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New Designs! Local Artist Support Shirts with RVA Together

RVA Staff | May 1, 2020

Topics: Austin Miles, community, coronavirus, covid 19, covid_19, covid19, Feedmore, Hamilton Glass, local business, Matt Lively, Nico Cathcart, nils westergard, nonprofit, RVA Magazine, rva together, RVAmag, support

NEW DESIGNS OUT NOW! As loss of work affects Richmond’s local creative communities during coronavirus, artist Nico Cathcart and RVA Magazine come together to raise money for local artists and benefit Feed More. 

There are no words to adequately express the anxiety and uncertainty we are all feeling at the moment. Richmond is a city that thrives on its independence, creativity, and collective enterprise — and the local arts community, the creative heartbeat of our city, is taking a hard hit from this loss of work. Our artists are an essential part of what makes Richmond such a special place to live, and after years of them bringing life and culture into our home, it’s our turn to give back. 

That’s why RVA Magazine has joined hands with muralist Nico Cathcart and K2 Custom Tees to start RVA Together: a fundraising drive for local artists to sell their designs on t-shirts, benefiting each artist and donating to Feed More to help our city fight food insecurity in the wake of Covid-19.

SHOP NOW OPEN! Click here to buy merch to support our local artists. Supporters can choose their favorite print or artist to donate to, and every t-shirt sale benefits the artist, Feed More, and the staff of K2 Custom Tees, who have generously offered to host the initiative. 

As we move forward, RVA Together will feature 5 artists during every two-week period, sending out purchased shirts and introducing a new set of artists as each new time frame begins.

Every shirt will give $10 to the artist, $10 to K2 Custom Tees to supply the shirts and support their staff during printing, and a $5 donation to Feed More. 

Available at RVA Together’s Web Shop

With the spread of Covid-19, it feels like our community has been thrown into disarray, and with it, our sense of stability and purpose. This is uncharted territory for each of us, and it is only appropriate to wonder what our city, state, country, and even the world will look like at the end of this… because if one thing is certain, it’s that it will not look the same. Knowing this, it’s more important now than ever for us to come together as a city and support our artists, creative culture, and small businesses.

Let’s preserve everything that makes Richmond “Richmond.” 

Please check out the RVA Together Initiative, and do what you can to help. RVA Magazine will continue to operate during Covid-19, as a community sounding board, as a distraction, and as a way to communicate pertinent information as it becomes available. However, like most small businesses, we are also struggling to keep our doors open during these complex times — and any little bit helps. 

Available at RVA Together’s Web Shop

Along with all of our favorite local artists, an RVA Magazine shirt will remain available to support our staff during this time. RVA Magazine works through partnerships with the small businesses we all know and love, and as the future is uncertain for so many of our local friends, it becomes so for us as well. We will continue to uplift our local artists, musicians, and small businesses through initiatives like Eat Local! and RVA Together, and donations to us through RVA Together “RVA” shirt purchases, as well as our Patreon/PayPal, help keep us afloat. 

We are always available to speak with you, and we encourage you to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or announcements you think are relevant. We wish all of you the very best during the upcoming weeks. 

And finally, practice social distancing! The sooner you do, the sooner we can all continue with our lives and re-join the culture of our beautiful River City.

Available at RVA Together’s Web Shop
Available at RVA Together’s Web Shop
Available at RVA Together’s Web Shop

Ensuring Everyone Gets Fed

Zach Armstrong | April 20, 2020

Topics: Arlington Food Assistance Center, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Capital Area Community Food, coronavirus, covid 19, Feedmore, food charities, Food For Others, Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Friendship House Roanoke, Virginia Peninsula Foodbank

A variety of charitable organizations are working hard to ensure that Virginians in need are getting enough to eat — a mission that’s more important than ever during the current outbreak.

A bumpy economic road lies ahead of us thanks to the unprecedented pandemic we find ourselves in the midst of today. Over 410,000 Virginians have filed for unemployment over the last few weeks. While the federal government has signed a relief package to assist affected individuals, many will likely still be in need of assistance while stay-at-home orders are in place.

