"It's Rough Out There," But Help is Out There, Too
Second annual Community Connections Expo showcases all the mutual aid organizations Fredericksburg has to offer.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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New Vision Community Outreach Association, a new Fredericksburg area nonprofit dedicated to addressing food insecurity, is only four months old, but already “business is booming,” founder Rodney Blake said.
“It’s rough out there,” Blake added.
He and co-founder Sophia Blake represented their organization at Tuesday’s second annual Community Connections Expo. The event, hosted by Fredericksburg Area Health and Support Services, brought together a host of local community organizations—and showed that as hard as things may be, help is also out there.
The Blakes launched New Vision in November and are already operating a food pantry twice a month, on the second and fourth Saturdays, out of their location at 5008 Southpoint Parkway. They get food—both shelf-stable and fresh—from the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank as well as donations from area Publix and Target stores, and purchase items when needed, Sophia Blake said.
Soon, they plan to offer nutrition education and “holistic wellness” programs.
Godaelli Psychiatry and Mental Wellness Center is another relatively new organization that was represented at the Expo. The center has offices in Woodbridge and Alexandria but also offers virtual psychiatric services, mental health care, and psychiatric medication management. It serves children aged 5 and up, as well as adolescents, adults, and seniors—and there’s currently no wait list to see a provider.
A lot of people are seeking care for anxiety, stress, and depression due to recent political events, several of the vendors said, and Lighthouse Counseling of Fredericksburg was handing out pamphlets titled “Managing Political Dis-Stress” to event attendees. The pamphlets included signs of political stress and offered tips for managing stress, such as limiting scrolling and scheduling time for media use.
Lighthouse offers a host of therapies, including gender-affirming therapy. The organization’s representatives said that since they are privately-funded, they aren’t yet worried about losing financial support, but they are concerned about insurance companies potentially no longer covering gender therapy.
“We do have clients coming in and saying they’re stressed and scared,” a Lighthouse representative said.
Lighthouse’s executive director, Carmen Greiner, was also representing another organization, Save1Life at the Expo. Save1Life is a coalition of multiple agencies working to combat the opioid overdose epidemic, which Greiner said continues to affect the Fredericksburg area.
“We’re here to spread the word about harm reduction,” Greiner said. Harm reduction, according to the coalition’s website, “aims to decrease the negative impact of a behavior rather than an exclusive focus on stopping it.”
“So the message is, ‘Hey, use smarter,’” Greiner said. Among the coalition’s services are a free hotline that people can call when they are about to use drugs. They stay connected through the call and if the person using drugs becomes unresponsive, the person on the other end can immediately all 911.
Save1Life was also handing out kits that test for the presence of xylazine, a sedative that is increasingly mixed with fentanyl and is associated with overdose deaths, and lock boxes to keep prescription medications out of the hands of children and teens.
About an hour-and-a-half into the Expo, which ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Greiner had already given out all the medication lock boxes.
Another local organization that offers help to those with substance use disorder is HER House, a sober home for women. The four-bedroom single-family house is located in Fredericksburg, in walking distance to mutual aid organizations, including multiple weekly Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and can accomodate eight women for as long as they need the suppportive community.
“There is no time period for recovery,” said the organization’s representative, who is also a resident. HER House is about to open a second residence this year to empower more women to recover from substance use disorder.
The Community Art Hub offers a different kind of therapy—art therapy. Founded in 2022, the nonprofit offers low cost and sometimes free art supplies, creative programs and services. It’s been active in King George County and representatives who attended the Expo said they’re looking to expand their mobile programs into more areas.
“We will come to everyone who needs art,” the representatives said.
Joseph Lyttle, executive director of FAHASS, said about 60 vendors participated in the event this year. In addition to connecting with the organizations, attendees could get free haircuts from Faded and Company, shop for free clothes provided by Community Threads, and pick up fresh produce via the Table at St. George’s.
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