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LaToya Lyburn (left) listens as Shannon Critzer answers a question posed by host Kurt Etheridge.
Tatyana Pryor, 13, dances with |
LaToya Lyburn had a problem.
The King George County social worker knew the answer to the question she got while playing "Social Services Survey Says."
But just moments earlier, she'd won an award for "churchiest hat" at the Friday night party. And the answer on the tip of her tongue was, well, anything but "churchy."
The audience was filled with social workers, nonprofit employees, local politicians and families. It was a Department of Social Services Fun Night. The director of a King George nonprofit threw the party to honor social workers.
"You know their clients don't appreciate them the way they deserve," said Fronce Wardlaw, director of Project FAITH.
She picked hats for a party theme because social workers wear many hats.
"I definitely know about wearing many hats," said Lyburn, decked in a wide-brimmed hat. She trains foster parents, and works with adoptive and foster families for the King George County Department of Social Services.
And she was chosen as a team captain for the evening's game, which asked social workers, agency directors and nonprofit workers to guess what answers most people give to questions like, "What's the oddest request at a social services agency?" and "What's the average amount of utility assistance?"
Lyburn got the question, "What's another name for the director of social services?"
She quickly pressed the buzzer. But when the host stuck the microphone in her face, Lyburn hesitated.
"My boss is in the room," she said.
"That's OK," Kurt Etheridge reassured her. "I'm sure the word doesn't apply to your boss."
Lyburn still waited. Finally, she indicated she was thinking of a part of the anatomy she couldn't mention.
Sure enough, that answer was on the board, and Lyburn's team took the points.
And her boss shrugged off the possible insult, just as he shrugged off praise earlier.
Wardlaw envisioned the evening to honor all area social workers. And they came from the city of Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania. Caroline and King George counties.
But in particular, she wanted to laud King George Social Services Director David Coman.
Wardlaw has worked alongside Coman for more than eight years, starting when she and two friends started Project FAITH to provide a house for a homeless man. In the intervening years, Wardlaw's organization has built two apartment complexes, a home for sick people and a single-family home.
And she often ran into Coman, who was always there to lend a hand, Wardlaw said.
He runs the area's prisoner re-entry program, performs weekend home repairs for low-income county residents and serves on a disability board.
As a social services director, he's learned the importance of stretching a dollar.
"He has really shown me how to be benevolent on a budget," Wardlaw said,
King George Supervisor Cedell Brooks said Coman is the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, his lunch and anything else he had to give.
"He's a genuine gentleman," Brooks said. "In King George County, we're fortunate to have a person like Dave Coman, because he genuinely cares and he can make a dollar bill stretch farther than any man I've ever seen in my life."
Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
