CARES DIRECTOR Joann Leatherland and volunteer Cora Lee Jarvis examine merchandise at the CARES building on Womble Street in Sparta. The facility is open to the public Fridays and Saturdays, but donations are accepted daily (except Sundays).

Leatherland is new director of CARES

Before becoming director of Alleghany CARES (Christians Associated for Relief and Emergency Services) last month, Joann Leatherland had been a volunteer with the organization since she and her husband moved here five years ago.

"I enjoy working with the volunteers. They're loving, compassionate people. You couldn't ask for a nicer group to be associated with," said Leatherland.

"I truly believe in CARES and its mission." That includes assisting those in need, as well as the college scholarships provided from sales at the thrift store on Womble Street.

"We're just trying to help each other," she added. Leatherland also enjoys seeing the variety of items donated to CARES and the process of rejuvenation, giving a second life to those products.

Originally from Charlotte, she was a longtime nurse, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. Her husband Lon owns a business called First Aid Express, which markets first-aid kits and services, mostly to factories.

"Why Wait?"

"For 20 years we had come up to Doughton Park and the Blue Ridge. When we came up to the mountains, we came up here," Joann Leatherland recalled. "On one of those trips, we found some land. "We planned to wait a couple of years and retire, but then we said, 'Why wait?' Lon can still keep his business and run it from here."

After the couple came to Alleghany in 1997, she helped begin the adult day care program at Alleghany Memorial Hospital. "I didn't plan to work at first; then I got the job with day care," she said.

The Leatherlands are members of First Baptist Church of Sparta. She likes volunteer work, and has volunteered through that church and with Hospice of Alleghany.

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