… and a special tribute to Alison Parker & Adam Ward
The Miss Virginia Scholarship Program and New Vision, Roanoke’s organization helping vision impaired people connect to the world, are ready for a star-studded fundraising evening of musical entertainment and a silent auction with hors d’oeurves.
“Music to Remember” with Jane Powell and the Miss Virginia Family is Friday, April 1, at Roanoke’s Sheraton Hotel, 2801 Hershberger Road NW. The auction begins at 6 pm; showtime is 7:30. Well-known award-winning R&B/jazz vocalist Jane Powell and her band will join Savannah Lane, Miss Virginia 2015 and top 15 finalist to Miss America, and several Miss Virginias and musicians.
Powell has performed worldwide with award-winning musicians and singers and is excited to bring her act home to Roanoke. She says, “I’m really looking forward to the big shebang on April 1, and you all KNOW I’m no April Fool! I am so excited to sing in the same program with Miss Virginia and I know we are going to have a ball together!!! Let’s not forget the great causes we’ll all be supporting that evening — both New Vision (free services for blind people) and the Miss Virginia Scholarship Program that helps those across our state!”
Savannah Lane, Miss Virginia, is excited to join Powell onstage. “Music to Remember is an event you’ll never forget. A combination of jazzy classics to upbeat current hits will leave you dancing in your seat…for two great causes!” Lane is studying foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. Her goal is to become an FBI agent and ultimately run for Congress.
Other performers include Miss Virginia 2014, Courtney Garrett; Meghan Shanley (Miss Virginia 2001); Beverly Cooke Young (1982); Kelli Quick (1997); Lisa Aliff Greenleaf (1983); and Adrianna Sgarlata Hill (2006); Miss Virginia’s Outstanding Teen, Hayley Boland from Troutville; and the pageant’s musical director, Derek Shorter, a Franklin County native studying at the Berklee School of Music.
The event features a tribute by Courtney Garrett, Miss Virginia 2014, to WDBJ journalists Alison Parker and Adam Wade who were killed about six months. Garrett will perform an original song, “Forever On the Air”, by Salem composer/musician Tommy Holcomb. She recorded the lead vocals for the piece recently released on CD that will be on sale. Part of the proceeds benefits the scholarship funds set up in Parker and Wade’s names.
New Vision provides free services to vision impaired people throughout Southwest Virginia, including a technology-training center where blind people learn how to use computers, iPhones, iPads, and today’s technology. One of the students is the treasurer for her church, using Excel, and she is BLIND. This is one example of how New Vision helps vision impaired people connect to the world.
The event also benefits the Miss Virginia Scholarship Program that makes available about $350,000 of cash and in-kind scholarships to contestants every year. A preliminary to the Miss America program, now it’s 96th year; Miss America is the largest private provider of scholarships in the world for young women, making available more than $45-million annually at local, state, and national competitions.
Tickets for the event at $25, plus a minimal online processing fee, can be purchased at www.musictoremember.eventbrite.com. For more details or to schedule an interview with Powell, Lane, or any other performers, contact Mark Schreier, director/producer, 540/797-8791. For other information contact New Vision’s Executive Director, 540/985-8900; or Harlen Gudger, Executive Director of the Miss Virginia Pageant, 540/354-5858.
The event is sponsored by Starkey Medical Esthetics of Roanoke and Salem.
