Fighting cancer, one relay round at a time

EDITOR’S NOTE: This semester WTVR.com has partnered with VCU’s School of Mass Communications “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project. Those VCU students reported the following story.

By Alix Hines and Tina Irizarry (Special to WTVR.com)
RICHMOND, VA – Shaun Kelley has already survived one round of cancer, but is now battling the disease again. To support his own and others’ fight against cancer, he came to VCU’s Relay for Life event on Saturday with his daughter Adrienne Wass and his wife Sue.
    The VCU organizers counted more than 50 teams and 505 participants who walked the track one round at a time at West Cary Street. At the end, the organization had raised $37,000 for the American Cancer Society, just short of its annual fundraising goal of $40,000.

Porn as revenge, complete with Facebook links, unnerves many

EDITOR’S NOTE: This semester WTVR.com has partnered with VCU’s School of Mass Communications “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project. Those VCU students reported the following story.

By Alix Hines and Tina Irizarry (Special to WTVR.com)
RICHMOND, Va. – Dani Wynn received a call from her boyfriend last month, saying that she was featured on “Is Anyone Up,” a pornographic submission website. It is a site people use to post nude photos of others and take screen shots of their social media accounts so site visitors can contact them.

Downtown garden to produce fresh produce for soup kitchens

EDITOR’S NOTE: This semester WTVR.com has partnered with VCU’s School of Mass Communications “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project.  Those VCU students reported the following story.

By Alix Hines and Tina Irizarry (Special to WTVR.com)

RICHMOND, Va. – W. B. Braxton-Bantu had a “meager meal” for breakfast at Conrad Soup Kitchen on a recent Sunday morning. It consisted only of a small portion of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. He said that it’s difficult for soup kitchens to provide fresh fruits and vegetables.
    Braxton-Bantu is just one of the hundreds of people living around Richmond without knowing where their next meal will come from and how nutritious it will be. But Green Unity, a VCU student organization, wants to change that. The students are planning a community garden next to the Larrick Student Center on the MCV Campus that will provide fresh produce to the Central Virginia Food Bank and local soup kitchens.

To read the rest of this article please go to: http://wtvr.com/2012/03/20/downtown-garden-to-grow-fresh-produce-for-soup-kitchens/

A churchyard of local celebrities

    On March 23, 1775 Edward Carrington stood outside the window of what is now known as St. John’s Church. A group of about 100 of America’s earliest leaders gathered at the small church in Richmond’s East End for the Virginia Convention.
    Patrick Henry, a man known as a powerful orator stood near the window and delivered a speech that would go down in history as his Give me Liberty, or Give me Death speech. His speech swayed members of the Virginia House of Burgesses to send Virginia’s militia to the front lines of the Revolutionary War. Henry’s words rang out amongst the crowded room and into the churchyard where Carrington stood:

It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Pictured: Ray Baird
Photo by: Alix Hines

Changes to Come in Richmond’s Projects

Plans to redevelop public housing in Richmond could force residents to relocate while the city rebuilds the housing. The redevelopment could lead to healthier communities that have both housing and businesses. The process is meant to transform public housing communities into areas where people of all incomes would like to live.

            Mayor Dwight C. Jones and his administration plan to address the issue of public housing in Richmond’s East End by working to deconcentrate poverty in that area. The two projects that the city plans to redevelop first are Creighton Court in Richmond’s East End and Whitcomb Court located in the Eastview area, bordering Jackson Ward.