Across the commonwealth, food banks and charities are offering their services to those in need. Residents have the opportunity to give back to their community by donating and volunteering through these organizations. 

FeedMore, a non-profit organization located in Richmond, provides for those who face hunger across 34 counties and cities. 

“We distribute food through our programs to our neighbors who are food insecure,” said Jessica Hickey, marketing and communications manager at FeedMore. “We also work with more than 270 other nonprofits across the state who help us distribute wholesome food for healthy meals to those in need.”

People can make a hands-on difference with FeedMore by volunteering to help prepare and package food in their Community Kitchen, or deliver meals to the senior and homebound neighbors the organization serves. Financial and food donations can also be made, with every $10 gift making 40 meals available to those in need. Find more information at FeedMore.org. 

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, a member of the Virginia Food Banks and Feeding America organizations, has distribution centers in Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Verona, and Winchester. 

Individuals can make one-time or monthly financial donations on their website at brafb.org/give-now/. One can choose to let their donation be used at the food bank’s discretion, or pick the ways their donation is used, including for farm fresh funds, produce markets, seniors, kid packs, or mobile food pantries. 

Food products can also be dropped off at one of their warehouses, and their Hunger Hero Toolkit can be downloaded for ideas on how to create a food drive. Individuals can also find ways to volunteer or host their own food drive on their website. 

Residents of the Roanoke area can donate food or money to the Friendship House Roanoke, who provides assistance through various programs. Donations to Friendship House can be made in-person at their location at 3926 Plantation Rd. 

“We’ve seen the need for food charities triple in recent weeks,” said Aaron Dowdy, director at Friendship House Roanoke. “We usually donate 40 to 50 boxes of food a week, but now that has increased to around 120, so we’re in need of donations and funding,”

Photo via Virginia Peninsula Foodbank/Facebook

The Virginia Peninsula Foodbank is giving charitable services for those in the southeastern region of Virginia including the cities of Hampton, Williamsburg, Newport News, Yorktown, Gloucester, and Mathews. 

Those in need of food in the area can go to the “Get Help” tab on their website and find partner agencies and mobile drive-thrus close to them by typing in their zip code. Mobile drive-thrus, which have opened up recently by the foodbank due to the pandemic demand, require recipients stay in their vehicles and clean their trunks before arrival in order to be served. 

Due to the extreme circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, income level requirements are being waived, since many people coming for assistance have never found themselves in the dire situation they’re in now. 

“There’s a lot of individuals who have never needed food assistance before, so you may see people with nice cars who’ve been laid off and this is their new reality,” said Karen Joyner, executive director at the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. “We’ve seen over 60 percent of people coming through our services who’ve never visited us before.” 

Food charities in the NOVA region include the Arlington Food Assistance Center, the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Capital Area Community Food, located in Lorton, and Food for Others, located in Fairfax. Information on donations and volunteer opportunities can be found on their websites. 

“We want to love and serve our neighbors and with this crisis the best thing we can do is provide basic needs to them,” said Dowdy. “Even though we’re practicing social distancing, this is one way we can still provide for them.”

Top Photo via Virginia Peninsula Foodbank/Facebook

No Bs! Brass Band, 8th Annual Canned Food Drive for FEEDmore

Amy David | December 6, 2017

Topics: canned food drive, Feedmore, No BS! Brass Band, The Broadberry

The Broadberry will host No BS! Brass Band’s annual canned food drive for the third year in a row on Friday, Dec. 8. This is the band’s 8th Annual Canned Food Drive event benefiting the Central Virginia Food Bank, FEEDmore. The show will be at The Broadberry, 2729 West Broad Street, with doors opening at 8pm.

Tickets are $12 dollars in advance, $15 dollars at the door, and $10 with canned food. Last year’s canned food drive at The Broadberry delivered just more than 560 pounds to FEEDmore. Tickets are available online at thebroadberry.com and at the box office. The box office will be open this week every day from 10:00am to 4:30pm.  Show kicks off at 9 pm. More details here.

