The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE, Va. (VR)—Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) has announced that the I Have a Heart Fund Drive’s goal of raising $10,000 has been met thanks to donors from 11 states.
M. Ray Allen, founder and president of AAA, said, “I wish to thank all of the donors who contributed to our annual fund drive, and I especially wish to thank The Alleghany Foundation for the opportunity to compete in its annual Give Local Alleghany Highlands Fund Raising on Giving Tuesday in May that raised more than $1 million this year in conjunction with Mighty Cause and the Alleghany Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Tourism.
AAA finished fourth in its “Medium Size Non-Profit Division” to claim the $2,000 prize, and AAA won one of the two Power Hour competitions to receive the $1,500 prize.
Additionally, a $50 donation from a donor from Louisville, Kentucky resulted in an award of $250 by the way of a Golden Ticket that the Alleghany Foundation awarded for donations at random. Combined with the $50 for one senior at Alleghany High School who voted for AAA and the cash prize awarded for receiving donations from new donors who did not contribute last year, AAA came away with enough donations to surpass the goal of raising $10,000.
On December 20, 1991, AAA received the Historic Stonewall Theatre in Clifton Forge as a charitable donation from Irwin R. Cohen, owner of R-C Theatres in Reisterstown, MD. After owning and operating the theatre for 12 years while making more than $200,000 worth of restoration improvements to the theatre, AAA donated the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge in 2003.
During the 12 years of ownership, AAA developed a number of performing arts programs, including The Virginia Opry which has performed country music shows in the Alleghany Highlands each year after making its debut on October 17, 1992. Governor Ralph S. Northam signed “Senate Bill 283” on March 31, 2020, to designate The Virginia Opry as the official Opry of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Allen noted, “The Virginia Opry has grown from its 10 original members to 72 members and 12 bands, and Governor Glenn Youngkin was on stage with The Virginia Opry at the Virginia State Fair in 2024, the year CBS News broadcast live The Virginia Opry’s performance from Richmond on Veterans Day at the War Memorial. “
He continued, “AAA received a $200,000 sponsorship from the Welch Foundation in Raliegh, NC for The Virginia Opry to stage a special country music show for the VMI cadets at Lime Kiln Theater in Lexington, in 2022.
Allen added, “AAA then donated $3,500 of its profits from the show to the widow of a fallen Covington police officer who prior to the show became the first in the city’s history to be shot to death in the line of duty. “
Another program that has grown over the years that AAA founded is Special Theatrical Artists Revue and Showcase (STARS), a troupe of performers who face intellectual challenges and/or physical disabilities. STARS began as a troupe of 10, and it has grown to a troupe of 29. STARS has been featured in Moose, a national magazine, and the 2006 documentary film produced by AAA title “STARS” won a Bronze Telly.
STARS will perform on stage at The Historic Masonic Theatre on Sunday, July 27, under the direction of Paula Crance with Chris Fisher serving as the emcee. The title of the show that is free of charge to the public is “In the Summertime.” The theatre doors will open at 2:30 p.m., and STARS will take the stage at 3:00 p.m. Donations for the STARS will be accepted in the lobby of the theatre.
Another program that AAA has founded is the Appalfolks of America Cloggers, a youth troupe of 25, that performs under the direction of Amanda Patterson Burns, an AAA board of directors’ member who owns A 1 Studios in Covington.
AAA is the only nonprofit in the entire competition’s three divisions that is featured in Encyclopedia of Appalachia, a 2006 publication by the University of Tennessee Press, for its good work with Appalachian youth.
Allen concluded, “The late Poet Laureate of Kentucky, Dr. Jim Wayne Miller, said it best when he said that AAA is a force for good in Southern Appalachia.”
