Cottages: The residents report: Winter/Spring 2010

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Hi, I’m Mark. I am 17  and I have been at Boys’ Home for seven years.

Recently, we had a huge snowfall where we received about 25 inches of snow.

 I am not a big outdoorsman, but I did enjoy the snow. Everything looked nice, but then the snow would not melt so I didn’t enjoy it anymore. The snow got dirty and it did nothing but linger around. Then I went home to Roanoke, VA. That was pleasant because I just got to relax and hang out with my family and friends.

My break was cut short, when I had to return for high school basketball practice. That was pretty much what I did for most of Christmas break.

The other residents of my cottage also got to enjoy their Christmas break at home as well. They include Jhakee of Portsmouth, Brandon of Bridgewater and Lamont of Petersburg.

Trey of Orange, Detron of Norfolk, Michael of Virginia Beach and Nishant of Henrico also enjoyed their Christmas home visits.

Hopefully spring will be here soon.

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My name is Coty and I’m reporting from Greene Cottage. My Christmas went well. I spent most of my time with family, but I also hung out with friends. I interviewed the other young men in the cottage to see how their Christmas went.

Edwin spent time with his family, chilled and hung out with friends. He also did whatever he could do outside. He didn’t enjoy the snow because he had to shovel it.

 Julian went to North Carolina and visited his Grandmother for a week. He also didn’t like shoveling the snow.

Anthony went to his Grandparents’ house on Christmas, opened presents and ate dinner. He spent New Year’s Eve with friends. Anthony didn’t like the snow because he had to shovel it for a week!

Miguel enjoyed his home visit with his mom and friends. He says he hasn’t seen snow like that in years and it brought back memories for him.

Jason spent his Christmas with friends and family. He thought the snow was horrible.    

The boys of Greene Cottage would like to thank all of the sponsors for their time and dedication to helping us enjoy a wonderful cottage Christmas.

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Darling Cottage

What’s up everyone! This is Daniel, the Darling Cottage reporter and a junior at Alleghany High School.

We had a very good Christmas here in Darling Cottage. We received a lot of nice gifts from our Christmas sponsors. I think that our houseparents Mr. Costigan and Mr. Cronin enjoyed doing the shopping for us.

During Christmas break, most of us in Darling Cottage went home. Other guys stayed here on campus and spent Christmas with the Boys’ Home staff.

Ivan, a senior, stayed here for the entire Christmas break and he earned the privilege to move to the Experiential Living Apartment. Called ELA, the on campus apartment is only for high school seniors. Johnnie is also in ELA.

Over Christmas break, a huge snowstorm dumped more than 22 inches of snow on the campus and up and down the East Coast. The snow really made Boys’ Home a winter wonderland. The snow was a lot to shovel, but we had fun playing in it. It took over a month for the snow to finally melt due to the very cold weather here at Boys’ Home. Then we had another snowstorm!

This is Darling Cottage wishing everyone a Happy New Year for 2010!

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Brandon here, reporting for Jack Gordon Cottage. All of us had a great Christmas! I got just about everything I wanted. I think it is great that we have caring people to provide Christmas for us. I had put on my Christmas sponsor’s list that I wanted a few CD’s from my favorite bands, “Colt Ford” and “The Zac Brown Band.”

I love country music. When I went home for break I had a great time with my mom and brother. As part of my Christmas, my mom got me a concert ticket to see Colt Ford - even my houseparents were in on the surprise!

Everyone had a good Christmas. Milliyon got some of his favorite movies, some clothes, and the Puma shoes he really wanted.

Jackson got some clothes and some CD’s for Christmas.

Josh got clothes and the craziest shoes I have ever seen. He went home to see his family over break.

We had the younger kids from Watkins in the cottage too. Kalab got an MP3 player, clothes and toys that he really wanted.

Zion also got an MP3 player, remote control airplane, and some clothes. He also went home for break.

Keith got some transformers, clothes, and an MP3 player which he never puts down haha! He went home with his dad during the break too.

We were all busy during the holidays and now we are back in school starting second semester and hoping to get all good grades.

One of our houseparents, Chad Whitmer, is on active duty with the National Guard and is in Mississippi for pre-deployment. Chad, who is a Boys’ Home alumnus, is joined by Eskinder and Solomon Zemene, also Boys’ Home alumni. They expect to deploy sometime this spring.   

Well, until next time!

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