Jones Valley Teaching Farm has launched its Ready to Grow campaign to raise money to complete The Center for Food Education, a community hub to be built on its downtown teaching farm. The multiuse facility, tentatively slated to open this summer, will allow the farm to reach more students, teachers and surrounding community members to create a hub around food, education, … [Read more...]

By Emily Williams-Robertshaw In a typical year, Spring is the season when Amy Howe of Better Basics and her coworkers would be working on one of their largest undertakings of the year. The annual Birmingham Reads events. “This is when we recruit and place a volunteer in every Birmingham City School that we serve in pre-K through fifth grade classrooms,” Howe said. It … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Jeff Underwood has been called a visionary, but he considers himself just a guy who cares about his community. That’s what has motivated Underwood as president and CEO of Lakeshore Foundation for the past 30 years. Underwood joined the nonprofit organization in 1991, serving as its first and only president for the past three decades. With him at the … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant A few years ago, Audrey Tangye received an invitation from her good friend Grace Ragland to join her on the world’s longest mountain bike race, the 2,750-mile Tour Divide. But Tangye wasn’t in a position to go, so she didn’t join Ragland for the summer 2018 race that stretched from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. Between work and being the … [Read more...]

Hand in Paw is returning to in-person animal-assisted therapy visits after having to provide virtual visits during the pandemic. Citing the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, Hand in Paw officials said they would begin slowly by hosting small, socially distanced therapy team refresher courses to introduce new health and safety visit protocols. The group is working with its … [Read more...]