"30 Years of Commitment Combined with Second Generation Appreciation"
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"30 Years of Commitment Combined with Second Generation Appreciation"
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| Local CCC Group approves national merger, awaits next move November 9, 2006 - Mona Casteel
September 7, 2006 - Mona Casteel
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Local CCC Group to join statewide celebration Friday March 30, 2006 - Mona Casteel
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt planted the seeds of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, he planted the nation's recovery from economic devastation. As the more than three million young men joined Roosevelt's Tree Army during the next nine years, America saw a revival of its two nearly-wasted resources: her land and her boys. And in the end, the CCC came to be viewed as a savior of entire families. A local CCC support foundation wants to ensure a proper salute for the veterans and to make Virginia residents aware of the men's contributions through its initiative to declare Friday as the Civilian Conservation Corps Members Appreciation Day. The General Assembly has unanimously approved the measure, and its resolution has recognized the CCC's legacy, thanks to the efforts of the Camp Roosevelt CCC Legacy Foundation. In light of that declaration, the Camp Roosevelt foundation also wants to help Shenandoah County children learn about the markings of history and its widespread local roots and has distributed packets crammed full of both educational and entertainment material that highlights the CCC. Fresh from the country's depths of Depression, young men in the early 1930s scoured their homeland for jobs. But the job market had become a dwindling resource itself, making the hunt an act of futility. President Roosevelt promised recovery, and American's homeland delivered, providing the agricultural wherewithal necessary to return life to a lagging society. It biggest tool was the CCC. This monumental piece of history eventually spread across America, but Shenandoah County owns the cornerstone: The CCC was born in Fort Valley in a small encampment now known as Camp Roosevelt in April 1933. The CCC's beginning grew out of the President's New Deal legislation signed a month earlier. Joan Sharpe, who founded the Camp Roosevelt CCC Legacy Foundation, says that children should be attuned to the contribution of the CCC workers. Sharpe and other foundation members have placed education packages in Shenandoah County elementary schools to help teachers explain the period between the Depression and early part of World War II that saved more than a few from poverty and hunger. "So many children have no conception of what it is like to be poor," said Sharpe. "There are stories upon stories about men who came to the CCC because they couldn't afford anything. One man said that before he joined the CCC that he and his father had to share a pair of shoes; they worked different shifts so each would have shoes to work in. Another man was more or less kicked out of his house because his parents simply couldn't afford to feed him. He came to the CCC. Children just don't understand such circumstances." While it served up basics for a healthy lifestyle, the CCC also provided the infrastructure of the modern outdoor recreational system. The members, its conservationists, planted three billion trees across America. "Little did America understand that this conservation movement would make a contribution that would last for generations," Sharpe said. The 125 education packets the foundation has donated to each of the three public elementary schools include activity sheets and information geared to all levels of youngsters, from kindergarten through the fifth grade. There are coloring sheets, puzzles, and stories such as "Life as a CCC Boy" and "Why should we Remember the CCC?" Some of the information is provided to be shared with parents to encourage family visits to CCC sites and perhaps reconstruction of family history to discover if grandparents, great-grandparents or other relatives were part of a CCC Camp. Sharpe says she feels a responsibility to encourage a study of the past and to make local children aware of history of their own back yard. "This is a piece of history that started here and spread across America," she said. "Everyone has heard of St. Augustine, Plymouth Rock and Jamestown. People should be aware of the CCC and its vital contributions, too."
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