WMRA Feature

With closed doors and cancellations, many organizations are taking creative steps to continue to serve the community. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants, bars, and other businesses to close their doors to practice physical distancing. As music venues have followed suit, cancelled gigs have forced touring musicians to suddenly adapt, including some well-known groups in Harrisonburg. WMRA’s Calvin Pynn reports.

Now that Virginians are ordered to stay at home, maybe this is the perfect time to start a garden. And the Wildlife Center of Virginia has advice for making your garden attractive to native wildlife, right in your backyard. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.

While businesses struggle to adapt to social distancing guidelines in response to COVID-19, one business in the Harrisonburg area -- Brian Mayes Karate -- is “pivoting” instead of “panicking.” WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports.

Anxiety and depression are running high these days over concerns of COVID-19.  Charlottesville resident and author Lisa Jakub has written about her own struggles with anxiety and panic attacks.  She recently spoke with WMRA's Chris Boros about some techniques that can calm a racing heart.

As part of a new series on WMRA, we are checking in with mayors from our region about how they are managing the new coronavirus crisis. We spoke on Monday, March 30th with Staunton Mayor Carolyn Dull and Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed.

An activist group called 50 Ways Rockbridge is working to connect people into a network to help one another during the Covid-19 pandemic. WMRA’s Mike Tripp reports.

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank has issued a call for volunteers for their area food pantries to help serve a growing need. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.

Most Virginia universities and colleges have abruptly closed their campuses and moved classes online for the rest of the semester due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This past week, students at James Madison University had to pack up early and leave their dorms behind. WMRA’s Calvin Pynn reports.

With all Virginia schools closed for the rest of the academic year due to COVID-19, the Harrisonburg City Public Schools have decided to continue the program they started last week to provide bags of free food for all their students under age 18. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports.

As folks stay home to avoid contracting or transmitting COVID-19, some are turning to fostering cats for companionship, which is good news for nonprofit animal rescue Cat’s Cradle. But others are having to give up their pets, for the same reason. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports.

A local Harrisonburg nonprofit has been providing and promoting social well-being to the citizens of Rockingham County for years.  Hope Distributed provides relief to low-income individuals and families with food and clothing in a dignified and respectful manner. 

As Virginia adapts to life with COVID-19, many local businesses are scrambling to operate in creative ways in an effort to stay open. But one small business owner says that he may stand to gain some customers, thanks to social distancing. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports.

One of WMRA’s community news partners is The Citizen, an online news source focusing on Harrisonburg.  WMRA’s Bob Leweke spoke with publisher Ryan Alessi about how they’ve been covering the virus outbreak, including the latest story in The Citizen, an interview with one of the three people in the Harrisonburg area who has developed COVID-19.

Beginning Friday [March 20], Bridgewater Retirement Community is among the facilities limiting access to the public in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  WMRA’s Bob Leweke spoke with Crista Cabe at BRC.

Augusta County has declared a state of emergency in response to the threat to public health and safety from the Coronavirus.  The declaration allows the County to make decisions quickly concerning emergency actions.  Tim Fitzgerald is the Augusta County Administrator.

The Rocktown Rollers, Harrisonburg’s women’s roller derby team since 2009, recently hosted a “Derby 101” at Funky’s Skate Center to give any “derby-curious” folks an opportunity to lace up some skates and get on the track. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports.

When indigenous people living in the valley and Central Virginia first encountered Europeans they had already established communities with social and political standards with rich cultural traditions. Award-winning historian and professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University, Gregory Smithers, will discuss the history of Native Southerners at WMRA's Books & Brews March 10 and 11, 2020.

Several local groups are quarreling over a proposed African American History Center in New Market, which raises the question: how important is equity when telling history? WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.