Tag: Meals on Wheels

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In brief

Crowds at previous spring Foxfield races have been around 25,000 people, but turnout was lower this year. Photo by Robert Llewellyn.

Off to the races

Every spring, college students and families flock to the track for the Foxfield Races. While patrons galavant through the fields and watch the occasional horse race, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad makes sure everyone stays safe. This year, C-VILLE tagged along with CARS for the festivities.

The day started early at the McIntire Road CARS station, with everyone in full motion at 6:45am. For Social Events Captain Nicole Post, planning began more than a month before the actual races. “I take inventory of what we used from last year, what’s going on, and make sure we’re doing all of our ordering,” she says. “We have a bunch of cards, a bunch of backpacks, a bunch of walking packs, so all of that has to be updated and stocked, all the expired stuff needs to be thrown out.”

The CARS squad headed out in a fleet of ambulances, trucks, and other EMS vehicles around 7:30am. After a pit stop at Chick-fil-A in the Mass Casualty Incident truck, we arrived at the racetrack, where the squad split up after breakfast briefings that included assignments for interior treatment center, ambulances, walking teams, and the exterior care center. This helps ensure that CARS can access and treat patients at any location.

After meeting up with Chief Virginia Leavell, I was given a highlighter-yellow CARS jacket and joined the gator teams in the interior treatment center. The gators—essentially souped-up golf carts converted into field ambulances—transport patients who can’t easily get to the main medical area on their own.

Despite the early morning rain and chillier-than-normal temps, the gator teams were quickly dispatched. Calls typically end with either no patient located or an intoxicated 20-something loaded onto the stretcher after a basic lookover. Unless something is wrong with a patient’s airway, breathing, or circulation, the person is immediately driven to the interior medical center.

“Those are like the three big things that are our top priority on every patient, the three things that we check first in all cases,” says Jaime Lear, one of the gator drivers who manned the MCI to and from Foxfield.

Once at the medical center, patients are assessed and treated as appropriate. Most people hang out in the tent for at least an hour, and the doctor on site approves each discharge. Anyone brought in for intoxication must pass a quick walking test before leaving. 

“A vast majority of patients get treated and released from here,” says CARS medic Michael Chilmaid. “Usually each year a couple end up having to be transported to the hospital.”

“Normally if we’ve treated a patient, given them medications, or put [in] an IV, they would be going to the hospital, but here it’s a little different,” adds paramedic and training officer Jasmyn Powers. 

Amid the chilly weather, CARS was less busy than usual this year, with 16 patients in the interior medical center all day and no transports to the hospital.—Catie Ratliff

Money moves

Albemarle County Public Schools adopted its operating budget for the 2024-25 school year on April 25. The budget comes in at $269.4 million, a $9.5 million increase from last year. Highlights include a 3 percent raise for all employees, an increase to the Academic Leadership Compensation Program, and the addition of five full-time equivalent positions to both the English Learner and Special Education program.

The wheel deal

Meals on Wheels Executive Director Hailey Peterson. Supplied photo.

Effective April 29, Hailey Peterson is the new executive director of Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle. Peterson started with MOW in 2021 as a volunteer manager, later serving as the organization’s assistant director and has been the interim executive director since September 2023. “I’m honored to continue my work with Meals on Wheels as the Executive Director,” Peterson said in an April 25 press release. “Having spent the past three years getting to know the volunteers, learning more about the organization, and better understanding the needs of our community, I’m looking forward to deepening our connection to our neighbors in need.”

Fire alarm

The Charlottesville Fire Department is investigating a fire at the University of Virginia Medical Center. The fire started at approximately 11:45am on April 27 in an inpatient room in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. A patient and a visitor were both treated for injuries, and the hospital returned to normal operations by the same afternoon. At press time, the cause of the fire is unknown.

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Culture Living

A Christmas tree story: The Casons have been selling holiday happiness for more than 100 years

Bob Thomas, who’s taken over the day-to-day operations of Cason’s Christmas Trees, says he enjoys every minute of it. The lot is located in Albemarle Square Shopping Center, and is open seven days a week until the trees are gone. Staff photo

For those who celebrate Christmas, selecting a tree is an annual tradition. For George Cason, selling trees to the Charlottesville community is a way of life.

