Good Stuff

by Sydney Johnson

Buckingham Strong

Virginia’s stay-at-home order in the spring of 2020 brought pain to Mariflor Ventura’s neighborhood. Every week, it seemed, the Buckingham mother of four found herself talking to people who had lost their jobs. Many of them, immigrants who had worked in hospitality, were struggling to make ends meet without transportation, health insurance, child care or state-issued identification.

When one young mother desperate for food and diapers asked for help, Ventura started giving her things from her own home. Then Ventura stumbled upon the Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through Covid-19 Facebook group, which was “like finding the light,” she says. She began posting requests for much-needed items, like clothes and high chairs.

Soon, others were coming to Ventura for assistance. She started building a master list of names and contacts—what is now a WhatsApp group of more than 100 families in need. To address food insecurity, she forged a connection with the Falls Church-based Iglesia Nueva Vida D.C., which now delivers donations of groceries every Friday to the Buckingham neighborhood.

In April, Ventura started an Amazon Wish List for donations, as well as the Buckingham Mutual Aid Facebook group. Donated supplies have poured in, cluttering up her apartment. She says it’s all worth it. “I’ve been through [hardships and I know] something about having nothing,” says the 12-year Arlington resident, who is originally from El Salvador. “That’s why I have the feeling to help [others] now. I want to help my people here.”

Ventura and her eldest daughter are now forming a nonprofit to help Spanish-speaking immigrants find resources, learn useful skills and meet new people. facebook.com/groups/436206850799018

Musical Mystery Tour

At the height of the pandemic, some folks were willing to do just about anything to get a live music fix—including purchasing a concert ticket without knowing where the show was going to take place.

In 2020, Arlington singer-songwriter Justin Trawick and his girlfriend, Lauren LeMunyan—after taking to Facebook Live with a musical series they called “The Justin and Lauren Show”—moved their act to a run of small, ticketed performances in the backyards of area homes.

Soon, Trawick’s band, The Common Good, was in on the idea, popping up in a secret outdoor location to perform an ongoing series called Common Good on the Block. Ticket holders for the intimate sets aren’t informed of the venue until 48 hours before showtime.

“[The secrecy] adds to the allure and the excitement of it all,” says Trawick, who lives with LeMunyan in Westover and cites Greensky Bluegrass, G. Love and David Gray among his musical influences.

The band donates a portion of the proceeds from each gig (tickets are $30) to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), and each show includes an on-site canned food drive. “Food insecurity is a big deal all the time, but especially during Covid when a lot of people aren’t working, not making money,” Trawick says. As of mid-May, the concert series had amassed a truckload of nonperishable food items and more than $700 in cash donations for AFAC.

The performances have been a win-win for the nonprofit, and for fans itching to hear music in person—not to mention for the band members, who feed off of playing for a live audience. At press time, they still had a few more secret summer gigs scheduled, but almost all were sold out. Locations TBA. justintrawick.com

Oncology nurse Evie Stinger

Knitty Gritty

Last August, oncology nurse Evie Stinger received an email from her employer, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, with an invitation to knit. Covid stress among health care workers was at an all-time high, and a local nonprofit was offering knitting as a form of therapy.

Thus began Stinger’s connection to Project Knitwell, an Arlington organization that teaches knitting for stress relief. After deciding to give it a shot, the Rosslyn resident was paired with an online instructor and received a starter kit in the mail with knitting needles (one with a few rows already completed, because anyone who has ever attempted knitting knows how challenging that first row can be), plus a couple balls of yarn and an instruction booklet.

“[Knitting] is a relaxing activity for me,” Stinger says. “It’s almost meditative, where you don’t really think of anything else because you’re so focused on the knitting and not really worried about other things. It’s a nice tool for unwinding and resetting your mind.”

Project Knitwell was founded in 2010 by Carol Caparosa, a McLean mom who rediscovered her own love of knitting while spending hours at the hospital as her daughter battled cancer. After her daughter recovered, Caparosa began volunteering to teach knitting to other parents at the hospital, hoping it would be helpful for them, too.

Since then, Project Knitwell has offered knitting lessons throughout the D.C. area via organizations such as Virginia Hospital Center, N Street Village, Alternative House and So Others Might Eat. When Covid arrived, Caparosa launched an outreach effort targeting one of the most affected groups—nurses—and pivoted to an online teaching model: Knitwell in the Cloud.

The virtual programming helped 27 nurses, including Stinger, stay grounded during the worst days of the pandemic. projectknitwell.org