Category: 2022 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

Talk about a gift that keeps on giving: In 2006, local philanthropist Fred Scott donated an antique carousel to the Virginia Discovery Museum, which oversaw its installation on the Downtown Mall. After 15 years and millions of rotations by seven horses (the VDM estimates that more than 100,000 children ride the carousel every year!), the beloved whirling wonder—one of the oldest remaining self-propelled carousels in the country—was in need of restoration.

Re-enter Scott, who, in honor of the museum’s 40th anniversary, made a generous pledge to restore the 1910 carousel to spinning glory. Then came a matching grant challenge from the Perry Foundation, and area families, businesses, and foundations quickly stepped up. Local contractor Martin Horn and artist Christy Baker did the work, with a monetary assist from Apex Clean Energy, Bama Works Fund, The Caplin Foundation, Chilton Trust, Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates, Martin Horn, S&P Global, and Virginia National Bank. 

During the May ribbon-cutting ceremony, Janine Dozier, the VDM’s executive director, said restoring the carousel, which is free to ride and open to the public during the museum’s hours, was “truly a labor of love. …After what has been a long and difficult two years for everyone, reviving the carousel [is] a wonderful gift to the families of Charlottes­ville.” To which we say: Giddyup!

Seven years ago, Tikara Cannon went into labor nine weeks before her twins were due.

That day, she learned her daughters would be born on a military base in Nevada, thousands of miles away from her family on the East Coast.

As a new mother, Cannon had received no prenatal education. She was taken aback when, in the middle of preparing for her C-section, her doctor asked her about her breastfeeding plans.

Cannon’s new family received well wishes and hot meals during the twins’ first two weeks in the hospital. But as time dragged on, support trickled away, and Cannon found herself navigating the new and foreign world of motherhood without a strong support system.

In that month and a half spent waiting for her twin daughters to leave the NICU, Cannon decided to forgo a veterinary career in order to help other Charlottesville moms. 

“My personal lactation experience is what really made me want to go into the field of lactation,” Cannon says. “I wanted to work more with people to make sure they have good experiences.”

Cannon’s training began with certifications in prenatal education and lactation guidance. Eventually, she added accreditation as a postpartum doula. Unlike regular doulas, who guide women through labor, postpartum doulas help new mothers after birth with everything from housekeeping to meal preparation to moral support.

“These people are next to the mom, really caring for her, and that goes hand in hand with lactation, because it’s not just about breastfeeding the baby,” Cannon says. “It’s about everything.”

When Cannon founded Milk & Cradle, LLC, in fall 2020, the company offered virtual postpartum support and lactation guidance. Her practice has since expanded to provide in-person help and guidance to over 20 Charlottes­ville families.

“I’m often assisting families that are here for military families, and don’t have support around,” Cannon says. “My story, with preterm infants, and isolation, and no support, and the military, is quite a heavy background most people can resonate with.”

As new mothers arrive home from the hospital, Cannon can help the new mother feed her baby while ensuring her environment is conducive to peaceful nourishment. Especially for women parenting alone or uprooted by military travel, the extra knowledge and support makes early motherhood less daunting.

“I find satisfaction in knowing that I’m doing my part in trying to prevent the experiences that happened to me,” Cannon says. “I’m not going to prevent it all. But knowing I’ve done my due diligence in attempting, that’s very satisfying.”

Before service, Cannon gets to know the family she is assisting. Afterward, she follows up on mother and child through text. Because her services come at such a transformative time for each family, connection with clients rarely ends with her last session.

As Cannon knows from experience, a connection with the local community provides much-needed stability for new families struggling to navigate the complicated world of postpartum care.

“When those sessions end, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know how I could have made it without you,’ it recharges me,” Cannon says. “I am so grateful for the families that have verbalized that to me. It means a lot. It keeps me going.”

After giving birth to her daughter, artist and art teacher Sarah Sweet decided to get more serious about doing good for the future of the planet. She launched The Scrappy Elephant, a creative reuse art supply store in the winter of 2020, following an inspiring trip to Nashville’s Turnip Green (an organization with a similar mission). Since January 2021, the Palmyra shop has diverted more than 12,000 pounds of art and craft supplies from landfills—and inspired countless art projects with Sweet’s never-know-what-you’ll-find inventory. Bonus: Sweet just opened a Charlottesville shop, too.­­

In 2011, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging—a nonprofit serving older adults, disabled individuals, and caregivers in the Charlottesville area—was inspired to create its own preschool, after a Montessori school that had been using some of its space moved to a new location. Located just down the hall from its Adult Care Center, JABA’s Shining Star Preschool allows students to regularly engage with seniors through a variety of activities, forging intergenerational friendships.

