Talk of the Town October 24, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Kluksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
A good Friday morning, over cast guys, and thirty eight
degrees in the University City.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to Talk of the Town. I'm Mike Nolting.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Now you'll find me out on Ax's, your news guy
and our producer. Today we have the one, the only,
Sophia Wassick. You'll be able to get Sophia at eight
hundred and seven six five eight two five five. And
also our text line that is three oh four talk
three oh four. Certainly hope to hear from you throughout

(00:50):
the course of the next sixty minutes. Uh coming up
over that period of time, we'll spend a few of
a few minutes of that time with more in town
Mayor Danielle Trumbull. She'll step in at just about nine
fifteen or thereabouts. Got the deputy Chief of the Valley
Volunteer Fire Department, Zach Egle. We'll talk to him at

(01:12):
nine point thirty looks like they'll be losing their station
in Whitehall. We'll talk about the circumstances surrounding that and
what their next moves might be to ensure public safety
in that area. Then at nine point forty, we're going
to be talking to Christian Help and we're going to
be talking about their needs as we get word that

(01:34):
the snap benefits that have been delayed. Maybe the governor's
announcement of releasing one point one million dollars will ease
those concerns, but we'll talk with Christian Help find out
what some of their needs are at this point. And
of course don't forget Can's for Community that is coming

(01:55):
up on November the seventh. That'll be at the Giant
Eagle over at the University Town Center.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
We'll talk more.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
About that later, but right now, it is an important
milestone through the week to Friday, and certainly you deserve
every round of that applause. There is absolutely no doubt.
Let's take a look at a couple of headlines. We
had the opportunity to speak to founder, co founder and

(02:25):
CEO of Iconic Air James Karnes on the Thursday edition
of Talk of the Town Carnes and local startup Iconic
Air have been acquired by Japanese based A Swayney.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
What they do is.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
They have developed a software program that allows energy companies
to track emissions primarily the same way that they would
track their balance sheet things like that. There's more on
that at WAJR dot com. A State workers, including teachers,
would pay an additional three percent more in health insuranceremiums

(03:00):
if a proposal by the PEIA Finance Board is approved. Now.
That proposed plan will be the focus of a discussion
at their Finance Board meeting next month. If adopted, that
increase would go into effect next July. First, there is
concern those SNAP benefits will be impacted if federal government

(03:23):
shut down it continues through November.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
First.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Now, Governor Morrissey he did announce Thursday he's sending one
point one million dollars in state funds to food banks
to help if the November SNAP benefits are delayed. Now,
a quick program note on that we have been reaching
out well. First off, we reached out locally to find

(03:48):
out exactly what we could from the Department of Health
here in Mond County. We were then directed to the
state Department of Health reached out to their communications people,
and we're trying. We're efforting an interview with the State
Director of Wick, Heidi Stotts. We haven't been able to

(04:09):
confirm that just yet, but we'll keep you posted. We
certainly continue to work on that effort now. West Virginia
State Police Captain Jason Serno, it's been a couple of
minutes with him. Yesterday afternoon identified the suspect who was
shot and killed by police during a Tuesday pursuit as
Tyrell Stephen White. That pursuit began when troopers tried to

(04:32):
stop White for a minor traffic violation. He sped away,
so Reno says, the troopers and deputies from the Harrison
County Sheriff's Department fired on White after he got out
of the vehicle in the Mountclair area. He had evidently
made an overt gesture that had threatened to officers, and
by the way, he did show or display a firearm

(04:54):
during that pursuit in Harrison County and Martinsburg. Man's in
custody after being arrested by US Marshalls in Harrison County.
Chad Berry, wanted for violating parole following a twenty seventeen
firearms conviction acting US Marshall for the northern part of
the state. Terry Morrises Barry was spotted in and More Thursday.

