Cover Buzz
The July/August cover of Lynchburg Living was the most shared to date, particularly because of the familiar faces people saw: “Proud of our boy Patrick Hubble for raising the bar and making the cover of Lynchburg Living,” wrote Foulers Scooter Club on Facebook. “OMG,
@globelady (Kim Soerensen) you are too cute!” said Benjamin Cousins on Instagram.

You’re Welcome
“I just wanted to touch base with you and thank you for the page in Lynchburg Living (“Go With Your Gut,” July/August). I saw it late last week and it’s lovely. We appreciate the opportunity to share in depth with the community on such a large scale. Thank you again!” – Angie Chapman, Nature’s Outlet

Correction
In our July/August issue, we made an error in the Healthcare Hero article (page 59) about Carl Falls, RN. Falls received his nursing degree from Centra College of Nursing, not Liberty University. He received a psychology degree from LU. We apologize for this mistake.

Idea (Holiday) House
Due to some construction delays, we had to bump our 2020 Idea House to the November/December issue. The good news? It gets to become our annual holiday home! Stay connected on Facebook and Instagram for updates about the Colonial-style house, located on Clayton Avenue in Lynchburg’s Boonsboro neighborhood.

Community Outreach
For the fourth year in a row, Lynchburg Living donated to Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg in connection to our annual Lynchburg Restaurant Week (Aug. 1-8). This year, we pledged 25 percent of our sponsorship proceeds to the nonprofit. In early August, editor Shelley Basinger presented a $250 check to the organization’s executive director, Kris Shabestar.
We also want to extend a special thank you to our 2020 LRW sponsor, Forest Hill Endodontics!

Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

Business Booster
A little press in Lynchburg Living can go a long way! Local interior designer Katrina Morris, featured in “Farmhouse, Refined” (May/June), says the article brought customers into her new shop inside James T. Davis Paint & Design Center. It doesn’t end there—Katrina & Co. is already expanding inside the store! She sent us a message saying: “The shop has been very successful so far, even with [the coronavirus]… The magazine has helped a lot! People have come in and said that’s where they saw us, so THANK YOU!”

Positive Vibes
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we rebranded our May/June publication to become “The Community Issue” and worked with a local artist for an illustrated LYH cover. We received encouraging notes from readers, including the below:
“[I got the new magazine yesterday] and just wanted to say it looks great! LOVE THE COVER and the whole issue being so upbeat and positive. … The colors are so vivid and make me smile.” – Deborah Fears Keeling

“Thank you so much for the May/June 2020 Community Issue, which warmed my heart even more about this community. …this issue just confirmed my reason for moving to the City of Lynchburg.” – Carol Pomper

Voting Begins
It’s that time again! Voting for our annual Best Of Lynchburg Awards starts July 16 and runs through August 31. Be sure to visit our website, lynchburgliving.com, to vote for your favorite restaurants, destinations, people and more. The results will be published in the January/February 2021 issue of Lynchburg Living.

Idea House in Progress
Our 2020 Idea House is under construction, and we can’t wait for you to see the finished product! The three-bedroom, Colonial-style home is located on Clayton Avenue in the heart of Lynchburg’s Boonsboro neighborhood and was designed to tie into the historic aesthetics you see in that part of the city. Follow Lynchburg Living on Facebook and Instagram for more teasers, and look for the full feature in our next issue!

We Want To hear From You!
Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

Special Delivery
In the midst of hospital restrictions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Centra Health contacted Lynchburg Living to see if we could deliver boxes of our March/April magazine to Lynchburg General Hospital. They wanted to distribute them to patients who were unable to receive visitors because of visitation changes due to the coronavirus. It was our pleasure to get our publication into those hands—and we hope our Home & Garden issue was an uplifting read during a time of very difficult news.