George Cason’s father, L.E., began selling Christmas trees more than 100 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. L.E. Cason had seven boys and one girl, and as the children grew old enough, they would pitch in with the family business—selling trees, making wreaths, gathering mistletoe. George says he was 6 or 7 when he went to work.

In the early days, the family hauled cedar trees from their farm on Stony Point Road in Albemarle County to Main Street in Charlottesville, now the Downtown Mall. Any trees that didn’t sell during the day had to be taken back in the evening. George remembers setting up on a corner and remaining there to keep the spot from competitors. “You had to stay up half the night to make sure somebody else didn’t take it,” he says.

There were hard times, like when he was close enough to a restaurant to smell the food cooking all day, but didn’t have any money for lunch. “My father would put me on the corner down on Main Street early, and wouldn’t even leave me a dime—didn’t have a dime to leave me—to get something to eat,” he says. “That went on for about two weeks before people started buying trees.”

George recalls a Christmas Eve sometime in the 1940s with mischievous glee. “My daddy told me, ‘Son, if anybody wants that large cedar tree, just give it to them. That way, I won’t have to haul it back to the country,’” he says. “As it’s getting dark, the president of the People’s Bank walked out there. He said, ‘How much is that large Christmas tree there?’ I said,‘20 dollars.’ He reached in his pocket and pulled out a brand new 20 dollar bill and gave it to me. My daddy never did see none of that.”

Now near 90, George has sold Christmas trees nearly all of his life. He says he was out of the business for three years, while he served in the United States Army Air Corps, beginning in 1947. But as he held other jobs, he always made time to work at the Christmas tree lot each year. “It’s in my blood, I guess,” he says.

As the last surviving family member, George keeps the Christmas tree business going, but he no longer manages the day-to-day operations. The stand, now located at Albemarle Square Shopping Center, is the responsibility of Bob Thomas, who has been working for George for more than a decade. George describes Thomas as a “super man.” 

Thomas and a two-person team opened up shop the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and will be there “until we run out of trees,” he says. “Seven days a week, 10 hours a day, we’re here—rain or shine or snow. We just get the job done, and we have a good time being here.” 

Each year, Cason’s Christmas Trees brings in upwards of 700 Fraser fir trees from Boone, North Carolina. “We carry everything from the little tabletop trees to the 10- to 12-foot trees,” says Thomas. When they’re not shaping trees or helping customers load them up, Thomas and co. are making wreaths by hand from cut branches.

Business has been brisk this year. “We saw a big rush right before Thanksgiving, which was unusual,” Thomas says. He chalks that up to people being restless at home and ready to bring on the Christmas cheer due to the pandemic.

Fortunately, Thomas says, “it was a good growing season. The trees are full and green, and ready for people to get them and support Meals on Wheels.” Each year, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Cason’s trees goes to Meals on Wheels.

In the last 14 years, the nonprofit that delivers food to ill and aging people in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area has received about $25,000 from the tree sales, according to Communications Manager Hannah Winstead. “The Cason family, as with all of our donors, are essential to making our service possible,” she says.

“Hopefully while everyone’s out getting their Christmas trees, this partnership can be a reminder to the community of those who are struggling most during what, for many of us, is the happiest time of the year,” Winstead says. “Since most of our clients are elderly or immuno-compromised, most will not see family this holiday season.”

By purchasing a tree from Cason’s, people are supporting a family legacy and helping to alleviate hunger for other families in the community. And they’re paying it forward for the young George Cason, standing on a corner selling trees, who couldn’t afford lunch.

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Culture Food & Drink Living

Keep funding so they can keep feeding

Meals on Wheels provides meals for seniors in need.

Go with Grace

Cavalier Produce has put a creative twist on feeding those in need. The food distributor announced Grace’s Good Food Box Program as a way to get fresh food into homes that need it through a partnership with Loaves & Fishes, PB&J Fund, Louisa County Resource Council, and Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s Lynchburg branch. The boxes are filled with fruits, veggies, and other groceries for holiday meals, and delivered at cost. The program is named for the owners’ daughter, who “reminds us every day to pay attention to these little things and to take nothing for granted.” To donate, go to cavalierproduce.com.

Wheels of good fortune

In lieu of its annual Taste This! fundraiser, Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle is hosting a bingo event focused on supporting local restaurants. Unlike regular bingo, this version uses cards with area restaurant logos occupying each square. Players visit a variety of establishments, get their card stamped, and then enter the cards into a raffle—one entry per stamped logo—for multiple prizes. The event runs from December 15-March 1. Participating restaurants include The Alley Light, Orzo, Grit, Tavola, and MarieBette.

