Charlottesville Connected: Recent Episodes
Avenue Realty
Charlottesville Connected is a podcast that gives you a chance to listen, learn and be inspired by those making a difference in our community. The podcast is sponsored by Avenue Realty. To listen to more episodes from those in our community, visit avenuerealtygroup.com.
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Kim Hyland, Executive Director of Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation—a private NGO on a mission to help elderly, low-income, and disadvantaged residents of both Fluvanna and Louisa Counties with their housing needs.
As Kim puts it, Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation has a similar role to Habitat—but on a smaller scale. Some of their activities include offering rental homes to low-income individuals, construction projects, and emergency home repairs.
"Empowerment is huge for us. It's a terrific word for our organization and what we help people get by addressing their needs." —Kim Hyland talking about Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation's dedication to improving people’s living conditions and their quality of life.
Tune in to hear more about the noble role of the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation.
Highlights
· Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation in a nutshell according to Kim Hyland
· Kim explains the interesting concept of recycled funds leveraged by her organization
· The community-based approach of Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation – neighbors helping neighbors.
· Kim discusses the empowerment role of the Foundation and the different programs they run
· “How do people become aware that these programs exist?” – Amy Cochran
· Kim discusses the current and future plans of the organization with regard to funding
· Teaching younger generations and raising awareness
· Kim explains the similarities between Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation and Habitat
· The 0% interest rate offered by Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation
· Kim Hyland expounds on tax-deductible donations
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Bruce Deal with Cunningham Creek, a local winery in Palmyra, Virginia.
“Wine pairs best with friendship and laughter.” Bruce describing the best way to enjoy a Cunningham Creek wine.
Highlights
- How husband and wife owners, Bruce and Debby, took at cattle farm and turned it into a winery
- How to become a winemaker
- The supportive winemaking community in Central Virginia
- Cunningham Creek's Gold Medal Wine
- Family and pet friendly atmosphere
- Learn more about the wine and the event schedule at www.cunninghamcreek.wine
Tune in to hear more about Cunningham Creek Winery.
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Joanna Jennings with Region Ten, a local Community Service Board working to provide mental health, developmental disability and substance use services.
“To me the greatest expression of empowerment is to go through the program and complete it and then come back and work for the agency. It is a really really wonderful aspect of Region Ten.” Joanna discussing Region Ten’s Peer Support Service
Tune in to hear more about Region Ten and Community Board Services.
Highlights
- Joanna explains the history of Region Ten and who is eligible for their services
- Resilience During COVID and other training sessions are available to the public
- Joanna and Amy discuss the challenges that students are facing as they return to school
- Joanna offers advice on what to say to your child who may be nervous about in-person school
- Joanna explains what is happening in our brain when we are met with trauma and understanding the science can help us respond appropriately
- More about Region Ten, their services and events can be found on their website www.RegionTen.org
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Amanda Alger and Daisy Rojas, founding members of Families Helping Families. This is a newly established non profit organization is designed to help all students in Albemarle County succeed academically by removing obstacles that may hinder academic success.
“Some schools have less funds than others to support the needs of the students. Through COVID those differences became very stark. This is a community effort. We can’t just rely on the schools and it is very hard for families who are struggling to do it themselves.” - Daisy Rojas
Tune in to hear more about Families Helping Families and how you can receive assistance or get involved.
Highlights
- Families Helping Families strives to create more equity in the Albemarle County public schools
- Daisy and Amanda explain how the program works closely with the county schools
- You can ask for help or nominate a family in need confidentially on the Families Helping Families website
- Obstacles to learning is more than just wifi and tutors, it is also the need for clothing, heat, food, etc.
- Everyone is invited to learn more about helping the Albemarle student community by joining the Families Helping Families newsletter distribution list and attending the open meetings
Visit www.albemarlefmf.org to learn more and get involved
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Kevin Graham, the local DJ that everyone listens to in the morning. Kevin talks about his first exposure to a local radio station and how this inspired his own career path.
Kevin got his start playing music at parties and transitioned into a mobile DJ business. Then, after internships and several applications, he ultimately landed a role at a station.
Kevin explains how everyone’s journey to becoming a DJ is quite different. At the end of the day, Kevin describes how it takes a lot of effort to break into the stations on a local level. Emails, phone calls and drop-ins.
“There are kind of two different personality types for DJs. There is the outgoing type that loves to be in front of people, loves to get on the stage. And there's more of the introverted side where they're bigger than life on the radio when you hear them. But really, truly in real life, they like to be at home.”
- Kevin Graham
Tune in to hear Kevin’s experiences of being everyone’s favorite local DJ in Charlottesville, VA.
Highlights
- Kevin talks about some of his earlier roles as a mobile DJ and interning at a local radio station
- Kevin explains how it takes perseverance to become a DJ
- Kevin talks about the close-knit community in the “DJ world” and how everyone seems to know each other
- Kevin breaks down the award received from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters for “best promotion”
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Jessica Hogan of Farmacy Food Truck. Originally starting as a superfood smoothie subscription delivery service, Farmacy now is a Food Truck that aims to give people peace of mind and a place that stands for humanely raised animals and by-products without hormones and antibiotics.