Hip-Hop Hooray
E.C. Glass High School teacher Casey Wood sent us a message after the release of the March/April issue, which included a feature about his “Exploring Language and Culture Through Hip Hop” class. “Just wanted to say thank y’all so much for the wonderful article. It means so much to these kids to be surrounded with that kind of positivity.”

No, thank YOU Casey for thinking outside of the box and inspiring your students!

Hill City Eats
When restaurants were forced to close their dining rooms in mid-March, we took action.
Our Hill City Eats list was a resource for readers to use to find take-out, delivery and more from their favorite local eateries. At Lynchburg Living, we truly #supportlocal and are passionate about our small business community.

We Want To hear From You!
Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

“Best Of” Omission
We made a mistake and accidentally omitted the Best Tattoo Studio category from our Best Of Lynchburg Awards featured in the January/February issue. We have apologized to those affected and have taken steps to make sure this clerical error doesn’t happen in the future. Below are the following winners in that category:

Gold
Kiss of Ink Tattoo

Silver
Caspian Tattoo

Bronze
Jesse James Ink Tattoos

Honorable Mention
Lucky Penny Tattoos
S and J Visual Art Productions

Great Job!
“Tobi, thank you for doing such a great job writing the feature about Gospel Community Church! We love it, and think you did a fantastic job weaving together so many details and elements from the history to current day. Shelley, thanks for including us and please thank Chris, as always, for a fantastic layout and eye-catching design; the whole book is a great issue—kudos!” – Jennifer Redmond, Communications Director at Gospel Community Church (“New Life,” January/February 2020)

“I just read your article on hugelkultur from January 1st and was blown away that other people in Lynchburg care about permaculture design! Do any of you know of any local permaculture groups, clubs, or communities here? Great article, by the way!” – Nate Hornbeck, (“Hugelkultur,” January/February 2020)

Top Teacher Tour
Editor Shelley Basinger was determined to surprise each of our 15 Top Teachers at their schools this year. So in January, she scheduled 15 school visits in roughly three weeks. It was a lot of work—but it was more than worth it to make these teachers smile! Here is a look at a few of her visits:

“I was so surprised and excited to receive this award! What an honor!” – Kate Dillard, surprised at the Altavista Elementary faculty meeting

“Thank you for stopping by yesterday, Shelley. What an honor.” – Elizabeth Wendland, surprised during class at the Bedford Science and Technology Center

“Thank you for the presentation you made at our faculty meeting last week. I was caught completely off-guard!” – Mike Bremer, surprised during a faculty meeting at Sandusky Middle School

“That was sweet of you to take the time to come to our school to present the award. I am very appreciative of the honor…” – Lynn Tolley, surprised in front of an assembly at Amelon Elementary School

“Thank you so much for surprising me with the beautifully framed and matted award, it was such an honor to receive.” – Yvonne Hansotte, surprised during a horticulture class at Brookville High School

“I was totally surprised and consider it such an honor!” – Fred Schmidt, surprised while he taught math at Jefferson Forest High School

We Want To hear From You!
Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

Idea House Prep Begins
We are excited to announce that Lynchburg Living is partnering once again with Custom Structures for our next Idea House! The 2020 home will be built in Boonsboro. Watch for more details in upcoming issues!

Business Booster
We love spreading the word about new businesses—and we love it even more when our articles help them attract new customers!

Hannah Frazier of Father’s Café and Bakery wrote to us: “We cannot express how grateful we are for the article (July/August 2019). It was so well done and I easily have at least 10 people a week who say the article is what brought them into my shop. Some have even said they never even knew the [Lynchburg] Community Market as a whole was even here—so not only did they discover our bakery but all the other wonderful vendors we share the space with!”

Giving Back Awards
We received so many positive comments about our 2019 Giving Back Awards on November 12. It may go down in the books as our best yet!

“Had a wonderful time last night. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of it all. I did a break on my show today talking about what an honor it is to be counted among so many amazing nonprofits.”
– Mike Weston, The Journey
Find more comments and a full photo recap of the reception/ceremony on page 22!

Santa’s Helpers
The Lynchburg Living team decided to make a group contribution to the local “Be a Santa to a Senior” program in December. With staff donations and a company match, we were able to serve as the “rescue squad” and purchase last minute gifts for 10 local residents.

We want to extend a huge thank you to Home Instead Senior Care for organizing this program every year and making a difference in the lives of local seniors!

We Want To hear From You!
Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

The Ripple Effect Continues
Charlene Morell, a local woman featured in our September/October issue for her living organ donation that sparked four others, wrote to Editor Shelley Basinger about what she described as the “amazing” article: “[Shannon] did a beautiful job capturing the full story and all that God wrote into our lives.”

And even better? One of the other donors mentioned in the article, Crysti, received a call at her job from someone who read our story and wanted to learn more about living organ donation for a loved one. “I know God is going to continue doing great things through this,” continued Charlene.

Welcome to Lynchburg
Mary Smith picked up a copy of the September/October issue at Neighbor’s Place: “Just wanted to say, being new to the area, Lynchburg Living is really great!”

Thanks for reading, Mary! We truly aspire for our magazine to be a resource for readers—from natives to newcomers.

Small World!
Upon reading our feature about Stanhope Johnson, Carolyn Gills Frazier, author of Stanhope, chronologically, thanked us for a “lovely and lively” article on Lynchburg’s renowned architect.

She also let us in on an interesting connection found within the pages of the September/October issue: “The articles on Stanhope and Farmville have ties to each other. Stanhope designed the Weyanoke Hotel. Stanhope’s niece, Helen Bond Reveley, whom you quoted, is the mother of Taylor Reveley IV, who is the president of Longwood.”
Who knew? Thanks for sharing Carolyn!

Money for Meals on Wheels
For the third year in a row, Lynchburg Living donated to Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg in connection to our annual Lynchburg Restaurant Week (June 22-29). This year, we pledged 25 percent of our sponsorship proceeds to the nonprofit. In June, editor Shelley Basinger presented a $500 check to the organization’s executive director, Kris Shabestar.

We want to extend a special thank you to our 2019 LRW sponsors, Forest Hill Endodontics and Third Street Brewing Company, for their contributions!

Clarification
In the article “Getting Serious About Oral Care” in our May/June issue, we referred to one of our experts as “Dr. Elena Black, a dentist with advanced specialty training in orthodontics.” We should have referenced her as Elena Black, DDS, PhD, to include her degrees.

Vote Today
Visit lynchburgliving.com today to cast your vote in two of our very popular contests!

Nominations open on July 1 for the Best Of Lynchburg Awards—recognizing your favorite businesses, restaurants, destinations and more. Voting ends on August 31. The results will be published in the January/February 2020 issue of Lynchburg Living.

Voting for our Giving Back Awards continues through July 20. Select the nonprofit you think should be recognized for its contributions to the Central Virginia region. The winning nonprofits will be featured in our November/December issue.

Right after the release of our March/April issue, we received a special note from a reader that touched our hearts. Lynchburg resident Helen Swanson has a very personal connection to D-Day and was especially moved by our story “The Relics of War.” We are publishing her feedback in full.

“THANK YOU for the wonderful article in your March/April issue on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. The article was especially poignant for me because D-Day was the beginning of the American and Allied soldiers liberating the German slave labor and concentration camps one year later.

To explain in a condensed version—my father, Joseph (Jozef) Seczkowski, was just a young man of 19 when he was rounded up with other men, women and children in his hometown in Poland in April 1940. He was taken to various Nazi concentration camps in Germany. He spent five years of his life as a prisoner in these camps. Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, Germany, located outside of Berlin, was the last concentration camp he was in. Not as well known as Dachau or Auschwitz, thousands passed through its gates and heinous experiments were conducted on many of its prisoners.

My mother’s home and village in Poland were burned to the ground in 1943 by German soldiers. She and her parents and sister were given the choice to stay and be killed or board the train that took them to a slave labor camp near the port city of Kiel, Germany. My mother Irena was just
15 years old and was forced to work at the shipyard unloading coal from the ships. Some days she tended to graves at a local cemetery.

After the camps were liberated, my parents spent five more years in “displaced persons” camps set up by the Allies before obtaining sponsors and visas to come to the United States. Troop ships were retrofitted to transport refugees to their new destinations. With a few meager possessions, they boarded the General W.C. Langfitt at Bremerhaven, Germany on November 4, 1950. Jozef was 29 and Irena was 22. They arrived at Ellis Island, New York on November 14, 1950. From there they traveled by bus to Chicago, where they began their young lives in America.

Full of spirit and determination my parents worked hard, learned the English language, and became naturalized American citizens in 1960. They loved their newfound freedom in their new country and never looked back. They were forever grateful to America and the soldiers who freed them. My mother passed away in March of 2006. My father died in January of 2017 at the age of 95. He felt that with the passage of time the struggles and strife of WWII and his generation will be forgotten.

It is important that we never forget the sacrifice of our soldiers or the strength and courage of the immigrants who came to the United States. The D-Day Memorial and your article certainly keep them in our memory.”

READER FEEDBACK & COMMENTS

Surprise Success

This is the first year Lynchburg Living decided to surprise a few of the winners of our Top Teachers contest. It took a little bit of planning and legwork but their reactions were worth it!

Beth Woods, math teacher at Altavista Combined School, wrote to editor Shelley Basinger: “Thank you so much for this honor. You basically blew my mind.” Karen Nelson, principal at Perrymont Elementary, emailed: “Thank you so much for coming to PES yesterday to recognize Brooke Andrews—a very special day for her!”

Learn more about all 10 of this year’s Top Teachers on pages 66-74.

“Best Of” Buzz

We love seeing the winners of our Best Of Lynchburg Awards brag about their accomplishments on social media! We received more than 203,000 votes in the online contest last year—breaking 2017’s record. Congratulations to everyone who made our 2019 list and get ready to start voting again this summer!

Wedding Planning Fever

A crowd of local brides came out to the Kirkley Hotel and Conference Center on Jan. 6 for our 21st Annual Central Virginia Bridal Showcase. More than 200 people spent the afternoon visiting with local venues, photographers, caterers and more. The afternoon ended with a drawing for giveaways, including a honeymoon from Travel Lovers. We also released our 2019 Central Virginia Bridal Guide to all guests!

We Want To hear From You!

Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.

Giving Back Awards
The Giving Back Awards/Community Impact Appreciation reception is our way of saying “thank you” to a variety of local nonprofits and businesses that make our region a better place to live. Likewise, we received many “thank you” notes via email and on social media following the event on Nov. 13.

Becky Tweedy with Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg said: “Thank you again for hosting such a lovely event last night! Raising awareness of the nonprofits and their missions in our community is a wonderful goal, and what a fun way to go about it!”
Mike Weston with The Journey said: “Thanks again for inviting us to be a part of last night’s awards event. All of us here at The Journey appreciate what you and Lynchburg Living do for our community.”
See more photos from the reception on page 23!

Top Teachers Search
A panel of judges is sifting through dozens of nominations to determine our 2019 Top Teachers. We received close to 100 recommendations from the community. See who the panel selected in the March/April issue of Lynchburg Living!

Readers Cause Restocking
After our November/December issue hit stands, many of you read about our artist profile Sarah Raessler then went straight to Givens Books to buy a book of her work.

Her mother Deborah wrote to us: “We are receiving many positive comments throughout the community, and we even had to take more books to Givens. Our hats are off to you, not only for what you have done for Sarah, but for what you do to highlight so many good things about living in Lynchburg!”

We Want To hear From You!

Send us an e-mail to shelley@lynchburgmag.com. Correspondents must identify themselves; names may be withheld on request. Lynchburg Living may edit or condense.