The fundraiser will help MOW keep its clients fed through this difficult time. Executive Director Leigh Trippe says Meals on Wheels has been very fortunate so far: “I should not ever be surprised by this community, but I’m amazed at all the help that we’ve gotten,” she says. “It has made us extremely grateful that we live where we live.”—Will Ham

A nod to excellence

When The Ridley opens in The Draftsman hotel in January, it won’t just add to Charlottesville’s upscale dining scene, it will bring an important legacy into focus.

The  seafood-meets-sophisticated -Southern-cooking restaurant is named for Dr. Walter N. Ridley, who was the first African American to receive a doctoral degree from a Southern, traditionally white university. Ridley had to persevere through years and layers of resistance to earn his doctorate in education from the University of Virginia in 1953, and his achievements paved the way for the thousands of Black students who came after him.

The team behind The Ridley, UVA/Darden alum Warren Thompson (Thompson Hospitality) and his friend and business partner, Ron Jordan
(Jordan Hospitality Group), honor Ridley not only in name, but by supporting his foundation through their venture. Thompson’s parents both studied under Ridley, and he considers the project to be deeply personal. “The Ridley is a way for me to publicly recognize his contributions and his commitment to action and equality in a town critically important to both his story and my own,” says Thompson.

The Ridley crew say they’ll provide an elegant yet casual atmosphere that feels like a big city dining experience, plus a tantalizing menu of Southern, coastal offerings. Expect to fill up on soft shell crab, fried lobster tails, branzino, red snapper, and Cajun oysters at 1106 West Main.

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Culture Living

Fighting hunger: As food insecurity rises, local nonprofits step up their efforts

courtesy brfb

Food insecurity in Albemarle County is on the rise. Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, reports that while 11.8 percent of Charlottesville’s population was food insecure in 2018, that number is expected to rise to 15.1 percent by the end of 2020. Accordingly, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank told Richmond’s NBC12 in August that 12 percent of its June customers were new clients needing emergency food assistance for the first time.

There are a variety of local places supporting the projected three in every 20 Charlottesvillians who are unsure where they’ll find their next meal. The organizations’ donation needs have changed during the pandemic, and the holiday season is always a crucial time, so here’s how you can help.

Blue Ridge Food Bank

What it does: Ninety-seven percent of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s pantries across Virginia have stayed open to provide groceries during the pandemic, thanks to safety restrictions including drive-through food pickups and pre-packaged meal boxes.

How to help: According to the BRAFB website, a one-dollar donation can fund four meals. Volunteer opportunities are also available for low-risk workers. brafb.org

Loaves & Fishes

What it does: Loaves & Fishes, the largest agency of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, supplies groceries twice a month for families who need extra assistance filling their pantry. It currently operates a drive-through grocery pickup where clients accept bags from masked volunteers without leaving their cars.

How to help: Limited volunteering opportunities are available. Monetary donations can be made on the website. Thanksgiving dishes (anything from canned yams to instant mashed potatoes to frozen turkeys) are in high demand, as are diapers. cvilleloaves.org

Meals on Wheels

What it does: Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle is a nonprofit that has delivered hot meals five days a week since 1977. The organization connects with the most isolated members of Charlottesville in the most isolating time of their lives, ensuring that secluded seniors are checked on daily.

How to help: Over 90 percent of the meals provided by Meals on Wheels are directly subsidized by monetary donations, which can be made on the website. Contact MoW directly if you’re interested in providing physical donations or volunteering to do anything from answering phones to driving delivery vans. For holiday gift baskets, the organization is looking for mugs, tea, cocoa, puzzle books, winter accessories, and toiletries. cvillemeals.org

The Haven

What it does: When Charlottesville residents find themselves without a home, The Haven works to make that situation “rare, brief, and nonrecurring.” In addition to providing temporary housing, the shelter helps unhoused families seek new residences to call home.

How to help: The Haven website lists what a financial donation would fund, from $47 (a day’s worth of showers) to $2,1000 (the move-in cost for a one-bedroom apartment). Volunteering is limited due to safety restrictions, but low-risk volunteers can apply. In addition to monetary contributions, The Haven is looking for donations of coffee, as well as volunteers to work breakfast shifts over the holidays. thehaven.org

Emergency Food Network

What it does: Customers in need can call the Emergency Food Network once a month to receive kits for three healthy meals. No financial proof of need is required. Meal bags include non-perishables like canned tuna and fresh items like bread and milk.