A taste of Broad Appetit 2017

Amy David | June 6, 2017

Topics: Broad Appetit, Comfort, Curbside Creations, Feedmore, Graffiato, king of pops, Maple & Pine, Rappahannock, rva food festival, Spoonbread Bistro, Tio Pablo

This past Saturday thousands descended upon West Broad Street between Henry and Adams streets to savor delicious bites at the annual Broad Appetit Festival, which was celebrating its 10th year.

Over 60 of Richmond chefs pitched tents side by side and served up some of their finest small dishes $3, with some bigger options or $5. The chefs submit the dishes to be judged be a panel of experts to see who has the “To Dine For” dish of Richmond. The festival, which was held on Sunday, benefits the hunger relief organization FeedMore each year.

Richmond chefs had the chance to compete for five different awards including the “To Dine for” (best signature dish), “To Diet For” (best dessert dish), “The Healthy Dish”, The Ambiance Award (best decorated booth), and The People’s Choice, which attendees could vote on during the festival. Winners were not announced at press time.

Anyway, let’s get down to what you want to hear about and see, the food.

As my group waded our way through the droves of hungry/overstuffed festivalgoers pouring sweat, it was hard to know where to start with two lines of food all around.

Eventually, after some confusion and discussion around the giant Duke’s mayo truck, we jumped right in and worked our way down trying as much as we could before our stomachs exploded.

Here is my little rundown of the dishes RVA Mag had the chance to try:

Graffiato: Spicy Beef Ricotta Calzone

This was tasty and small enough to get you started for the day and not make you want to take a nap like a normal-sized calzone does. The bread was warm and the cheese was delicious. There was a spicy dippy sauce that paired perfectly with the dish.

Maple & Pine Restaurant (Quirk Hotel): Pork and Shrimp Dumpling, shitake mushrooms

This was our second dish we enjoyed. The dumpling was very tasty and mushrooms are my favorite, you could put them on anything and I’m a happy girl. The Dashi broth stole the show for this dish though. It was rich, packed with flavor, very savory and the charred scallions added the perfect touch with slurping it up after I’d eaten my dumpling.

Maple & Pine also had a lighter dish with asparagus, morel mushrooms, cured egg yolk and preserved lemon with was super light and tasty.

King of Pops: Blueberry Lemonade

Now for some, this may not seem like one of the fancier stops, but on a hot day, nothing beats a cold, juicy King of Pops popsicle. Especially with their fruity, interesting flavor combos. My fiancé bought a blueberry lemonade pop and it was just the right treat to cleanse and cool our palate to get us going for the next stop!

Curbside Creations: Alligator Bites

Now as my memory recalls, these weren’t at any particular Richmond restaurant, but the flavor was unforgettable. I was hesitant to get gator bites, but my fiancé talked me into it and I’m glad I did, because they were spicy, crispy and fried perfectly. Not soggy or overly greasy at all. Cajun spices paired with a spicy remoulade was a great snack and I could have stood to get another round, but we had places to go and dishes to eat.

Spoonbread Bistro: Crab cakes with remoulade and white truffle spoonbread, bourbon bread pudding

So this came pretty close to my favorite (which I’m saving for the end) this was a tough call because of my love for bread pudding. Spoonbread Bistro is a restaurant on Floyd Avenue owned by Chef Michael Hall (formerly of M Wine Bistro) that I have been dying to try out. The food always looks amazing and its Southern style, so right up my alley. There was a whole bunch of Southern love packed into these tiny dishes. The crab cakes were delicious, stayed together and you could taste all of the spices blending nicely. The white remoulade wasn’t too heavy and helped to enhance the flavors of the crab cake and had just the right amount of tang and the white truffle spoonbread pulled it all together. I would have liked it to be a little spicier, but that’s just me.