(05:18):
Then it was arrested after a vehicle pursuit that ended
in the city of Wellsburg. It's a parade night in
the city of Morgantown, so you want to keep that
on your calendar. Starting this afternoon, just about four to
thirty five o'clock, you can start to expect the traffic
to intensify. Five o'clock, those typical parade restrictions will go

(05:44):
into effect and the parade will step off at six o'clock.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Talking with the vice president of Alumni, Kevin Barry, earlier
this week, this parade looks to be one of the
biggest in the area for the year. So if you're
up for a good parade, I might want to come
to downtown Morgantown tonight. Right now, clouds and thirty seven
degrees in the University City. When we come back, it's

(06:09):
Morgantown Mayor Danielle Trumble on Talk of the Town AM
fourteen forty FM one oh four point five w a
j R.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
A good Friday morning, clouds and thirty seven degrees. In
the University City and Metro Newsaki Weather says today a
good study dose of cloudy skies throughout the day in
a high temperature of fifty three degrees. In studio, we've
got Morgantown Mayor Danielle Trumble.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Good morning, Mayor.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
How are you doing well, Mike? Thanks for having me
missed you last week.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yes, I tell you what, it was kind of nice
to have a week off.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
You know, gonna relax a little bit.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
As I told you, I'll figure out what that's like
in about two years, maybe maybe got about twenty months
left here, you know what.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
We're we're going to talk about all things Morgantown coming up,
but real quick, before we do that, I just wanted
to let folks know that this afternoon at one o'clock,
Secretary of State Chris Warner will be downtown Morgantown and
he'll be giving a Centurion Business Award to Misulo Cleaners.
Now that means they've been in business for one hundred years.

(07:33):
And and I'm you know, I wouldn't want people to
think that I've come up with this, but reading from
the press, release from the Secretary of State. He says
that West Virginia Centurions have withstood World War, World wars,
stock market crashes, the Great Depression, several recessions, military conflicts,

(07:54):
and pandemics.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
That's cleaners pandemics now right, for one years, I didn't
know about that. I'm I'm happy you mentioned that. I
might try to make my way down there. It'd be
great to celebrate them. They've been a staple of downtown
for a long time, absolutely about one hundred years.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
About one hundred years.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Okay, hey, let's while we're downtown, let's stay there for
a minute.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
Got a parade downtown tonight.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Looks like there's a nice new parking lot, but unfortunately
it's not yet available.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah, you should probably stick to one of the garages
if you're going downtown for the parade tonight. That parking
lot is a little overdue. But they did get it paved.
Now it's all striped. They have some lighting to install,
but hopefully they're still on track to have that done
in the next couple of weeks, right around the beginning

(08:49):
of November. I hope is the last the last update
I got, But we all know how that goes changes daily.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
I tell you when you when you pull up there
on Spruce Street coming around from the funeral home and
you're coming up that grade, that grade, you have an
opportunity to look across that parking lot and it's smoother
than I seventy nine.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
It is gorgeous. It's well paved, well lined. Like I said,
if you're looking at it, you better hope it's daytime
because the lights aren't in you.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Okay, Well, how's the streetscape project coming?

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yesterday? The developer that's working on Walnut Street had the
street closed most of the day. Their work is right
up on the corner now, right in front of Hoot
and Howe. As soon as they're done there, they'll move
over to the other side. And hopefully we're on track
to have that done, you know before we need to
plant trees in the spring and stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Well that's good, that's good, and I would hope that,
you know, maybe in a downtown environment. And I know
you can't speak for the contractor, and I sure can't,
but it would appear that if there were a job
or was a job that could be wintered, this would
be one you would think maybe there are a.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Lot of things that could do during the winter.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
It seems to me that way, But as you mentioned,
I'm not a contractor. We'll see.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
They're probably begging us not to say anything else about.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
That project right now.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
I bet they want everyone to stop paying attention.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Okay, So, but the parade lineup though, Folks will start
to move downtown at about four thirty. Parade restrictions will
go into effect at about five, So factor that into
your commute home from work, if you would, please, Hey,
let's shift gears and talk a little bit about Bowpark.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
Okay, the ice rink opened this week.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Hallelujah. Right.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
That has been a long time project. They voted on
one of the ice drink designs right before I joined
Bowpark seven years ago, eight years ago, and there's been
a lot of changes and price increases and things since then.
But it's a gorgeous facility. I've visited a couple of times.
They're doing a lot more public skate now. A lot

