Powhatan Today, November 10, 2021
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Powhatan Food Pantry collects Thanksgiving meal donations Contributed Report The Powhatan Food Pantry is once again holding its Thanksgiving Complete Meal food drive. The drive, which will accept donations through Nov. 30, is meant to make sure every family has a nourishing meal for the holiday. The food pantry, located at 2500 Batterson Road, will be the point of collection and distribution. Items may be dropped off from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The food pantry was open 13 days in September, and served 92 households consisting of 65 adults, 32 children, and 75 seniors for a total of 172 people. The food pantry has started buying turkeys for the Thanksgiving Complete Meal bags. It has 20 and needs 80 more turkeys. The project is totally dependent on the community. The food pantry serves about 350 people each month. The need is great. To ensure that every family gets the same identical meal packages, the food pantry asks that people include all of the items in double bags (for strength). Mark
each bag “Complete” so volunteers know that every item is in the bag. If people can only give a few items and are bringing a bag that is not complete, leave it unmarked. Donations of a $10 Food Lion gift card would also be appreciated. People are asked to add one to their bag, if possible. Clients will be able to purchase meat or other necessary items for their meal. Checks may be made out to: Coalition of Powhatan Churches and sent to the treasurer, Theresa Fields at 1520 Swiftwood Drive, Powhatan, VA 23139. To be marked complete, a bag must contain: one 40-ounce can of yams or sweet potatoes; one 13-ounce box of mashed potatoes; one 16-ounce can of cranberry sauce; two 15-ounce cans of corn; two 15-ounce cans of green vegetables; two 10-ounce cans of gravy; two 6-ounce packages of stuffing mix; one box of hot chocolate; one small box or jar of ice tea/bags, and one complete family dessert item. For more information, call the pantry at 804-372-9526. Email copcpow@outlook.com.
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the donations, making sure items are clean, and selling the items in the tack shop, which has many saddles, bridles, blankets, and just about anything for the horse. The group is willing to pay someone to manage this. Call Karen at 804-318-6485.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Powhatan Volunteer Fire Department Company 4 (Fine Creek) held an Open House on Oct. 31 to let the community get to know the station better. Members greeted many families with candy for the children and offered hands-on tours of the fire engine, tanker and brush truck.
and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays. Contact 804598-5637.
CALENDAR
Company 4 holds Open House to meet community members
The Powhatan Food Pantry is currently seeking volunteer drivers who can pick up food from local grocery stores on Saturday mornings and transport them to the nonprofit at 2500 Batterson Road. Contact the pantry at 804-372-9526 or powhatanvafoodpantry@gmail.com.
The Friends of Powhatan County Public Library’s Bookshop is open during library hours and accepting donations again. The bookshop accepts books, movies, audiobooks, CDs, and magazines. Materials can be given to a library staff member or placed in the book shop corner (tuck them by the file cabinet in the back), which is at the end of the passageway once you come in the front door. Proceeds from the book sale are used for additional library programming.
The Powhatan County Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Help Desk is here for yet another growing season. Although office hours are reduced because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Help Desk is still ready and available. Email questions and detailed photos of your stricken plants to gpmastergardener@gmail.com and volunteers will try and find a solution for you. You can also directly call the Powhatan County Extension at 804-598-5640 and leave a message. The Help Desk will be in touch. If a real-life diagnosis or determination is needed, large plant samples including root, stem and leaves can be dropped off at the Powhatan County Extension’s office after consulting with Master Gardener volunteer. If you have plants/shrubs/trees needing identification in your yard, or are new to the Powhatan or Goochland area, we also offer free one to two-hour site visits.
In honor of its 10th anniversary year, Backpacks of Love is holding its 2021 Peanut Butter Drive. The community is asked donate peanut butter to help kids during their breaks from school. The goal is to collect 2,021 jars of peanut butter (16 ounces) by Dec. 10, 2021. People can order at the Amazon link and have them shipped directly to Backpacks of Love or drop them off at the pantry. Visit https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ ls/2FQYFYIV4J5S?ref_=wl_share. Volunteer mental health professionals are needed to staff the expanded behavioral health programs offered by the Free Clinic of Powhatan. Psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and counselors are needed for adult patients at the Clinic at 2320 Skaggs Road as well as with students on-site at Powhatan Middle and High schools. Times are flexible and can change based on provider availability. Contact Betsy Blandford, volunteer coordinator, at bblandford@ freeclinicofpowhatan.org or 804-380-1270. The Free Clinic of Powhatan serves patients at its location at 2320 Skaggs Road. Services at the Free Clinic include medical, dental, dietary, counseling, and women’s health. Patient appointments are by appointment only. Registration for new patients is Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. by appointment and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays by walk-in. Administration hours are from 2 to 8 p.m. on Mondays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Medical appointments are from 2 to 8 p.m. on Mondays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays. Dental appointments are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays, noon to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Behavior health appointment hours are from 2 to 8 p.m. on Mondays, 2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays,
Available now Emergency Housing relief funds to assist with rent, mortgage or other housing concerns. Powhatan Community Action Agency has received funding for housing relief for families in Powhatan County who have been affected by COVID-19. Contact Renee Van Natter at valerie. vannatter@dss.virginia.gov or via cell at 804 8145332.
