DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Mechanicsville, VA 23111
PRSRT. STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Mechanicsville, VA Permit No.141
Vol. 29, No. 10 | Richmond Suburban Newspapers | July 11, 2012
STOPS AT EVERY HOME IN TOWN
Kids get special area at Tomato Festival SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
Inside today — everything you need to know about the 2012 Hanover Tomato Festival.
Contributed Report news@mechlocal.com
On Saturday, the 2012 Hanover Tomato Festival – to be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville — will provide a children’s area your kids won’t want to miss. Festival organizers — including the Hanover Tomato Festival Committee, Hanover County Parks & Rec
and founders Black Creek Volunteer Fire Department – have many community partners offering a variety of children’s activities. Now in its 34th year, the Hanover Tomato Festival is an event for the entire family. Regardless of age, there is something for all. Children’s activities are being File photo/Patrick Dobbs presented by Empress Farm – Marl Loan Jr., Ty Williams and Luke Sherry go fishing for prizes with Essex Bank at the 2011 see TOMATO, pg. 4
Hanover Tomato Festival.
Fairy Godmother Project helps families fight childhood cancer By Paula Neely for The Mechanicsville Local
K Photo courtesy of Sarah Downey of Sarah Downey Photography
The Fairy Godmother Project helped a Mechanicsville family by arranging for the volunteer services of Sarah Downey, a professional photographer, to take family photos. Tara and Craig Kilpatrick’s son Chase, second from left, was fighting cancer in 2011 and is doing very well now. His twin brother is Jake.
im Ludwig, mother of three and a full-time accountant, makes time each week to cook and deliver dinner to two Richmond area families who are battling pediatric cancer. Ludwig is one of a growing number of local volunteers who work with the recently formed Fairy Godmother Project to help make the lives of families whose children have cancer less stressful. The nonprofit charity began in Fredericksburg about 18 months
ago and opened a Richmond chapter in January. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be for these families to go through this. It makes me realize how lucky I am. Volunteering is a way for me to reach out to them and help them,” she said. The Fairy Godmother Project got
its name when Andie McConnell, who founded the Fredericksburg chapter, was helping a family so that they could take care of their 22-month-old daughter Evy, who had brain cancer. Evy’s mother dubbed Andie her fairy godmother and the movement began. Laura Leporati, volunteer coordinator for the Richmond chapter, said volunteers provide assistance with “little things” like meals, housework, yard work, organizing and other domestic duties that the parents can’t do because they are caring for their child. “It takes see FAIRY, pg. 4