foundation is conducting the campaign to raise $500,000 for grant awards to teachers throughout the Oak Ridge schools, aiming to present $100,000 in grants each year for five years. The Foundation’s board believes that these grants have a strong supporting role in sustaining the tradition of excellence in Oak Ridge schools, as well as rewarding teachers for innovative ideas. [Read more…]