Habitat for Humanity-Powhatan is looking for donations of gently used appliances such as refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers, and stoves; cabinets, and furniture such as dining room and bedroom sets (no mattresses). Call for a pick up at 804-594-7009.
The Free Clinic of Powhatan is looking for volunteers to provide front desk assistance on days with and without patients. No special skills needed, just a friendly face and a willingness to help. Front desk volunteers are needed from 8:30 see CALENDAR, pg. 7
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held Nov. 4 at Independence Golf Course in Powhatan, and brought together representatives from around the region. In addition to RRTPO, representatives from PlanRVA and Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA) were invited to share what the organizations have accomplished so far, current initiatives and what the future may hold. The nine localities that make up the region are Powhatan, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield, Charles City and New Kent counties, as well as the Town of Ashland and the City of Richmond. RRTPO chair and Powhatan supervisor David Williams said he hoped the forum would help spread the word about how these three organizations, which have many overlapping members, are excited about what is going on in transportation in the region and how they are working together to plan and fund transportation projects that previously weren’t possible. “Having the forum was well worthwhile because it is discussing where we need to go. This is not something that gets put up on the shelf; it is a dynamic process that is going on right now where we are evolving. From that standpoint it is still good to be discussing this. We are gaining a better understanding every meeting,” Williams said. He said the importance of acting like a region and how that benefits everyone involved was well articulated during one of the panels by Carlos Brown, senior vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer for Dominion Energy and Richmond District representative for the Commonwealth Transportation Board. “It is a growing process. It doesn’t happen overnight. But (Brown) got into that,” Williams said, “and then he got into reiterating the need we had to create the authority to facilitate the regional benefit of acting and performing like a region and being able to attract the economic development, the things we want as a region, which is a benefit to everybody.” The forum also shined a spotlight on how the CVTA funds are benefiting the nine localities in Planning District 15, both for their individual goals and the regional projects that have a collaborative benefit, he said. Moving forward, having CVTA funds should give the region a competitive advantage when it is going up against other localities with more resources for funding such as SMART Scale. The monies in the Central Virginia Transportation Fund come from two tax levies – an additional 0.7% on sales and use taxes and 2.1% on the wholesale gas
tax. Each participating locality receives 50% of the funds collected within its borders to be used to fund local transportation projects. Another 35% will be disbursed by the 16-member CVTA governing board and the remaining 15% goes to the Greater Richmond Transit Company. One of three panel discussions held at the forum focused on the first project the CVTA governing board will focus on with its funding, the Fall Line Trail system, said Chet Parsons, director of transportation for PlanRVA. The Fall Line trail courses through seven localities – Ashland, Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights and Petersburg – and five of those are within the planning district. “It is an urban corridor. It is a rural corridor. It kind of hits all of those marks,” Parsons said. Named for its unique geography along the trail corridor, the Fall Line denotes the area where the Piedmont plateau and Atlantic Coastal Plain meet, resulting in a number of rapids and waterfalls. The Fall Line trail came together as an opportunity to “connect the dots” of active transportation networks taking shape in the greater Richmond region. Several sections of the trail already existed or were planned in localities’ comprehensive and special area plans. A natural corridor for a long-distance trail began to emerge that would provide opportunities for active transportation, recreation and economic development. Williams pointed out that since the trail only goes through five of the planning district’s nine localities, the remaining four, including Powhatan, will receive additional consideration for CVTA funding for projects they propose. “So that is a huge boon for Powhatan County,” he said. The forum was rounded out by looking to the future. The RRTPO finished the most recent update to its long-range transportation plan in October, Parsons said. Building on the adoption of that plan, the organizations want to think about a concept called scenario planning, which involves considering future influences that might impact decision making in the region. “When I say future influences, I am thinking about things like housing choices, density of development, where employers locate, environmental issues like sea level rise or other climate change, or land use,” Parsons said. “All of those things actually impact each other and scenario planning is a tool. It is a computer model and format to test how all those things could impact each other and then change the way decisions are made.” Laura McFarland may be reached at Lmcfarland@powhatantoday.com.
