The Adler Center for Caring in the Stone Ridge Development off Route 50 is well on its way to becoming a reality.  Jack Fox who with his wife Janet both of River Creek made a pledge some nine years ago to forge ahead and make their dream of an inpatient clinic come true.  Fox says, “We hope to open for business on November first.” 
    Capital Caring formerly known as Hospice, has begun hiring the staff of nurses and doctors.  The funding for the Center has come from sponsors and individuals over the past several years, through the annual event well- known as the Daffodil Ball hosted by the River Creek Club to supplement funds raised by Captial Caring.
              The Adler Center will maintain the premises for patients who have six months or less to live and who have been referred by a doctor.  The Center will be specifically for people who cannot receive the care they need at home. 

              Cindy Chambers is a board member of the Inova Hospital Group that includes the Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne.  Beamer is a golden retriever whose mom Dominique Dupras escorts him through children’s wards as therapy for the patients.  Recently they paid a visit to the Loudoun Hospital.  Chambers became acquainted with Beamer and has written a series of books about him.  She says, “I have never seen a dog who can create such a sense of calm when he enters a room.”
            Chambers has for years been involved in charitable work and because of that she recalls that the Inova Foundation invited her to join their Board.  She started writing books on how hospital staffs care about people.  Then Beamer came along and she says, “I knew he was perfect for the books and would provide comfort and enjoyment for children.”
          The latest in the Beamer series is Beamer Visits the Emergency Room.  And as Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer who is the golden retriever’s namesake writes, “It supports the fact that a doctor’s visit should be looked on as a benefit and not as a fear.”
          Beamer’s mom, Ms. Dupras, attended Virginia Tech and is an admirer of the Hokies Coach, hence the name for the four year old retriever.  Plus as Chambers points out, “Beamer is also a beam of sunshine.”
          The Beamer books have a special appeal to children because, “I wrote the books with a therapy dog teaching the children by telling stories of things that happened to him as he was a puppy growing up.  I had his experiences mirror those of a child so that he could bring comfort to children while teaching them about challenging life events.”
Writer Fran Willard of River Creek recently interviewed Ms. Chambers for a story and found out that Beamer and Dominique are a nationally certified therapy team. They help children learn to read through their program “Tales with Tails” in their non-profit organization “Paws2care.”
And now thanks to Chambers and Willard we can all get to know about Beamer.

Sue Ranson, recently moved into River Creek from Australia.  She recounts Ausies’ view of holdiay season.  “There’s a song called White Boomers about kangaroos pulling Santa’s sleigh.  This time of year it’s too hot for reindeer in Australia.  And Santa makes his rounds in Australia and New Zealand before coming to the States.”  The International Dateline brings Christmas Eve to that part of the world one day before here. With that in mind she says Australians get the first pick of the toys while Americans get ‘”leftovers.”  That may explain why my first bicycle was second hand.  According to Sue, “Once arriving in the States, Santa hitches up his reindeer.”  Questions arise.  When does he transfer from Kangaroo to reindeer?  Somewhere over the Pacific?  Sue thinks it’s when he arrives on the West Coast of the States.