With the newly expanded Goodwill on 29 North, SPCA Rummage in Seminole Square, and boutique favorites like Darling, Charlottesville has no shortage of spots to score second-hand goods. But the newest arrival, Uplift Thrift, comes with a unique mission: all of its proceeds support the work of On Our Own. Since 1990, On Our Own […]
On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving, we posted a story about Gladys the emu and the Cathcarts of Albemarle County. That holiday had been incomplete for the family, because Gladys—one of three emus who live on the Cathcart farm near Carter’s Bridge—was still missing after bolting from her pen with her sister Mabel ten […]
“It’s hard to know how to navigate all the different things coming our way on the global and national stage,” Stephen Hitchcock, the executive director of The Haven told me recently. “To understand how to think well and live well in light of the systems we’re entangled in. It can feel almost paralyzing.” That’s one […]
Photos by Zack Wajsgras In January, The Haven will celebrate 10 years of serving homeless and extremely low-income people in the heart of Charlottesville. As the Downtown Mall has been revitalized, the area has become increasingly expensive, home to luxury residences like C&O Row and the [...]
New trails: Tracy Howe’s social gospel soul album Things That Grow honors marginalized communities while celebrating beauty and resilience. Tracks like “Frack Me” and “Our Strength” are rallying cries against misogyny and predatory capitalism, and “Bury Me,” a protest song about white [...]
La Taza owner Melissa Easter has recently struggled with a big decision: Should she close her restaurant of the past 13 years or expand? Ultimately she decided it was time for a lifestyle change, and she and her ex-husband, Jeff, sold the restaurant and building to new owners. “I’ve been [...]
In the wake of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Amanda Korman knew what she needed to do. Sing. At a local vigil, Korman sang songs of solidarity, mourning and protest alongside fellow members of the Charlottesville Women’s Choir “to say we do not want this violence in our [...]
FAMILY Mrs. Claus Invites Wednesday, December 13 Mrs. Claus and her friends invite kids of all ages to enjoy singing, storytelling, craftmaking and more. Advance tickets required. $10, 4-6pm. Omni Hotel Charlottesville, 212 Ridge McIntire Rd. virginiagingerbreadchristmas.com NONPROFIT Bengali [...]
Although Blue Moon Diner is closed during construction of 600 West Main, the six-story mixed-use building going up behind the restaurant, that hasn’t stopped owner Laura Galgano from serving her customers. “I am a social being, and quite simply, [I] want to know what folks are up to, how their [...]
Have your cake and eat it, too: The newly launched Sliced. Cake Bar offers homemade cake by the slice, buttercream shots and cake flights (like a beer flight, but with cake). Co-owners Megan and Rock Watson got the idea after visiting a popular Dallas cake bar. Only Rock thought the sweet [...]
“Talent is an accident of genes—and a responsibility,” said the late actor Alan Rickman. For the past 20 years, the Piedmont Council for the Arts has identified more than 250 area high school students as bearers of that responsibility through its annual Arthur C. Greene Rising Star Awards. This [...]
Becky Blanton became invisible 10 years ago. She shared her story—how she went from working as a newspaper editor to living out of her van and eventually identifying as homeless—with her fellow entrepreneurs in a Community Investment Collaborative program in the fall of 2015. CIC runs a 16-week [...]
It’s been almost one year since Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Virginia was the first state in the U.S. to functionally end homelessness among veterans—and while it may not seem that way when residents drive through Charlottesville and see people begging, evolving housing programs are [...]