The Food Truck makes tacos, burritos, quesadillas and still serves some of the smoothies originally created before it switched to a different business model.The company aims to source food from local establishments as much as possible.
“Doing the neighborhoods since COVID started has been cool. But it’s always a challenge to plan because you don’t know how many families are coming.”
- Jessica Hogan
Tune in to hear Jessica’s experience of owning a food truck operation within the city of Charlottesville, VA.
Highlights
- Jessica discusses the origination of the Farmacy Food Truck and how it got started as a merger with another establishment
- Jessica discusses the challenges of running a food truck and planning for business during COVID
- Jessica talks about how she sources food from local establishments
- Jessica covers the process of operating a food truck and working with local neighborhoods to provide healthy food.
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran speaks with Jessie Dizon, the Co-owner of Little Manila Food Truck. Little Manila Food Truck has been around since 2012 when they started selling food at the Charlottesville City Market. From there, the company has grown to have a full food truck operating around the city.
Jessie and Amy talk through the experiences of owning a food truck around town and being involved with wineries, breweries, and corporate office buildings. Jessie also mentions the Charlottesville Food Truck family - a group of owners who all coordinate different events and participate together.
“My husband was in banking for about 8 years and just decided to make the switch one day. After doing the Charlottesville City Market, he decided to quit his full-time job and just do the food truck.”
- Jessie Dizon
Tune in to hear Jessie’s experience of owning a food truck operation within the city of Charlottesville, VA.
Highlights
- Jessie discusses the origination of Little Manila Food Truck and how it got started at local events
- Jessie discusses some of the early challenges faced when growing the operation into a full-time gig
- Jessie’s husband grew up around food & cooking - so this inspires a lot of the dishes at Little Manila
- During COVID, operations have slowed down and Jessie talks about some of the adjustments they’ve made to keep operations running
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran brings on Angie Gunter from the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA. Angie is the Chief Executive Officer of the organization which strives to provide caring homes for healthy animals.
Angie and Amy talk through the major services provided by the organization during the show. The mission of the organization is to advance the compassionate treatment of animals by providing shelter, medical care, and behavioral services for dogs and cats; promoting permanent, caring homes; and furthering education and outreach.
“We're here to save every treatable and healthy animal possible. So that also means behaviorly. So this organization, actually, the history of it, it began in 1914. I'm from a group of folks who just wanted to save animals in the community so that was the foster base. And then it became a brick and mortar structure in 1955. And in 2006, we became a no-kill organization.”
- Angie Gunter
Tune in to hear about Angie’s leadership efforts with the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA.
Highlights
- Angie dives into the history of the organization and how it’s grown to what it is today
- The organization takes in all the strays that come to them
- There are events organized (adoption events, etc.) to help animals find a caring home
- Every day is different since the organization operates by-appointment-only
- The organization’s volunteer network is extremely important to its mission
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran welcomes Erica Gentile-Hussar, Real Estate Agent at Avenue Realty, to discuss Avenue to Happiness, a movement creating more happiness in her community during covid-19, as well as her experience in the real estate industry.
Erica chats with Amy about how the Avenue to Happiness initiative started and how the team built out a more robust process. As stated on the show, the team had to create a more formal process to handle a larger number of requests from the community.
Erica also got into how the Avenue to Happiness campaign became a family event. It allowed her family to do good in the community and also created connections with others at Avenue
“It was awesome getting all the kids involved, too. I’m so glad it all worked out. There’s a big part of me that misses Avenue to Happiness.”- Erica Gentile-Hussar
Tune in to hear Erica’s experience as a realtor during covid-19 and what her buyers and sellers are saying about it, as well as her experiences volunteering in the community.
Highlights
- What Avenue to Happiness is and how it works
- A breakdown of how the team handled a large number of requests
- How family members got involved with the community events
- Some of Erica’s favorite stories while delivering happiness during the campaign
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran welcomes Stephanie Shellenberger, Real Estate Agent at Avenue Realty, to discuss Avenue to Happiness, a movement creating more happiness in her community during covid-19, as well as her experience in the real estate industry. Stephanie speaks about how she initially got involved with Avenue to Happiness and how it really became a positive outlet for the entire family during the initial stages of the pandemic.
“Avenue to happiness started when the pandemic started and things started to shut down. So we felt like we wanted to connect with our community members and figure out ways that we could bring happiness to people, whether it's for their birthdays or just as a reason to reach out.”- Stephanie Shellenberger
Tune in to hear Stephanie’s experience as a realtor during covid-19 and what her buyers and sellers are saying about it, as well as how she’s seen the pandemic change the way people conduct business.
