Community Connection

Girls on the Run Central Virginia and Blue Ridge are currently in their 18th year of bringing this life-changing program to the girls in our communities, and have served over 14,000 participants. With your help, they look forward to helping even more girls reach their limitless potential this year and beyond. 

The Virginia Discovery Museum is a nonprofit children’s museum in Charlottesville that fosters intellectual curiosity and development among young children through educational and imaginative play.

This summer, they’re hosting their annual week-long, half-day Summer Camps from June 10th through August 16th. Whether your child is brand new to the camp experience or already knows the ropes, their camps for children 4 and older provide opportunities for kids to gain confidence, make friends, and explore a range of enrichment-focused topics through hands-on learning and play. 

Campers can dive into the amazing world of insects, exercise their mind muscles with chess, bring books to life through robotics, and more!

Downtown Ashland Association is a nonprofit in Ashland that aims to harness the power of community to build a stronger future for everyone.

They invite you to listen to local musicians live at Ashland Fourth Fridays every fourth Friday of the month through September. Bands playing on the Ashland Town Hall Pavillion stage include the Sweet Potatoes, Rhythm Ranch Homestead, The Ham Biscuits and more.

The Virginia Public Access Project, also known as VPAP, is a nonprofit organization committed to remaining non-partisan. Their mission is to provide information about Virginia’s state and local politics so our fellow citizens have what they need to make informed decisions that align with their values.

As June primaries approach, they invite you to visit vpap.org to learn more about the candidates running on your ballot, stay up-to-date on political news, and more.

Chesterfield Food Bank Outreach Center helps anyone facing food insecurity in our area and works to overcome the root causes of food insecurity. Whether suffering from a medical event or temporary job loss, it often takes just one life change to cause a member of our community to become food insecure. They aim to prevent them from falling through the cracks. 

Chesterfield Food Bank Outreach Center has a Workforce Program that helps those in need secure employment, a Motel Outreach program for those living in motels, and provides food to over 20,000 people a month through 7 distribution locations.

Sylvia’s Sisters is a nonprofit organization fighting period poverty in Central Virginia.

One in 4 girls will miss school this year because they can’t access or afford period products. Sylvia’s Sisters’s goal is to provide disadvantaged girls and women with quality period products so they can get an education, or earn a living, without the stress of worrying about how to healthily manage their cycle.

They provide thousands of quality period products to schools and community organizations across the region and provide menstrual health educational services.

Wayne On Main resumes at The Wayne Theatre in Downtown Waynesboro on May 29 at 6 p.m. Wayne On Main is an outdoor summer concert series that features live music from a variety of genres. These concerts take place just outside the Wayne Theatre on West Main Street in Waynesboro on the last Wednesday of each month, May through August, and feature local and regional artists like Jack and Davis Reid, Randy Black Trio, Valerie McQueen, and Sundried Opossum. You can learn more about the Wayne on Main outdoor concert series and other upcoming programs at the Wayne Theatre by visiting waynetheatre.org.

Massanutten Regional Library serves Harrisonburg, and Page and Rockingham Counties, and is presenting their annual Summer Reading Challenge—a chance to join with others and celebrate the joy of reading. Themed “Adventure Begins at Your Library,” the Summer Reading Challenge is for readers of all ages and runs from Monday, June 3rd through Sunday, August 4th. They invite you to sign up and track your reading alongside MRL and participate in their local programs and events, which are each designed to foster a love of reading and literacy skills.

You can learn more about the Summer Reading Challenge at any of their seven library branches or online at mrlib.com.

Massanutten Regional Library is a proud financial supporter of WNRN.

The Ix Art Park Foundation invites you to immerse yourself in art this Spring at Ix Art Park in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday, May 25th and Sunday, May 26th for the 4th annual Charlottesville Arts Festival.

Fifty visual artists will showcase their work in painting, photography, ceramics, jewelry, woodworking, and more.

The festival will feature live demonstrations and workshops that aim to spark your own creativity, live music and performances, and more.

Anicira Veterinary Center in Harrisonburg is a nonprofit veterinary hospital providing accessible and affordable medical, surgical,
and dental care. Their veterinary services are open to all, and by choosing Anicira for your pets’ care, you are directly helping pets in need.
Through our assistance programs, they provide veterinary services for the most vulnerable pets in our community—those with nowhere else to go. Anicira’s Pet Food Pantry distributes thousands of nutritious meals to pets each month.