County Executive Isiah Leggett was on hand in Potomac Thursday with social workers from the county’s Child Welfare Services to help receive a donation of more than 700 pairs of shoes to go toward county foster children.
Donated by Ed Jurgrau, owner of the Shoe Train shoe store in the Cabin John Shopping Center, the donation will provide a new pair of shoes for the upcoming school year for the children. Jurgrau said he donates shoes twice yearly -– usually, he holds a sale and gives the shoes left over to the county, he said.
‘‘It’s a continuing need because kids are constantly outgrowing their shoes,” Jurgrau said. ‘‘...People just can’t afford it.”
According to the county’s Department of Health and Human Services Web site, more than 100 children in Montgomery County are temporarily separated from their parents each year. All of the children – who range in age, race, religion and nationality – have been neglected or physically or emotionally abused.
Foster parents provide temporary homes and a landing space for the children.
Jurgrau said he hopes more residents will become aware of the needs of foster children in the community. ‘‘I get a lot of personal reward from it, knowing that people benefit,” Jurgrau said.
Potomac filmmakermakes it big
‘‘The Games of Night,” a film directed by Dan Levy Dagerman, a 2003 graduate of Winston Churchill High School, is slated for the silver screen. The film will be shown in August at the Los Angeles Shorts Fest in West Hollywood, Calif. and at the Mill Valley Film Festival near San Francisco in October.
‘‘The Games of Night” is an adaptation of a short story entitled ‘‘Nattens Lekar,” written in 1947, about a about a young boy who copes with his alcoholic father by dreaming up imaginative ways to lure him home from the bar. The story was written by Levy Dagerman’s grandfather, Stig Dagerman, a prominent Swedish writer who committed suicide in 1954 after struggling with mental illness.
Another Stig Dagerman short story, titled ‘‘Att doda ett barn (To kill a child),” was adapted into a film in 2003 and shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The film features Alex Wilson, 9, of Kensington, as the lead character, Hakan.
‘‘The Games of Night” debuted in January at the Avalon Theatre in Washington. Levy Dagerman, who is currently a film student in New York, aspires to be a feature film director. He is working on a full-length screen play about his experiences growing up in Potomac. For more information about his work, visit www.danlevydagerman.com
Sisters succeed
Melina Alice Ecos, a 2004 graduate of Thomas S. Wootton High School, and her sister, Monica Victoria Ecos, a 2002 Wootton graduate, have both recently graduated from Towson University. Melina Ecos graduated magna cum laude with a double major in deaf studies and speech and audiology language pathology. She plans on attending Towson’s graduate school of audiology. Her older sister, Monica Ecos, graduated from Towson with a master’s degree in occupational therapy with a 4.0 grade point average. She plans to work for a pediatric company in the Baltimore area.
Congratulations
Some 137 Montgomery County area students were named to the Dean’s List at Salisbury University for the spring 2008 semester.
Bethesda area students include Floriana Echeverria and Maria Giorando; Kensington area students include Jacquelyn Parker and Randi Tannenbaum; North Potomac students include Nicholas Lockard, Sean Stone and John Sutton; Cabin John area students include Jason Bromley; and Potomac area students include Mariya Berge, Anh Nguyen, Jose Pugeda, Christina Sohl and Amanda Thompson.
Bringing communitymembers together
Members of Potomac Community Resources and their friends and family gathered Saturday at the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Potomac for the group’s second annual community barbecue. The group aims to involve children and adults with developmental differences with community life, and organizes therapeutic, social, recreational, and educational programs for its members. Staff and participants enjoyed an animal meet and greet, music from a DJ, food and games. For more information about Potomac Community Resources, visit www.pcr-inc.org.
Share your fair memories
Remember the first time you had funnel cake or the first blue-ribbon you won at the county fair? Remember your child’s reaction the first time he touched a sheep’s wool or rode the Tilt-A-Whirl? Tell us about it!
The Gazette wants to hear about all the fun times you had as a kid, and as an adult, at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, which celebrates its 60th anniversary next month. So send your photographs and share your favorite fair story with us. Photos and stories will be considered for print and online. E-mail us at memories@gazette.net or write to The Gaithersburg Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD, 20877.
This column is for you. Send press releases, news tips and other information to Erin Donaghue by phone to 301-280-3007, by e-mail edonaghue@gazette.net, by fax to 301-670-7183 or by mail to 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.