“Sometimes our kids don’t have grandparents who are close by. And what we see when the kids and the seniors are together is that they may be sharing information or sharing stories,” says JABA Operations Director Donna Baker. “You can’t not talk about the joy when you see our kids and our seniors get together…it’s just magical sometimes.”

At JABA’s Adult Care Center and Mary Williams Community Senior Center, preschoolers and seniors eat lunch, make crafts, play music, and do other interactive activities together. When the pandemic started, the preschool switched to offering safer interactions, like outdoor concerts, but it is now working to return to normal activities.

Through a partnership with United Way of Greater Charlottesville, the full-day preschool has grown significantly over the past few years, serving families from a variety of backgrounds and income levels. It currently has 40 students, in addition to the 38 seniors enrolled in the program.

“We don’t force any interactions,” adds Baker. “Some of our older folks, they’ve done their time with kids and are fine not participating—but some don’t see their grandkids enough, and [the preschool] is the most wonderful thing in the world. It’s a lot of fun.”

Playtime is essential to being a kid, and Little Planets—a company that creates nature-inspired pop-up play areas for local events and festivals, breweries like Champion and Brewing Tree, and private homes—wants to bring the fun. From fairy gardens to mud kitchens, Little Planets is serious about play (and, what’s more, giving parents a break from entertaining).

After receiving news that his wife was in remission from cancer, antique car enthusiast Mike Baldauf wanted to give back to UVA Cancer Center, the very place that helped save her life. He organized the Virginia Festival of the Wheel, a three-day gathering for vintage and classic car-lovers, the proceeds of which return to the cancer center to help patients deal with the financial burden of treatment.

One in six people in Charlottes­ville struggle with hunger, meaning the need for organizations like Loaves & Fishes—which provides free groceries to families and individuals in need—is immense. The nonprofit offers food from the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program, as well as donated “pantry” items up to twice a month.

Access to public transportation is a cornerstone of a healthy community. But for those for whom travel-by-CAT is difficult, Jaunt fills in the gaps—and has since 1975. The curb-to-curb demand-response (i.e. not a fixed route) is $1.50 each way, but those with disabilities ride free.

Every year, the list of things on wheels grows larger, but it’s hard not to get excited about folks who’ve decked out a vintage horse trailer and repurposed it into something special. It’s the stuff HGTV shows are made of (not to mention what comes next: the goods). Here are three we’re devouring.

Kaas & Cure (above)

Dani Landi has loved creating cheese and charcuterie boards since she was a kid in the kitchen with her mom, and in 2020 she decided to launch her dream biz, Kaas (Dutch for “cheese”) & Cure. She curates her seasonal boards with artisanal cheeses and local ingredients, packaged in a picnic box or charming paper cup. Bonus: You can learn from the master. Landi often hosts workshops at area wineries.

The Go Bar

There’s something kind of pleasantly disjointed about enjoying a fancy cocktail from a renovated horse trailer, but therein lies the charm of The Go Bar. Started by two industry vets, the Go Bar offers three taps to mix and match any kind of drink you can imagine: cocktails, beer, cider, wine, and even non-alcoholic bevvies. If you can dream it, they can make it.

Buzzing Bee Coffee Co.

Founded by four local musicians and educators in the height of the pandemic, Buzzing Bee stocks Lone Light Coffee and serves it in a compostable cup any way you like it: espressos, Americanos, lattes, or straight with no frills. There’s even a chai on offer. Catch it anywhere from outside a local elementary school to King Family Vineyards.

Breakfast is one of The Haven’s largest expenses, so Bellamy Shoffner coordinated the collection and donation of thousands of eggs and gallons of coffee for the Charlottesville day shelter.

Like crafting a pop-up children’s library at the Wildrock nature playscape in Crozet, or buying out a theater for free community showings of The Hate U Give, this was one of the many initiatives Shoffner has led in Charlottesville through her activism platform, Revolutionary Humans.

“I’ve learned that overall, the Charlottesville community is tight-knit, fiery, and selflessly committed to being and raising a generation of revolutionary citizens,” says Shoffner.

This summer, Revolutionary Humans is launching When We Gather, a virtual collective of parent activists helping each other avoid burnout while creating change.

The collective is the culmination of an activism career that began with Shoffner’s Hold the Line, a digital magazine exploring the intersection between parenthood and social justice.

Originally an effort to stand against hate, the publication connected Shoffner with friends and allies across Charlottesville.

“I didn’t expect a digital publication to turn into years-long relationships, but the strength of Revolutionary Humans supporters has made endless opportunities to evolve,” says Shoffner.

Like many Revolutionary Humans programs, Shoffner designed When We Gather so participants can fit activism into their family schedule. That’s why membership includes everything from a book club “paced for busy people,” to family-friendly activity ideas, to an annual virtual retreat for those who can’t get away from home.