(11:05):
of the competitive hockey has moved out to Myland Park,
so it gives the community a lot more time to
use our ice drink. We even have some weekend public
skates they're doing Wednesdays from noon to two fifteen and
seven to nine pm is an adults only public skate
which people have been asking for eighteen and over on

(11:26):
Wednesday evenings and then Saturday and Sunday we have a
one thirty to three thirty and Saturday evening from seven
to nine. It's been a long time since we had
that kind of line up of public skate for the community.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Now walk us through amenities on the inside, concessions, locker rooms,
things like that.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
The locker rooms are still being worked on. Most of
the locker rooms are renovations of the old locker rooms
since we don't have a lot of hockey happening there,
but we still have the ability. We have added two
new exclusive party rooms, so people who want to rent
for a birthday party, the warming room, that little area

(12:07):
when you first enter has been completely redone. There's a
gas fireplace, a new skate counter, a new admissions counter.
The flow is a little better. Not everyone's trying to
come in through the same set of doors. We'll be
doing the Bowpark bites from Eureka Cafe concession stand that
worked out really well for us at the summer at

(12:27):
the pool over the summer, so we're continuing that and
then you know, all of the mechanicals are new, the
dehumidification unit, the chiller, all of that stuff, heaters, seating,
new boards. We're ready to go.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
You know, I heard some folks talk before the renovations about,
you know, sometimes there might have been a little bit
too much moisture on the ice or.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Maybe I don't know that.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I think there was a humidity problem in the building,
but that really should all be cured with because this
is brand new chiller and everything in the.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Yeah, there was issues with an old dehumidification unit and
we had had to rent one long term actually, but
now with all of the new mechanicals, that's brand new,
along with the chiller, ready to go.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Okay, Now Morilla Park set to undergo phase two of renovations.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, Lower Marilla Park. I'm actually after this supposed to
go and finalize the documentation for the funding for that.
So we're expecting construction should start some maybe demolition, not
so much construction. I don't know. They're gonna do a
lot of work. Sometime in November. We're gonna be moving

(13:42):
the tennis courts will have six brand new tennis courts,
new pickleball courts, a new skate park. They're going to
make some upgrades to the Marilla Center for programming and rentals,
new basketball and Bopark's first turf field, which is a
huge addition to our programming.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Very nice.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Now, last year, when you guys started the pool and
you broke ground, you know, that was kind of stealth
because it was up on the hill and in the
trees and.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
You don't really pass it unless you mean to pass
it right right.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
But I think that this year these are going to
be right up front. People are gonna when you're driving
by on Decker's Creek or or Brockway or pal whatever
you want to call it.

Speaker 4 (14:31):
ROLT seven, you're going to see it. Yeah, absolutely, there's there.
You're going to notice a lot of stuff happening in
that park. We're hoping it's done well. The majority of
it should be done at the end of next summer.
We were delayed a little bit with the financing, but
it's all in place now ready to go. And you
mentioned the new pool. After the pool season ended, we

(14:52):
had a couple of punch list items that needed taken
care of, and that work is coming to completion. This
week or next week as well, with some concrete work
that had to be done. There were some slippery areas
we had to address, some flooring, just some landscaping, some
last minute things that didn't quite make it right before
the pool opened. But that's all completion now.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Too, okay, well perfect Now looking ahead is Boat Park?
Are they maybe eyeing another specific park to maybe go
in and make some renovations next or is that still
under discussion.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
No major major projects. I think we're coming to the
end of some of those major projects. We are getting
ready to do some pavilion replacement in Creps Park. We're
adding one to Wiles Hill Park. We're also adding a
maintenance facility and caretakers area to Crep's Park. So you'll

(15:49):
still be seeing a lot of smaller projects, minor projects
happening throughout the system. We've been kind of banking that
sales tax fun for a little while, and I think
in the next year you're really going to see most
of the improvements of that account that we've been building up.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
You know, at the last meeting of Morgantown City Council,
the Morgantown Neighborhood Mosaic project Or program was introduced tell
us a little bit about that that.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Was a baby of councilor Downs. He was very excited
to work on that. The city's been offering some assistance
for neighborhood signage and things like that for several years,
but he wanted the ability to help neighborhoods with some
additional projects that they have, whether that's a community garden