Now, on to the bourbon bread pudding. I could not put it down. Despite the heat, despite my stomach punching me to stop eating and my fiancé looking at me like he was second guessing our upcoming wedding, I made my way through the soft and rich pudding. It was so rich and sweet and you got the just the hint of bourbon so it wasn’t overpowering. Not dry or overly soggy like many bread puddings. It was delightful. The crisp outer layer made it that much more delectable once you took a spoonful of this bread pudding.

I neglected to get a picture of this, but Spoonbread also had a giant fruit-infused drink that I believe was watermelon or strawberry with water and it was the perfect beverage right in the middle of the day to cool us down. And get me re-energized after my lovefest with the bourbon bread pudding, because we still had a few dishes to go.

Rappahannock: White gazpacho made with cucumbers, green grapes, marcona almond, blue crab and dill

So, I will admit, Rappahannock is one of my top favorite restaurants in the city and I was hoping for some oysters, but I’m guessing they wanted to keep it simple. Their dish was refreshing since it was chilled and the cucumber and dill made for a great combo with the thicker soup/gazpacho. It had a nice bite to it. The crab however, did not mix well with the flavors and this dish just was not for me. It pains me to write this, because I love them, but I think it could have used a little something else. The texture was just not sitting right with me.

Comfort: Fried Green Tomatoes & Pimento Cheese with Ritz Crackers

Comfort restaurant had pitched a tent right outside their restaurant and they were serving up two staples that describe their style and name perfectly; fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese. It’s two of my favorite southern dishes especially pimento cheese. I’m picky about it too, because it can be mushy and concealed-like in some places, but Comfort does it right. A big heaping mound of cheese with plenty of pimentos throughout with Ritz crackers to go alongside for dipping creating the perfect balance of savory and salty.

The fried green tomatoes were juicy with a tasty breading. At this point I was getting stuffed, but I power through because its one of my favorite snacks when I go to Comfort. The dipping sauce was creamy and thick, but went great with the fried tomatoes. Their usual sauce I believe.

Now I’ve saved my favorite two dishes from Broad Appetit for last…if you missed out than you will definitely want to catch them next year:

Tio Pablo: Elote (Mexican Street Corn) and Mango with lime juice, salt & chili powder

Wow. Just wow. This was only our second stop and it blew me away. The lines were so long and I talked to our group about possibly making a lap and coming back, but my fiancé saw the street corn and said no we are going to want to stay. I’m so glad I did because our group got the very last two and it was the best dish I ate at the festival. I really could go on and on and write a poem, a song, an ode to the heavenliness that is Mexican street corn, but I will just break it down for those of you who haven’t had the delectable dish. It’s grilled corn on the cob slathered with mayo, chili powder, cotija cheese and salt. It is everything you want and more. Mayo may sound a little weird to some people on corn on the cob, but for those who have had it, know it’s the perfect pairing. Its creamy and paired with the salt to kick up the cojita cheese, and the chili powder giving it the kick all all over I could not put it down.

Now on to the mango. Very simple dish, yet oh so delicious. Almost like a dessert after the creamy, spicy elote. It was a big ripe juicy mango on a stick doused with lime juice, salt and chili powder. Simple as that. But oh, so much flavor. It was a tasty treat that we couldn’t put down and the flavor combination of the sweet mango with the chile spice and tart lime were a delight. Of course, after these two dishes, are teeth were camera ready. Don’t worry, I’ll spare you those photos. Check them out in Shockoe Bottom at 1703 E. Franklin St.

I’m only bummed that I didn’t get to try everything, but in short, if you haven’t been to Broad Appetit, please venture down there despite the traffic, parking and droves of people, because the chefs work so hard and the food is truly amazing and so diverse.

RVA Mag’s lip synch battle offers chance to fake it with the best, benefits Feedmore

Brad Kutner | June 21, 2016

Topics: Answer Brew pub, Feedmore, Lip synch battle, Strange Ways Brewing

At this point Lip Synching is a part of our culture, with shows dedicated to it and late night hosts bringing in guests to perform.
[Read more…] about RVA Mag’s lip synch battle offers chance to fake it with the best, benefits Feedmore

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