Featured Story
Meals on Wheels still delivers
For the past seven years, Julia Murray has received several home-cooked meals delivered straight to her doorstep each week. Murray, 79, a retired nurse who suffers from arthritis and asthma, said that getting her food delivered at her home in Columbia, Maryland, by Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland “keeps me out of assisted living or a nursing home.” The pandemic has made the... READ MORE
Virginia Voice helps blind stay tuned in
When Debra Hill was in her 50s, living an independent lifestyle and working on her doctorate in education, she had a heart attack, developed diabetic retinopathy and lost her eyesight. “It made me really depressed; made me feel isolated,” Hill said. “I felt I was losing touch with the world.” And then she found what she called a “lifesaver” — Virginia Voice, a Richmond... READ MORE
Charity’s small gifts help kids
When Ron Fitzsimmons was growing up in the 1960s in West Islip, New York, his father left his mother and their three children. With just $250 a month in welfare benefits, barely enough to cover food and rent, his mother cleaned houses and took in ironing. In middle school, Fitzsimmons had to wear the same shirt for days, enduring schoolmates’ taunts. One year, he missed 67 days of... READ MORE
Help from healthcare students
In 2009, two college roommates, Sarah LaFave and Liz Bonomo, co-founded a volunteer group called Lori’s Hands. LaFave’s mother, Lori, had passed away from breast cancer while LaFave was in high school, and the nursing major wanted to make a difference within her community at the University of Delaware. From personal experience “I had seen how chronic illness could impact a... READ MORE
Repairing and restoring together
An Ellicott City house, badly damaged by the 2016 and 2018 floods, was in such rough shape that it was barely habitable. However, the Greene family, who had lived there for 30 years, didn’t want to abandon the house where their children grew up and didn’t have the means to bring the house up to code. A local group, Rebuilding Together Howard County (RTHC), which had repaired eight... READ MORE
Taking steps to revive a historic district
Strolling the streets of Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward with a bounce in his step and a snazzy bowtie, Gary Flowers greets almost everyone, waving at drivers and (pre-pandemic) giving bear hugs to bank employees leaving work for the day. Flowers, who hosts a Richmond radio show, loves meeting people, which is partly why he leads “Walking the Ward” tours. “My purpose in life is... READ MORE
Cover Stories 2020
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