As she promised, Freda Cathcart - one of the vocal opponents of the proposed coffee shop at Fishburn Park that was not approved by Roanoke City Council - has submitted an alternative proposal for the old caretaker's cottage. Cathcart and Roni Sutton propose to leverage a no-interest loan for $100,000 combined with volunteer efforts to
The proposal was submitted by Freeda Cathcart and Roni Sutton to the Roanoke City manager and the Roanoke City Council to renovate and maintain the house in Fishburn Park on June 1.
Roni Sutton and her husband, Richie, raised three sons into adulthood. But their offspring aren t the only people who call them mom and dad.
A dozen other young men and women spread around Earth also address the couple using those terms. That s because the Suttons spent years hosting foreign-exchange students in their Montvale home.
More recently, Roni Sutton has levered that experience into a job as chapter leader with a nonprofit called Foreign Links Around the Globe, or FLAG. Since 1989, the U.S. State Department-accredited organization has overseen housing, care and education for more than 5,000 students from 51 countries.
All are teenagers, generally 15-17, and fluent in English. In most cases, they come from families of certain means who can afford the costs for travel, health insurance and other items. Most spend a school year, or sometimes a longer or shorter period, living in the United States and learning about our culture.