Highlights
- What Avenue to Happiness is and how it works
- Avenue to Happiness was so busy, agents how to separate the work by location
- Some of Stephanie’s favorite stories while delivering happiness during the campaign
- Stephanie talks about her past experiences just helping others
- The impacts of covid-19 on the real estate industry and market
- What will life be like five years from now?
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran welcomes Sarah Ellis of Shelter for Help in Emergency. The two discuss the need to work together to end domestic violence within the Charlottesville, VA community.
The Shelter for Help in Emergency works to support and empower victims of domestic violence through a combination of residential, community-based and outreach services. With 16 positions for a staff of 22 full and part-time employees, and the benefit of over 5,000 volunteer hours per year, the Shelter for Help in Emergency provides services to over 400 adults and children annually.
We started very small back in the early days of what was known as the battered women's movement. This is when people were getting together and just helping. Women leave dangerous situations and people would put them up in their own homes. But then that moved to a proper shelter situation. And that's what we've been doing now for a good number of years. - Sarah Ellis
Highlights
- The origination of Shelter for Help in Emergency
- An outline of a typical day at the shelter
- A 24-hour hotline available to help anyone in need
- The challenges of identifying domestic violence situations
- How you can get involved and help the cause
About Sarah Ellis
Sarah is the Fundraising Coordinator for Shelter for Help in Emergency. Sarah has been working with the organization for almost ten years.
For more information about Shelter for Help in Emergency and donating, visit: https://www.shelterforhelpinemergency.org/
About Amy Cochran
Amy is the Co-Owner of Avenue Realty, LLC. She and her husband, Darian Cochran, started this journey together ten years ago. She found a career in real estate when she realized that buying a home is more than a business transaction, it’s a monumental life event. Being a part of life changing events is exciting and she finds that sharing these moments with people is an honor. Amy believes it is her attention to detail and devotion to helping others be their happiest that makes real estate a successful venture for her
Although the business side of real estate is extremely important, she finds the personal side of it equally as important. Amy has never “sold” anyone a house. What she does is listen to her clients and assist them in making decisions that are best for them and their family, while managing the business end of purchasing a home.
For more information about Amy and to contact her, visit: avenuerealtygroup.com/real_estate_agent/amy-cochran
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran welcomes Jennie Carter, Director of Youth and Family Ministry at Peace Lutheran Church, to discuss the Hungry Hearts No More program, which provides food, clothing, and other items to local families in need. Jennie details how the program got started and the greater purpose and benefits of the program that have emerged over time. She shares their process of figuring out who gets what and communicating what items Hungry Hearts No More is in need of, as well as detailing the impacts of covid-19 on the program.
“People are really looking for ways that they can help during this time and there’s not a lot of ways where we’re also able to keep each other safe… so if we can expand that and allow others to share their gifts in a safe way, that is our goal.” - Jennie Carter
Tune in to learn how you can share your gifts and get involved with this incredible program to help your community during the pandemic!
Highlights
- The creation of Hungry Hearts No More
- Ways in which the program has grown beyond just providing food
- The impacts of coronavirus on Hungry Hearts No More
- How the program operates
- How you can get involved and help the cause
About Jennie Carter
Jennie is the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at Peace Lutheran, a child of God, wife, mom, friend, daughter, sister, Sunday school teacher, Bible study facilitator, taxi driver, short order cook, health nut, nature lover and hopeful optimist with a heart for Christ. She has attended Peace with her family since 2000 and has been blessed to be a part of the youth ministry since 2009. Jennie is so thankful for the opportunity to walk beside and with so many amazing youth.
For more information about Hungry Hearts No More and donating, visit: www.plchurch.org
If you or your loved ones are in need, reach out to Jennie via email: plcyouth@gmail.com
Connect with Hungry Hearts No More on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/2047691212166633
Connect with Peace Lutheran Church on Facebook: www.facebook.com/peace.lutheran
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, Amy Cochran welcomes Stasia Rice, Real Estate Agent at Avenue Realty, to discuss Avenue to Happiness, a movement creating more happiness in our community during covid-19, as well as her experience being a realtor and mom of three boys. Stasia speaks on how rewarding it is to give back to others and what it’s like to celebrate birthdays during the pandemic.
Stasia speaks on the challenges of transitioning her kids to blended online schooling, while offering tips and tricks for juggling virtual school, work, and home life during the pandemic, including bullet journaling. They explore why working at home can be so difficult and stressful for some people, why Stasia was drawn to realty, and what she finds to be the most rewarding parts of being a realtor.
“If you were gonna ask me like what do I miss the most about how [life’s] changed, it’s going to closings and being able to just like be there at that part where they’re like, ‘It’s finally done and over!’… and hugging them!” - Stasia Rice
In this episode of Charlottesville Connected, host Amy Cochran chats with Melissa Dunn. Melissa is a Realtor at Avenue Realty. During the conversation, the two discuss the Avenue to Happiness volunteer effort coordinated during the pandemic.
The campaign aimed to just bring a little bit of happiness back into the lives of the community. "Happiness ninjas" decorated homes and lawns with a variety of fun items to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and more.