Short Pump Shorts: Deep Run Robotics, Wine Loft Backpacks & Earth Day Recognition

The Deep Run “Blue Cheese” robotics team 1086 came home with several awards from the International World Robotics Championship Competition held in Atlanta, Georgia over the weekend of April 16-18. Statistics show, by the end of the 80 qualification rounds, Blue Cheese was the Galileo division’s number one seed and among the top four robotics teams in the […]

April 26, 2010; 12:47 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

The Deep Run “Blue Cheese” robotics team 1086 came home with several awards from the International World Robotics Championship Competition held in Atlanta, Georgia over the weekend of April 16-18. Statistics show, by the end of the 80 qualification rounds, Blue Cheese was the Galileo division’s number one seed and among the top four robotics teams in the world.

They were undefeated heading into the finals, and lost by only a few points in the last two matches. Blue Cheese came home with two International FRC Championship Awards, The “Coopertition” Award, celebrating the FRC team that best demonstrates the ability to help their opponents compete and Division Finalist, given to the team that qualifies for their FRC division finals. Deep Run High School’s FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) team 93, Blue Cheese Jr. ended the qualification rounds in 12th place at the International World Competition. Teams came from all over world: Israel, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the United States.

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The Wine Loft in West Broad Village has announced a partnership with The Central Virginia Food Bank and Virginia Wine Industry for its Virginia Wine Backpack Challenge. For every bottle of Virginia wine purchased until the end of the school year, the wine bar will contribute another “backpack” donation, full of food for at-risk school kids to take home from school on the weekends.

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As part of its annual Earth Day celebrations, Mondial Assistance of Innsbrook has identified its “greenest” associates. Ricky Grubb, of Henrico, and Caroline Alexander, of Richmond, were recognized for best representing the spirit of Earth Day: a commitment to protecting and preserving the environment. The winners were recognized during a celebration at the company’s Richmond locations on Parham Road and at Innsbrook on April 23.

“With offices in 29 countries, Mondial Assistance has a global perspective that includes a commitment to reducing our impact on our environment,” said Daniel Durazo, director of communications for Mondial Assistance. “Our ambassadors of Green, Ricky Grubb and Caroline Alexander, remind us of all we can do each and every day to live a greener lifestyle. We’re proud of all our associates for embracing sustainable habits at the office and at home.”

To identify the greenest associates, Mondial Assistance conducted a company-wide survey that asked about habits such as: conserving energy and other resources at home, using reusable shopping bags, recycling, supporting eco-friendly companies and organizations, utilizing low-energy commuting choices, focusing on power-saving efforts at work, and even growing vegetables and buying locally owned produce at home. Answers were assigned points based on their impact on the environment.

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In honor of Earth Day, Martin’s Food Markets encouraged customers to return unused plastic bags to their local store to be recycled. The company plans to turn the recycled bags into park 50 park benches, which will be placed throughout the area at schools, libraries, fire stations and green spaces over the next several weeks.

“Rather than having more plastic bags end up in landfills, we recycle them into park benches and then donate the park benches to enhance local green space,” said Jim Scanlon, regional vice president. “We invite our customers to deposit their plastic grocery bags in containers located in the vestibules of our stores and help us turn more bags into The City of Richmond will receive 25 of the benches for several municipal parks and playgrounds. Short Pump Elementary School, directly across the street from the Short Pump Martin’s, will receive one bench.

April 26, 2010 12:47 PM 0