Recent high school grads help the cause on the front lines

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Two months ago they were pulling down rebounds for Cave Spring High School’s boys basketball team.

Today, Parker Huffman and Matt Cagle are grabbing groceries off the top shelf.

The two Cave Spring seniors stood out in the winter of 2019-20, helping the Knights win a VHSL Class 3 co-championship in March.

But with the closure of Virginia’s K-12 schools for the remainder of the academic year on March 23 because of the outbreak of COVID-19, the two have joined a number of Roanoke Valley teens seeking employment.

And at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-7, respectively, Huffman and Cagle stand above the co-workers at their part-time jobs.

Huffman works 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday at Kroger on Brambleton Avenue, while Cagle clocks in for afternoon and evening shifts at the Clearbrook Walmart.

The two big kids swept the boards in the winter for Cave Spring. Now they clean up in Aisle 6.

Cagle is in high demand at his store.

“All the time another associate or a customer will come up to me and ask me to get something for them,” he said. “I’m a great asset there, being able to reach the top shelf.”

Cagle and Huffman wear protective masks during the workday. The mouth and nose covering hardly serves as a disguise for Huffman, whose size and skill earned him first-team All-Timesland honors after his senior season.

“If the face isn’t recognizable, it’s the height that gives it away,” he said. “There’s no hiding in my job.”

Business is brisk in the grocery aisles where Huffman and Cagle work primarily in the curbside delivery service.

Customers submit on-line orders. Huffman and Cagle are among a handful of associates who find the items on the shelves and assemble them for pickup outside the stores.

Huffman recently filled an order from one...