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BUZZ Live! stars Hope to Walk’s mission to Ukraine 900 506 Michael Hemphill

BUZZ Live! stars Hope to Walk’s mission to Ukraine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 24, 2025 (Roanoke, Va.) – A Blacksburg nonprofit hopes to travel in May to Ukraine to provide prosthetic legs to some of the estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians, women and children, who are now amputees because of the war.

To help Hope to Walk fundraise for its $15,000 mission, BUZZ Live! will host a special one-hour show | on April 3 at 7 p.m. at Church on Main in downtown Blacksburg. The show is free and open to all, and will also be live-streamed to the Facebook and YouTube channels of both @buzz4good and @hopetowalk.

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Top 10 BUZZ of 2023 900 432 Michael Hemphill

Top 10 BUZZ of 2023

Thank you for buzzing with us this year!

We hope you enjoy this highlight reel of our Top 10 buzz-worthy moments of 2023 … and look forward to highlighting and helping even more nonprofits in 2024!

No. 10: The Y is more than a workout as we showed in our episode starring YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge. See the stories of some at-risk teens served by “Rise 540.” Watch full episode. 

No. 9: Nonprofits literally do everything – from homeless shelters and children’s art programs to organizations like the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program that helps entrepreneurs design cutting-edge drugs and patent portable optical laser cutters. Watch full episode.

No. 8: The Roanoke City Public Schools arts program teaches kids how to dance, sing, paint, sculpt, play a stringed instrument, march in the band, produce digital music … and recycling and turtle-stacking? Watch full episode. 

 No. 7: How excited was the Community Foundation of the New River Valley when it soared past its goal for the 10th annual GiveLocalNRV? Watch full episode.

 No. 6: With its scenic waterfalls, hiking trails, gurgling streams and star-gazing skies, Alta Mons pulses with divinity for the thousands of people who retreat each year at the 800-acre eastern Montgomery County camp. But its human heart beats within one man: Jim Pearman. Watch full episode.

 No. 5: We buzzed at the chance to talk to Virginia Tech’s Liz Kitley, Kenny Brooks and Brent Pry for our episode starring The Hokie Way, which helps VT athletes use their Name, Image and Likeness to promote local nonprofits. One of those nonprofits is the Lifering Foundation, founded by Kelly Woolwine amidst incredible suffering. Watch full episode.

 No. 4: We’re fortunate to have Dan Mirolli in our hive as our cinematographer. His work really buzzes in our episode featuring The Least of These homeless ministry at night. Watch full episode. 

 No. 3: How proud is Norma Mondragon’s mother for the life she has built thanks to Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley? Watch full episode.

 No. 2: BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill returns to his hometown of Birmingham where he connects with old friends and his alma mater to produce episodes on four impactful nonprofits that began airing in December on Alabama Public Television.

 No. 1: In our most viewed video of 2023, musicians Bryan “Harvest Blaque” Hancock and J.P. Powell – joined by Roanoke Symphony maestro David Stewart Wiley, Opera Roanoke’s Brooke Tolley, Roanoke Cultural Endowment’s Shaleen Powell, and the Roanoke Valley Children’s Choir – provide the artistic beat for what makes Roanoke, Virginia, a great place for business. Watch full episode.

The Hokie Way kicks off Season 4 900 505 Michael Hemphill

The Hokie Way kicks off Season 4

As originally broadcast October 4, 2023, on Blue Ridge PBS …

Virginia Tech sports fans are understandably passionate about how its teams perform on the field and court. But for nonprofits throughout Virginia there’s as much enthusiasm for what the Hokies are doing outside of the games to further their missions in the community.

That’s due to another nonprofit in and of itself: The Hokie Way. The Hokie’s Way mission is to create opportunities for Virginia Tech student-athletes to leverage their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in support of charitable organizations.

On today’s episode of BUZZ, we will feature head football coach Brent Pry, women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks, and two of our favorite Hokies: Liz Kitley and Sean Pedulla, in hopes we can help The Hokie Way score more buzz of its own.

Funding for this episode is generously provided by Partners in Financial Planning and EvolutionHR.

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BUZZ kicks off Season 4 featuring The Hokie Way 749 299 Michael Hemphill

BUZZ kicks off Season 4 featuring The Hokie Way

News Release

September 25, 2023 (Roanoke, Va.) – Virginia Tech star basketball players Elizabeth Kitley and Sean Pedulla – along with Hokies football coach Brent Pry and women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks – are featured in the Season 4 premier of BUZZ on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. on Blue Ridge PBS.

Airing every Wednesday, BUZZ features the great work of nonprofit organizations in Southwest Virginia, and the marketing professionals affiliated with the American Advertising Federation of Roanoke who donate their time and talent helping charities attract more people to their cause.

The Season 4 premier – the 36th episode of BUZZ – stars The Hokie Way, a nonprofit that creates opportunities for Virginia Tech student-athletes to leverage their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in support of other charitable causes, such as Feeding Southwest Virginia, LifeRing Foundation, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia. 

“Since launching in 2020, we’ve been fortunate to feature nearly 50 organizations that represent the breadth and depth of charitable work in our communities: arts and culture, homelessness, literacy, outdoors recreation, suicide prevention, intellectual disabilities, and now college athletics,” said Michael Hemphill, BUZZ creator and host. “Our communities are strong because of nonprofits. We’re honored to share their missions on public television throughout Virginia and provide them with valuable marketing resources to help them create more buzz.” 

Other Season 4 BUZZ episodes in development are Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary in Floyd County; RAMP (Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program); and Arts Connect Neighbors in Roanoke.

All BUZZ episodes are available on demand at buzz4good.com/episodes. Hemphill also hosts the weekly radio show Buzz4Good! – interviewing nonprofit leaders throughout Southwest Virginia – on Saturdays at 4 p.m. on WFIR. Previous episodes are available on buzz4good.com/podcast.

# # #

Contact:
Michael Hemphill | Creator of Buzz4Good
buzz4good.com | michael@buzz4good.com | 540.556.2879
@buzz4good on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn

This BUZZ is personal 900 506 Michael Hemphill

This BUZZ is personal

As originally broadcast July 26, 2023, on Blue Ridge PBS …

Twenty years ago I was new to the nonprofit world working on my first project in my community of Shawsville, Virginia: revitalizing an abandoned nursing home into a community center. 

Our group of volunteers had little money and no experience, but one organization was willing to believe in us and award us our first grant: The Community Foundation of the New River Valley. 

What an honor it has been to produce our newest BUZZ featuring the Community Foundation’s work helping hundreds of nonprofits throughout Virginia’s New River Valley. Thank you 5Points Creative and Bruce C. Bryan for providing the buzz for the Foundation as it coordinated its 10 annual — and biggest ever — GiveLocalNRV!

About the episode:

Founded in 1994 with just $8, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley today claims more than 200 funds and $15 million in assets from which it awards each year $500,000+ in grants and scholarships. Hundreds of nonprofits — and thousands of individuals — have been helped by this vital organization.

One of the big events that it hosts each year for the region’s nonprofit community is Give Local NRV, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023. Returning to BUZZ for its seventh episode, 5Points Creative gives a major marketing boost to the Community Foundation for this milestone occasion.