How to help: All volunteer slots are full, and due to COVID-19 restrictions, food donations can’t be accepted; financial contributions are preferred. According to the Emergency Food Network, small operating expenses mean that about 91 cents of every dollar is spent on food. emergencyfoodnetwork.org

Local Food Hub

What it does: Local Food Hub works to connect local farmers with extra food to local consumers without fresh food. ItsFresh Farmacy program provides those in need with biweekly installments of locally sourced fruits and vegetables.

How to help: Food is already provided by area farmers, so monetary donations are the way to go. Thirty dollars is enough to send a bag of locally grown produce to someone in need. localfoodhub.org

Cultivate Charlottesville

What it does: Cultivate Charlottesville has helped students build gardens at schools across the city. According to CC, gardens built through the program have involved over 2,000 volunteers and produced over 80,000 pounds of food as part of the Food Justice Network, a group of more than 35 organizations working not only to alleviate hunger in the short term, but to attack the problem at its roots.

How to help: Volunteers are needed for everything from planting, harvesting, and weed control to outreach and research. Those interested in the organizational aspects of food justice can intern in the Cultivate Charlottesville office. cultivatecharlottesville.org

Categories
Living

Another adios: La Taza closes its doors after 13 years in Belmont

La Taza’s last day is September 16—the restaurant and building have been sold, and the new owners will open a different eatery on October 1.

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 thinking about it for a while,” says Easter. “My daughter is having a baby in September and I was just ready.”

“The new owner is pretty cool” and seems to be embracing the area, says Easter, adding that the restaurant will likely become a breakfast, lunch, and dinner spot. “I’m still a Belmont neighbor, and the first thing I asked is ‘will there be coffee?’ I don’t think it’s going to change a lot but I think they want to do their own thing. They like that it’s a community seat, and I believe they’ll make it better,” says Easter. She adds that the new restaurant will likely take over the Cabinet Solutions space, next door to La Taza, as well, ultimately expanding the venue.

Gilie Garth, a server for the past two years, says she’ll forever be grateful for how LaTaza and Easter helped her get back on her feet when she was struggling.

“I was pretty devastated to hear it was closing because this place has a great deal of meaning to me. I’m a drug addict in recovery from addiction. I got clean a little over three years ago, and Melissa Easter, my employer and beloved friend, gave me the opportunity to work again as a server at the age of 47. It has enabled me to become financially independent and has been a huge boost to my self-esteem,” says Garth. “The people here, both employees and customers, are family to me. It’s going to be a great loss for the community and a huge personal loss to me.”

Garth plans to return to her nursing career by the end of the year, but employment at La Taza was a great stepping stone for her to get her life back together.

La Taza’s last day will be September 16, and Easter says the new owners plan to re-open October 1.

Let’s do lunch

While The Haven regularly provides meals to community members facing homelessness, they will once again also offer home-cooked meals in a weekly pop-up café every Wednesday from noon until 1:30pm, starting September 12. The three-course meals—there are always vegetarian and carnivore options—include a beverage and are available with a suggested donation of $10, which benefits The Haven.

Eat food, do good

Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle will hold its annual food and beverage tasting event, Taste This!, from 5:30-8:30pm, Tuesday, September 18, at the Boar’s Head Resort pavilion. The event is the primary fundraiser for the organization, which provides homebound neighbors with food and social contact, and will feature food from a cornucopia of local restaurants and food purveyors, including Chimm, Ivy Inn, Little Star, Junction, Oakhart Social, Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar, Prime 109, Common House, PVCC Culinary School, Travinia Italian Kitchen, Vivace, and, of course, the Boar’s Head. There will also be cheese tastings from Caromont Farm and pastry snacks from Iron Paffles & Coffee and MarieBette Café & Bakery. And to drink? Beverages from Starr Hill Brewery, wine from Market Street Wine, cold brew and hot coffee from Grit Coffee. There will also be a cash bar available.

Jazz group Bob Bennetta & Friends will provide music, and there will be a silent auction as well. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased at cvilletastethis.com or by calling 293-4364.