(16:44):
or a mural or their neighborhood sign So it's a
project where there's a couple of different size grants available
and the neighborhood has to have some matching, whether that's
funding or in kind labor donation kind of things, but
really helping neighborhood associations work on some of those things

(17:05):
that they would like to do but maybe funding's just
not there. The City Council intends to set aside a
chunk of money in the budget each year, and then
the Neighborhood Coordinating Council, which is made up of the
leaders of each of the neighborhood associations, will take some
submissions and look at projects, kind of rank those and

(17:25):
make recommendations to the city manager on which projects should
should move forward based on the amount of funding available.
But we're very excited about it. Really trying to get
those neighborhood associations feeling like they have great purpose and
utility because people love the neighborhoods in Morgantown and being

(17:46):
in a neighborhood association really helps push some of those
things forward.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Remember a couple of years ago when we did the
Affordable Housing study and we went to the meetings and
we put post it notes upon the easels about ideas
that different peoples have.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
MMPO is doing that with their traffic study right now.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Okay, well, see when that was going on, members of
the Greenmont Neighborhood Association came down and they were very,
very engaged, and that was really one of the first
neighborhoods I thought of when I saw this program.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
Oh yeah, Greenmont is well organized. I know they have
some plans for a pocket park in their neighborhood up
along White Avenue. So I can't see. I can't wait
to see what that neighborhood comes up with. They've they've
got some vision over there for sure.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Okay, well, it's a homecoming weekend here in the City
of Morgantown, our city on display once again.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
We can't wait to welcome everyone in, put our best
foot forward, and hopefully the Mountaineers deliver for us.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
I know that's you know, but I'm going to go
ahead and call when for the Mountaineers this weekend to
think everything is right?

Speaker 4 (18:55):
I hope so. My brother in law sent my husband
and sons some tickets to use. It's my one's birthday
this weekend, so I hope they pull it out for him.
My family will be there.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Absolutely. I do too.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Hey, Mayor, I really do appreciate your time today and
I hope you have a great weekend.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Enjoy the game absolutely, Thank you, Mike.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Absolutely take care of yourself.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Right now, overcast and thirty eight degrees in the University
City and Metro News Aci Weather says it looks like
a typical fall mid to late October day, clouds plenty
of them, and a high temperature of fifty three degrees.
There's a lot happening across the great state of West Virginia,
and to find out exactly what those are, we'll head

(19:39):
to the Metro News anchor desk and find out. On
the Voice of more Contown one oh four point five
FM and AM fourteen forty WAJR, we.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
Are talking about your town. Now back to the talk
of the town.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Good Friday morning.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
It is nine thirty five overcast and thirty eight degrees
in the University city.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
Glad you're with us on the phone.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
We've got the deputy chief of the Valley Volunteer Fire Department.
Members of that particular organization got some bad news from
the City of Whitehall earlier this week, late last week.
Good morning, Zach. How are you today?

Speaker 5 (20:35):
Good sir, good, good to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Absolutely, it's a pleasure to have you on board now, Zach,
if you would walk the listeners through exactly what was your.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Set up there in the City of Whitehall.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Yeah. So, VALLEYVFD was established back in nineteen sixty two
as a volunteer fire parmentary of Marion County. Right along
I seventy nine, Whitehall create a substation I believe it
was backteen ninety two in a substation two house in
their public safety building there allegedly one of our engines
and our lighter truck and that that sits back in

(21:10):
the substation building. They're kind of behind Walmart and the
Fairmont Theaters to provide extra fire coverage to our first
two area in the town. Away hale and strictly a
volunteer firehouse too, sir.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay, okay, what's the advantage of you being able to
set up shop there?

