Published: July 06, 2007 09:21 pm      

FOC Women’s Auxiliary gets started in Beckley

When Mel Hancock assumed the position of coalfield representative for Friends of Coal, he brainstormed for new ideas to increase interest in the organization.

And at the suggestion of his wife, Tammy, he helped organize what he hopes will be the charter chapter of the FOC Women’s Auxiliary.

“I knew in my personal working experience women represent the greatest human resource we would ever have available, and to be able to organize them as a collective group could mean a great deal,” he said.

Hancock says he took his wife’s idea to the public and began talking to spouses of miners and other women involved in the coal industry. Several women expressed interest, and Hancock said Regina Fairchild, who is married to Jaydee Fairchild with Superior Highwall Mining, volunteered her home for the group’s first organizational meeting, which will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

It is up to the group to decide what direction to take the chapter, but Hancock, who is confident it will succeed, says he hopes to see similar auxiliaries throughout the state.

“I think it will be a tremendous resource for the public that will do many, many positive things,” he said.

Hancock says the auxiliary is open to not only women directly associated with the coal industry, but to any woman who considers herself a “friend of coal.”

Anyone interested in attending the meeting, which will take place at 509 Old Farm Road at Glade Springs, is asked to contact Hancock at 255-1457, extension 20, or 237-5694.

— E-mail: mjames

@register-herald.com