Feb 28, 2018
We were in the studio for The Valley Business Today with Emily Buhl from the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber along with her guests - Greater Good award winners: Christy Foltz was here from American Woodmark: American Woodmark was the recipient of the Large Business of the Year award. American Woodmark was created by a group of local businessmen in 1980. Since that time it has grown into a billion dollar corporation by creating strong partnerships, positioning resources, taking risks, being creative, understanding their market, and using smart and ethical business practices. They have weathered economic downturns and created the largest selling brand of its kind in the United States. American Woodmark has been able to launch products and services that have adapted to meet the ever-evolving needs of consumers for the past 37 years. Between the parent company and a local division it employs over 500 people in the Winchester, Frederick County, and Clark County region. Timothy Coyne was the recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award. Tim Coyne has served as the Public Defender in Winchester since 2004. Since that time he has seen firsthand the adverse impact of addiction on many of the clients he serves in the court system, and on our community. He has seen lives taken too soon and others destroyed, families torn apart, and children entering the foster care system because of parental substance use. Because of this experience and his passion for our community, he was part of a grassroots effort to form the Northern Shenandoah Valley Substance Abuse Coalition (NSVSAC), a diverse, community-based organization that is working to address the addiction epidemic that is plaguing the Northern Shenandoah Valley. Tim serves as the Vice-Chairman of the organization whose mission it is to collaborate with community partners to identify and develop effective resources to ensure that the necessary continuum of care for substance abuse and addiction services are available to all members of the community. He was the chairman of the Best Practices Committee of the NSVSAC which identified Drug Treatment Courts as a best practice across the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation. Tim led local efforts to create the North West Regional Adult Drug Treatment Court, the first of its kind in our area. The Drug Treatment Court serves as an alternative to incarceration and provides treatment to individuals so that they may become successful, contributing members of society. The program launched on August 16, 2016 and in November, 2017 during the program’s first commencement, three clients were celebrated for successfully completing the program. Tim was voted by other law leaders in the Commonwealth as the 2017 Leader of the Year and was presented the award during the Leaders in Law Conference in October. He was selected in a secret ballot of 30 lawyers who’d been named this year’s Leaders in the Law by the Virginia Lawyers Weekly paper. They included defense attorneys, prosecutors, and a judge. Jacqueline Shoemaker, owner of Winchester Weight Loss, was the recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Jacqueline created her company after almost 20 years in the health care industry and much research and study in their area of focus. She began to question conventional standards of care and government recommendations that to them obviously were not working. Winchester Weight Loss was formed in 2012 and opened its doors in 2013 with one employee. In the last five years it has realized much success and grown to seven employees and opened a second location. Jacqueline is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of the community, they are also committed to community service. Winchester Weight Loss has been instrumental in bringing accomplished authors and physicians to the area in support of community wellness education events. They have donated time and resources to local non-profits such as the Youth Development Center and the Winchester Medical Center Cancer Foundation and served on the board of CLEAN. Jacqueline helped to develop the Glow Run and Tot Trot race. Keighley Gore with Gore's Meats was also in the studio. Gore’s Meats was the recipient of the Small Business of the Year award. Gore’s Meats was started in Frederick County in 1961 to serve an unmet need in the community, and is now in its 57th year and 4th generation of family operation. Over the decades the family ceased opportunities to expand the business and it now has three locations in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. They employ 30 employees and break production records each year. Gore’s Meats opened a retail location in Stephens City in 2011, and this year will have another opportunity to relocate and expand the retail operation. The business philosophy of this company is that by upholding the values of providing a high quality product, ethical business practices, and excellent customer service it is possible for them to prosper, and in turn to support the economy and needs of the community in which they live. These values are extremely important to this business, and how they have become “A Name You Know, Quality You Trust”. Gore’s Meats is without question extremely community minded. Among many others their participation includes the Newtown Heritage Festival, American Red Cross blood drives, the Chain of Checks, Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, Bright Futures Frederick County, the Kiwanis Club of Winchester, and the Virginia Tech Alumni Association. In 2017 the company helped with over 40 fundraisers, non-profits and public organizations by donating well over $60,000 of product, funding and support. To quote this business, “The right ingredients and a tried and true recipe provides the best dinners to gather around; the way the right employees, products, service and a proven record of good business practices provides the best small business to gather around and benefit the community.”