Speaker 5 (21:28):
Well, the vantage is, of course, you know, we have
a million dollar or one point two million dollar ladder
truck that is sits back in there around that commercial
area ready to go to any kind of large commercial fire,
any kind of high or low angle rescue. That ladder
truck can be used for that. And we do have
a backup engine one out of three of our engines,

(21:51):
that one being our third, one of the oldest ones,
but it sits back there two with thousand gallons of
war that does provide fire coverage, fire protection, fire services
to the down and surrounding county.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Okay, We've got the deputy chief of the Value Volunteer
Fire Department, Zach Echile, with us, and now, Zach, if
you could help us understand exactly what happened between the
fire department and the city, because I guess, you know,
just looking at what I'm reading it, I guess it
could be a misunderstanding, but evidently it is not.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
There's no misunderstanding. We were literally all just cleaning up,
trying to We're an department that's not like to collect clutter,
just trying to clean clean the place up. And of
course we're not staffed. We are one hundred percent volunteer.
We all have full time jobs, families and just cleaning
the place up. And literally the next day got an
email from the town hall administrator not to council, the

(22:47):
townholl administrator about this and pretty much told us that
we have a thirty day month month lease and it's
pretty much we need to get ourselves removed from the
building there within the thirty days.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Okay, so what about negotiating with the town, the town
administrator or city council, any conversations at all.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
We haven't spoke to any of them since this. Uh
I did speak to Mayor de France, it's been a
couple of weeks ago. They are holding a workshop meeting
November thirty, six pm at the town kind of Whitehall
public Safety building and we'll we'll have some discussions there respectively,

(23:31):
some discussions to kind of figure out the future of
what they want to do with that building.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Now. Is the town of why Paul are they starved
for space? Is this maybe? Are they are they looking
to take that over.

Speaker 5 (23:45):
Is that maybe what it is taking it over as for.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
What sir, more office space space.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
So yeah, so essentially all we have is like a
garage one full drive through garage may of half a
garage bay. Is literally all we have. And when I
spoke to mister de franc he was looking for some
some room for the public street department, the public works
department that they have. They have a very large, well

(24:13):
outfitted public works department that works at the Town of Whitehall,
and I think the mayor is looking to put some
stuff in the storage, you know, out of the roof
or under a roof. I know I don't want to
keep a billion dollar fire trucks out of the weather either,
and I completely get what he's saying about his equipment.
So that's just something that will be up for discussion also.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Sure, Okay, now, Zach, what kind of contingencies are you
guys looking at for maybe on the back end of
this thirty day window that you have to work with.

Speaker 5 (24:43):
Yeah, so when I spoke to the mayor about this,
of course nothing allegedly sentenced done, because I don't believe
the council was all aware of any of this either.
But our contingency planning like a backup, and of course
we work very well with the City of Pleasant Valley.
Value VFD's very unique. We run a lot of the
county through Marion County. We have the city of Pleasant

(25:04):
Valley we work for to provide fire protection and then
the town of white Hall also, so we're very unique.
We've been working very well with the mayor city Pleasant
Valley and we haddocks on the contingency plan a backup.
We do have a lot of businesses there. Some of
them have some relatively big storage buildings that we can
keep those trucks in, which are about three to four
minutes down from our main station and Pleasant Valley to

(25:26):
keep that ladder truck in, that engine in a building
until we can get something built bigger, which is looking
like the near future.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Also, now, if you do have to go to Pleasant Valley,
how does that change response times for Whitehall.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
That's a great question, because that question has been asked
several times. It does not change anything at all for
our response to the Town of Whitehall. If we if
like we've been getting vehicle accidents, fire alarms, structure fires,
anything like that that were to happen in the Town
of white Hall, of course, are our rescue trucks, Squad twelve.
It was bought by City Pleasant Valley. It is the
first truck to go out the door and it comes

(26:04):
out of our main station there in Pleasant Valley and
then an engine follows behind it. So realistically, nothing changes
in our fire response time going to our area there
in the town of Whitehall.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Okay, that's good to know.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Last thing I got for you, Deputy Chief Zach Echole
with Value Volunteer Fire Department, I'd like to know how
many members are in your department and then talk a
little bit about the key role that you guys play
out on the interstate, if you would.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yeah. So, Value v AT operates with about twenty twenty
volunteers with four officers. We have four line officers and
twenty volunteers, and we run about twelve hundred calls a year.
Out twelve hundred those calls is relatively four hundred vehicle accidents,
give or take. We run that interstate. That's a lot

(26:57):
of our bread and butter. It runs directly up from
Harrison County in themont County and our first duke cuts
off at the one thirty seven there.

