Volunteers Key to Bluefield Coal Show Success

 

 

By Charlie Boothe

September 15, 2017 - Members of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce are quick to say the biennial Bluefield Coal Show would not be possible without volunteers.

And one volunteer who has always been part of the show, which the chamber has hosted since 1976, is Calvin Shoemaker.

Maybe that’s because between him, his father and five brothers, the family has 205 years of experience in underground coal mining.

“I had only seven,” Shoemaker said. “We are a coal mining family. It’s in the blood. I went into the mines when I was 18, never thought about doing anything else.”

Shoemaker eventually went to work for PEMCO, a Bluefield, Va. company that provides electrical solutions to mining and other industries.

When the opportunity to volunteer for the coal show arose at the company, more than 40 years ago, he jumped at the chance.

“Charlie (Peters, the show’s chairman), Debbie (Maynard, with the chamber) and myself are the only three still active who were here for the first show,” he said.

Although he retired in 2005, he continues to volunteer because, he said, he loves the show and the people.

“It’s sort of like a reunion every year,” he said. “We come back and I meet the guys I used to work with. I enjoy it very much.”

Shoemaker said his job is the same.

“We run all of the electrical supplies to the exhibitors,” he said, from the power source to substations he helps set up to distribution boxes and then to the vendors’ booths.

“Every one of them needs electricity and various voltages,” he said, from 120 to 1,000. “You have to be prepared. The armory is not set up for that. If we didn’t have the ability to do that, you couldn’t have a show.”

Shoemaker agreed with others at the show that there is a different atmosphere this year than the last show two years ago.

“People are excited,” he said. “I have talked to a lot of vendors and they are very much excited. The fact is, a burden (environmental regulations) has been lifted off the coal industry and they feel freedom.”

Of course, when the show is over, a lot of work still needs to be done.

That’s one of the reason Shoemaker recruited his young friend, David LeRoy, youth pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield.

“He recruited me and has taught me a lot,” said LeRoy. “This is my first year volunteering. I’m glad to help out.”

LeRoy said he has enjoyed it and will continue to volunteer.

“You have got to have some muscle,” Shoemaker said, adding that many of the men who are long-time volunteers are in their 70s. “We need young people. We need to find more young volunteers.”

One of those youth who started volunteering in 2011 is Shannon Bowling, dean of engineering, technology and computer science at Bluefield State College.

Bowling is in charge of registration.

The college has been helping with the show for about 40 years, he said.

One of the first things Bowling did was assess the procedure for registration, which often took 20 to 30 minutes, and find ways to streamline it.

After carefully observing the process during the 2013 show, Bowling and other BSC volunteers (including students) wrote a computer program to reduce the time to less than five minutes.

That not only helped the show, it also gave the students an educational project.

“It was a good real-world experience for them,” he said.

Not only that, by volunteering at the show they make contacts with potential employers.

“All of the students (who have volunteered) … have found either a job offer or an internship,” he said. “That’s really good for our students.”

Browning said many more offers to students have been seen this year than at the last show.

The volunteer work is not just at the show, though, it starts far ahead of time with planning and meetings.

“It’s amazing that all of this is done with volunteers,” he said.

As the armory was buzzing on the floor and outside, volunteer Shirley Ofsa was quietly going about her business in the hospitality room, making sure piping hot coffee was ready as well as her popular zucchini bread and banana bread.

“I made 10 loaves of zucchini bread and seven loaves of banana bread,” she said, adding that one man asked her for her recipes.

Ofsa said she has been volunteering with the chamber for 15 years, and loves the coal show.

“I worked two weeks getting ready for this at the chamber office, sending out mailers and flyers and fixing up packets for exhibitors,’ she said. “People don’t realize the work that goes on into putting on this show beforehand.”

Ofsa said one reason she loves the show is her love of the industry.

“I am from a coal family,” she said. “My grandfather, father and husband were all coal miners.”

The McDowell County native who now lives in Bluefield, Va. said she usually helps the chamber with dinners and enjoys it all.

“It keeps me busy,” she said. “I’m 85 and it keeps me active.”

But it’s the people, especially at the coal show, that also keep her coming back.

“I enjoy people,” she said. “I love talking to people. They are great to work with.”

Shoemaker agrees.

 

 

“Coal people are the finest people on earth in my opinion,” he said. “They are down to earth people. They are tough. It’s a tough business and you’ve got to be tough to be in it.” 

 

Bluefield Coal Show volunteers David LeRoy, left, and Calvin Shoemaker enjoy working the show.