Artists bring new life to shops
In a cozy, second-floor studio at Long Reach Village Center in Columbia, where the walls gleam with a fresh coat of white paint, artist Stacey Berger stepped back from a collage to gain perspective. She gazed at the meticulously arranged, diamond-shaped pieces of orange and blues. “I tore pages out of National Geographics and cut them into strips,” explained Berger, surrounded by the ... READ MORE
Opening career opportunities
Baltimore resident Emma Smith, 61, was looking for her big break last year. She had been working hard as a security guard, but still wasn’t making enough money to comfortably pay the bills. “They took pride in saying that they paid people 60 cents over minimum wage. Wow,” Smith said sarcastically. She had recently received a commercial driver’s license from a local training... READ MORE
Fresh deliveries help support local farms
The turning point in Mark Lilly’s life came in 2008, when the former Marine decided to take a course at the University of Richmond, where he worked. As part of the emergency management class, titled “Hazards and Threats of the Future,” Lilly had to create a 20-year projected scenario of a disaster; in his case, famine in the West in the year 2029. When he predicted a pandemic... READ MORE
Making a match to spark love
As coronavirus began to narrow nearly everyone’s lives to the confines of their homes and essential errands, Leora Hoffman despaired that the matchmaking business she had built and grown since 1990 would take a big hit. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. The pandemic hasn’t put a damper on her company, Love By Leora, which focuses on making matches primarily between older... READ MORE
Why a virtual Expo?
They say human beings are “social animals,” and that deprived of human contact, we wither away. But what are we to do in an age when social distancing can be a matter of life and death? Fortunately, we humans are also highly creative and resourceful, so there are many answers to that question: We hold FaceTime or Zoom conversations, virtual events, and small-scale, outdoor gatherings ... READ MORE
What retirees (should) want
Since he was 24 years old, author and aging expert Dr. Ken Dychtwald has studied the psychology of retirement. Now 70, he has given presentations on his research into the subject of aging to more than one million people over the years. Yet the renowned gerontologist is in no hurry to retire himself from the company he started 40 years ago. “The irony of the fact that I’m not... READ MORE
Meals on Wheels still delivers
For the past seven years, Julia Murray has received several home-cooked meals delivered straight to her doorstep each week. Murray, 79, a retired nurse who suffers from arthritis and asthma, said that getting her food delivered at her home in Columbia, Maryland, by Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland “keeps me out of assisted living or a nursing home.” The pandemic has made the... READ MORE
Virginia Voice helps blind stay tuned in
When Debra Hill was in her 50s, living an independent lifestyle and working on her doctorate in education, she had a heart attack, developed diabetic retinopathy and lost her eyesight. “It made me really depressed; made me feel isolated,” Hill said. “I felt I was losing touch with the world.” And then she found what she called a “lifesaver” — Virginia Voice, a Richmond... READ MORE
Charity’s small gifts help kids
When Ron Fitzsimmons was growing up in the 1960s in West Islip, New York, his father left his mother and their three children. With just $250 a month in welfare benefits, barely enough to cover food and rent, his mother cleaned houses and took in ironing. In middle school, Fitzsimmons had to wear the same shirt for days, enduring schoolmates’ taunts. One year, he missed 67 days of... READ MORE
Help from healthcare students
In 2009, two college roommates, Sarah LaFave and Liz Bonomo, co-founded a volunteer group called Lori’s Hands. LaFave’s mother, Lori, had passed away from breast cancer while LaFave was in high school, and the nursing major wanted to make a difference within her community at the University of Delaware. From personal experience “I had seen how chronic illness could impact a... READ MORE
Cover Stories 2024
