We set out later than I had planned Monday after an oil-change, some last-minute packing confusion, and some inconvenient traffic. Despite that, we made good time and arrived much earlier than last time in the beautiful city of Blacksburg. We took the late afternoon to walk around the historic campus of Virginia Tech and the surrounding downtown. Our walk included finding a tiny frog statue that apparently is one of several all around the campus.

On Tuesday, we didn’t have a formal volunteer task so instead we set out to learn about some of the organizations in Blacksburg. We started at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center. After walking around and visiting all the animals, we learned a bit from the volunteers and staff about the shelter. They are a no-kill shelter with a 95% live release rate for animals in their care despite the number of difficult cases they take on each year. The shelter also runs an emergency pet food pantry to reduce owner surrender of pets due to financial hardship. The adoption fees of several of their pets have also been covered through generous donations from the community.

After the shelter we visited the Y(MCA)Thrift Shop. The proceeds from the thrift shop supports local community programs including some of the on-site programs such as after school child care, youth summer camps, and an onsite pottery studio. The Y thrift shop is also very dedicated to recycling and we were told in 2019 they processed over 70 tons of community waste.

After these adventures, we attended our host’s Rotary Club the Rotary Satellite cClub of Blacksburg-Sixteen Squares. Our host, Micheal Abraham, helped start this club in an effort to gain traction with younger members who may not be able to afford the fees or time constraints of a normal club.

Following the meeting, we returned home and I made Mac and cheese.

Today was a great example of how flexible we’ve been this year and how many opportunities we are able to find because of it. The day started with blueberry pancakes courtesy of Micheal and then Evan and I went out with him on a trail cleanup. I was shocked when separating recyclables from trash how much could actually be recycled. After the cleanup we had a quick lunch before heading downtown for my shift at the information booth of the local farmers market. I was super impressed to be working at a farmer’s market that not only excepted a Snap/EBT but matched benefits doubling the amount of healthy food accessible to those who need it.

After the farmers market we poked our heads in to a “music jam night” at a small volunteer run mutual aid focused café, Southpaw. All the proceeds from the café go to mutual aid causes around Blacksburg. They also had a large library with books on a wide range of mostly political topics as well several zines by local artists.

Blacksburg has been an amazing adventure so far and we’re very excited for our day tomorrow.