Speaker 6 (27:05):
But uh, that.

Speaker 5 (27:06):
That's a that's a busy stretch for us. And we
have not missed a call yet, you know. And I
like to knockle wood and stay humble because we are volunteered.
We're not stats, but running the vehicle actions on the interstate,
the vehicle actions in the town of white Hall, whatever
happens in the county, in the safe plays of the
valley keeps us very, very busy. Speaking of we were
just banged out for three vehicle accents this morning. We

(27:29):
had one at twelve thirty in the morning, one at
five o'clock in the morning, and one at seven around
seven to twenty this morning, all on Interstate seventy nine.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Okay, and not surprised. I hate to hear, but I'm not.

Speaker 5 (27:39):
So stay off the interstate.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Now, last thing, though, Zach, how much work does Whitehall
account for in percentage?

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Would you say twenty five forty? What would that number be?

Speaker 5 (27:52):
Are we talking about call volume? There?

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yes, sir, relatively.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Okay, all right, perfect, Hey, Deputy Chief Zach Eckle with
Value Volunteer Fire Department. Really do appreciate your time, sir,
and I hope you have a safe day and you know,
stay off the interstate if you can.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
Absolutely, I appreciate you, appreciate you having us. They're on
your talk show.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
Absolutely, take care of yourself.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
All right, you too, sir You Bettion, Deputy Chief Value
Volunteer Fire Department, Zach Eckle. When we come back, we're
going to talk about need in this community. That's next
Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one oh
four point five w A j R.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five. This is the Talk of
the Town.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Good Friday morning, clouds and thirty eight degrees. In studio,
we have the executive director of Christian Help, Colleen Lankford,
and would like to just remind listeners. Coming up on
November seventh, from six a m. To six pm, WVRC
Media Cares will present Cans for Community. That will be

(29:18):
a twelve hour food drive at the Giant Eagle at
the University Town Center. This all brought about by the
delay possible delay of snap benefits brought on by the
federal government shutdown. We've got Colleen in this morning to
just talk a little bit about First, how's everything going

(29:38):
over there on Walnut Street with Christian Help.

Speaker 6 (29:41):
Good morning, Mike. Everything's going pretty well at Christian Help.
We're anxiously awaiting the completion of the streetscape so that
we can open up our side of the street for
a couple of weeks. But that's but generally it's going well.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, well, that's good. Now, give us an idea. I
guess you recently just had the store back to school
store where folks could pretty much just show up and
get shirts, some I guess, just a set of clothes
for a child.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
How'd that event go?

Speaker 6 (30:15):
Oh and great? We had Let me just check that
one quickly. We had four hundred and eighty two students
from grades K through twelve whose parents came and got
them five outfits, five pair of underwear, five socks, and
a brand new pair of tennis shoes. Went over very well.
We had a week worth of activity and the families
were well supported.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Now, on a monthly basis, give us an idea of
how many families that you do help well.

Speaker 6 (30:41):
It depends upon the type of service they're looking for,
but typically we're looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of
eight thousand shoppers. During the course of a year. Last
year it was two hundred and thirty two. In our
food pantry were typically focused on individuals. Let's see twelve

(31:04):
hundred and seventy seven households that we served last year.
In the emergency financial services area, we facilitated ninety nine,
seven hundred and thirty six dollars worth of support to
a thousand different families for their utility, rent, prescription and

(31:28):
other financial needs to get them over whatever situation might
be difficult for them.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Sure, Colleen Langford is with Christian Help, and Colleen wanted
to talk specifically about food insecurity if we could, because
you know, with the delay and the snap benefits, it
seems like over the last week, I've heard everything from
you know, people being encouraged not to give out candy,

(31:53):
maybe give out food at Halloween, to you know, some
of the things that families are going through, And I'm wondering,
is this media hype or is this real?

