T-shirts to advertise U.S. Census count

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Bland County’s 4-H students will be walking advertisements for the 2010 Census. They will win specialized T-shirts for various club-sponsored activities beginning in February 2010.
The 458 screen-printed shirts were bought through a $2,996.50 grant from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Partner Support Program. The shirts feature the census bureau’s logo on the front with the 4-H Pledge on the back side.
“The grant money was to be used for advertising,” noted Audra Repass, the county’s economic development project manager and member of the newly-created Virginia Complete Count Committee. “Elizabeth Johnson is the 4-H sponsor and she’s on the county’s Complete Count Committee. She came up with the idea.”
According to Repass, the T-shirts will first be awarded to participants in the 4-H presentations to be held in February 2010. The event features 4-H members from Rocky Gap and Bland elementary schools demonstrating how to do anything of their choosing.
Repass’ committee will help ensure an accurate 2010 Census count in the state. It also will use its knowledge of the communities to share this message with as many individuals as possible while encouraging residents to complete and mail back their census questionnaires.
The 2010 Census will target every household in the nation with a simple 10 bullet questionnaire. Data obtained from the survey will be compiled and a formal report will be submitted to the president by Dec. 31, 2010.
Census questionnaires will be mailed during March 2010. April 1, 2010, will be Census Day.
“Our county was undercounted in 2000,” Repass stated. “Somewhere around 67 percent of the citizens returned their questionnaires.”
She pointed out an accurate census count will determine how approximately $400 billion is distributed from the federal government to state and local governments annually. The information, according to Repass, also will be used in the redistricting of legislative districts and the reappointment of congressional seats held by individuals in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Repass said some local residents don’t want to share their personal information. All census information, she stated, is confidential and not released to any organizations.
“Completing the census is mandated by law,” Repass added.
The 2010 Census in Western Virginia will officially kick off Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the census office in Christiansburg, 116 Oak Tree Boulevard.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .