Tag: Our Community Place
Page 1/2
Without a permanent low-barrier shelter, here’s how organizations are helping people experiencing homelessness this winter
As the weather has gotten colder, groups that work with Harrisonburg’s homeless population have had to get creative, especially during a period in which the city doesn’t have a permanent shelter for the first time in two years.
Advertisement
Area groups work to help vulnerable populations get vaccinated
While COVID-19 vaccinations have become widely available, several Harrisonburg organizations have stepped up efforts to help people in vulnerable communities — including immigrants and refugees, as well as those experiencing homelessness — overcome hurdles to get vaccinated.
Advertisement
Harrisonburg nonprofits see fundraising losses — and gains — during pandemic
Fundraisers have been canceled or postponed, and normal operations are but a memory this spring for nonprofit agencies serving Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Still, leaders of several say they remain solvent and able to perform their missions as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on.
Four organizations teamed up and ‘probably saved some lives’
Alena Pardi and her husband, Tim, thought they had found a house in Virginia and could move from Tennessee. But when they arrived in the Valley, they found they had been scammed, and the “seller” had run off with their first rent payment — which amounted to much of the money they had. Stranded, they slept in their car in Walmart’s parking lot. Then the coronavirus hit.
As federal funds arrive, some Harrisonburg residents, businesses and agencies are getting a little relief
Millions of dollars from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act, will trickle into Harrisonburg over the coming months in various forms — through money to the city government, as stimulus checks and unemployment payments to residents and as loans and grants to businesses and organizations.
Harrisonburg musicians use the stage to help their own, others
The room was packed and lively at the Three Notch’d brewery in Harrisonburg one evening in November. This event was hosted by the Judy Chops to raise money for their “band daddy,” Bill Howard whose mother had passed away. It was one of many benefit shows that are periodically held throughout Harrisonburg
A market garden with a remarkable backstory
Dusting off his hands after an early morning of pulling weeds, Leons Kabongo steps back to admire his vegetable garden. Tucked between two houses on a half-acre lot on Madison Street, it features towering plumes of amaranth. In his native Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kabongo says, it’s known as “bitekuteku.”
With the OCP lawn no longer available for overnight stays, service providers say it’s time for a year-round, publicly-funded, low-barrier shelter
Recent concerns over people sleeping on the lawn of Our Community Place (OCP) is highlighting what local advocates say is the need for year-round solutions to address homelessness in the area. According to Sam Nickels, executive director of OCP, the influx of people sleeping outside OCP began with a misunderstanding.