Speaker 6 (32:04):
No, it's real. Although I would not recommend giving out
cans of vegetables to children who are trick or treating,
I'm sure they would not like that because halloween's a
you know, it's a cornerstone, it's something that you have
memories about It's not the type of thing that you
should do.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
You want to be a stick in the mud.

Speaker 6 (32:22):
Well, I do want them to memory enjoy the memories
of their childhood. But yeah, food and security is very
real in West Virginia. Generally speaking, one in six individuals
qualify for SNAP support, and SNAP support is something that
historically had been one hundred percent federally funded, but at
this point, following the Big Beautiful Bill, it's actually split

(32:45):
between the state and the federal government. Our emergency funds
are tapped, and until yesterday, we didn't know if the
state was going to be able to provide any support
toward the food banks or for the pantries. But as
I understand it, Governor Morrissey has announced an expedite, an
attempt to expedite one point one million dollars worth of

(33:07):
emergency funding two West Virginia food banks. So that'll be helpful.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
How will that help you?

Speaker 6 (33:13):
Actually, it doesn't really help us. We do not participate
in the Mountaineer Food Bank. Are most of our or
not most all of our donations come from the community
at large. There are income restrictions that go along with
some of the food banks that we're not willing to
sign off on those requirements, and the reason is that
we can't serve the public at large regardless of income

(33:36):
if we do that. So, for example, whenever you are
the qualifications for food bank are very similar to the
qualifications for SNAP, but it's dependent upon certain percentages of
federal poverty level. As far as your annual income, many

(33:56):
people don't qualify for that if you're looking at their
actual annual income. So what Christian Help does is, if
you're hungry, we feed you, and we will give you
a food order every thirty days, depending upon your request
for it, as opposed to what your taxes say you have.

(34:17):
In our pantry service. Typically, what we would see calendar
year twenty four, for example, we served approximately fifty three
people per week. What we have seen recently last week,
second week of October the thirteenth through the seventeenth, we
actually had eighty one individuals that we served. That's a
fifty three percent increase, and the majority of those individuals

(34:41):
were new to our services. They had never used our
pantry services in the past. So we are seeing a
spike in individual numbers. We're also seeing larger families and
coupling of families whenever they're coming and asking for support
in westfordg as a whole. Like I said before, one

(35:03):
in six individuals qualify for SNAP. We hear frequently that
one in five children are food insecure, but whenever you
look at the overall numbers, sixteen percent of our population
has difficulty, verifiable difficulty in obtaining enough food and nutritional
support for themselves.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
And I think it's important to point out at this
point that Mond County Schools has an enrollment of about
twelve thousand children, and we do know that a substantial
number of those children do experience food insecurity.

Speaker 6 (35:38):
They do, otherwise we wouldn't have a need for pantry
plus and more in the school system.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Very true, Colleen, really do appreciate you coming in today
and we look forward to having you out onseen November
the seventh, that the Giant Eagle will talk more.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Than I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Thank you, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
You take care of yourself, Colleen Langford, Executive director of
Christian Help. Certainly you can drop off donations at two
nineteen Walnut Street or check them out online. You can
also email Colleen at director at Motown Christianhelp dot com.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
It's nine fifty five.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
We'll be back to wrap things up on top of
the town after this on Am fourteen forty f m
one oh four point five WAJR.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Now back to the talk of the town.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Well good Friday morning.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
It is homecoming weekend here in the University City and
coming up today at the Mountain Lair beginning at eleven am.
From eleven am until four it will be Mountaineer Friday
out in front of the Mountain Layer. The Mountaineer Maniacs
will be on hand. They'll be passing out some buttons,

(37:00):
have some sports team posters available, some free snacks and music.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Food trucks will also.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Be on location, and the Mountaineer mascot he'll join the fun. Plus,
the WVU bookstore is going to have a pop up
shop where you can get all the cold Rush gear
before kickoff. And by the way, kickoff is Saturday, six
pm Milan Pushcar Stadium against TCU.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
WVU shocks the community and it's a homecoming win. That's
my prediction.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Metro News talk Line coming up next on the Voice
of Morgantown