Foremost wishes for 2021
Meet this week’s Personality B3
B1
Richmond Free Press © 2021 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 30 NO. 1
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Scientist behind COVID-19 vaccine B2
DECEMber 31, 2020-JANUARY 2, 2021
‘You just don’t know what’s coming’
As the pandemic wears on, hundreds of families line up in a drive-thru for food from the Chesterfield Food Bank By George Copeland Jr.
Chesterfield Food Bank
Hundreds of cars line up in orderly rows to received free food from the Chesterfield Food Bank’s drive-thru operation on Iron Bridge Road in Chester. Officials have seen the need for help skyrocket during the pandemic with more and more people out of work. Right, volunteer Jeff Dean, 53, of North Chesterfield, center, maneuvers among the pallets of fresh fruit and produce where other volunteers fill his grocery cart with food. He then will load the food into one of the hundreds of cars waiting at the Chesterfield Food Bank.
For Tatanisha Rodriguez, the experience of going to a food bank for help for the first time just a week shy of Christmas produced a multitude of emotions and reactions. The Chesterfield County resident was laid off in May from her job of 20 years in insurance claims and risk management. She felt a mix of anger and hurt at her situation, gratitude for the efforts of organizers and volunteers, and had a warning for others to not take their place in life for granted, especially during such unstable times brought on by the pandemic. “I’ve always had the mindset that you just don’t know what’s coming around the pike, because I certainly didn’t expect this time for me to last this long,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “2020 should show us that any situation for any person can change very quickly, and you may be on the receiving end.” Ms. Rodriguez was one of hundreds of families served by the Chesterfield Food Bank at its drive-thru at 12211 Iron Bridge Road in Chester. Volunteers waited with grocery carts filled with fresh greens, eggs, milk, a ham, carrots, fruit and more to be placed in the cars of people who had been lined up for hours before the distribution begins about 5 p.m. On a recent Friday, the first five cars in line had been waiting since noon for the 5 p.m. start. Behind them, hundreds of Mayor Stoney cars sat in row after row, with people waiting for free food for their families. One official said at least 500 vehicles would be filled with food before the evening’s end. While the food bank is open all year, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the lives of so many area families that
Mayor heading strongly into his second term
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
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Coalition pushes Black inclusion in marijuana legalization By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Patricia Cummings on Tuesday. She and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were vaccinated at United Medical Center in Southeast Washington. It is the only public hospital in Washington and offers community-based services to area residents who are mostly African-American and have lower incomes than the rest of D.C.
New registration system to aid COVID-19 vaccination process By George Copeland Jr.
Local health officials announced a new initiative to help with management of the COVID-19 vaccines. VAMS, or the Vaccine Administration Management System, is an online scheduling tool created by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure proper vaccine administration. Using a valid email address, enrollees in the system will be required to provide their name, date of birth, address and other personal information. This includes information such as race or ethnicity, gender, known allergies and any current health conditions. Once registered and the vaccines become more widely available, those enrolled will be able to access a map of vaccine providers and schedule appointments for the first and second doses. Vaccine providers also will be able to use VAMS to track which brand of vaccine a person has received so that he Please turn to A4
Five years ago, after the General Assembly legalized the growing of marijuana’s cousin, industrial hemp, veteran grower Leroy Hardy Jr. sought to be among the people chosen to plant the first test plots to help interested farmers get the most from the crop. Mr. He was dismayed that he and other minority agricultural producers were shut out of that testing process and had to wait two to three years to gain a license to produce hemp. “So far as I am aware, no one who looked like me received any seeds” to plant during the initial research phase, said Mr. Hardy, a combination of African-American and Native American ancestry who sits on the council of
the Nottoway Indian Tribe. A Southampton County minister and fourth-generation farmer, Mr. Hardy also watched in dismay as Virginia again failed to include Black and minority groups in parceling out a handful of licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries after that was legalized in 2018. Hardy The state does not appear to have required minority inclusion in the supply chain for the dispensaries, he said. With the General Assembly poised to legalize recreational use of marijuana at its next session that will begin on Wednesday, Jan. 13, Mr. Hardy and others are determined to ensure Please turn to A4
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Mayor Levar M. Stoney sees bright prospects ahead for Richmond if COVID-19 can be defeated quickly. Ready to start his second four-year term next week, he has ideas galore, but he said the key to it all is “vaccination.” He is counting on the federal government to rapidly roll out the injectable medications so that the broader population can be treated and gain immunity so there can be a return to normalcy. In an interview, Mayor Stoney said in an effort to counter community misgivings, he plans to be first in line when one or more of the approved vaccines becomes widely available. He said that he will join the city health department in Please turn to A4
Free COVID-19 testing Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1 to 3 p.m., Eastern Henrico Health Department, 1400 N. Laburnum Ave., in Eastern Henrico. Drivethru testing. Thursday, Jan. 7, 10 a.m. to noon, Diversity Richmond, 1407 Sherwood Ave., North Side. Friday, Jan. 8, 1 to 3 p.m., Eastern Henrico Health Department, 1400 N. Laburnum Ave., in Eastern Henrico. Drivethru testing. Appointments are encouraged by calling the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Testing will be offered while test supplies last. The Chesterfield County Health Department also is offering free COVID-19 testing at the following location: Second Baptist Church, 5100 W. Hundred Road, Chester, 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4, 11,
18 and 25. St. Augustine Catholic Church, 4400 Beulah Road, North Chesterfield, 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Walmsley Boulevard United Methodist Church, 2950 Walmsley Blvd., 10 a.m. to noon, Thursday, Dec. 31. Faith and Family Center, 7900 Walmsley Blvd., 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31. • Chesterfield County Health Department, 9501 Lucy Corr Circle, Smith-Wagner Building Multipurpose room, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 9 and 23. Testing is encouraged for those who have COVID-19 symptoms. The testing is free and no registration is required. Details: Chesterfield County Health Department at (804) 318-8207.
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Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Rolling into the new year Gani Brown, 4, and her older brother, Thi’yon Everhart, 5, try out their new wheels the day after Christmas near their grandmother’s house in the 500 block of Milton Avenue in North Side. More good weather for outdoor activities is expected before and after New Year’s Day, with temperatures expected to climb into the 60s on Saturday after rain showers on Jan. 1.