One Brick Short

Don’t be fooled by the rocks that they got: the Dave Matthews Band is still just kids from the block.

The band that got its start in Charlottesville has never been shy about helping out its old home town and just announced nearly $174,000 in grants to help us all out.

The band has been good about giving its hard-earned cash to a variety of locals and the most recent series of grants from its Bama Foundation is no different. Here’s what’s up:

To the AIDS/HIV Services Group: $5,000 to help purchase furniture for a drop-in Center for men recently released from incarceration. 

To Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Blue Ridge: $7,500 to expand programs to Charlottesville by creating a school-based mentoring program in one or more Charlottesville schools. 

To the Blue Ridge Medical Center Rural Health Outreach Program: $10,000 to provide health services to Latinos in need in Nelson and Albemarle Counties and in the City of Charlottesville.

To Camp Albemarle: $5,000 to help build a camp superintendent’s residence on site to improve security and provide better service to clientele. 

To the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra: $2,000 to support the Art Strings in School program for third and fourth grade students learning the violin. 

To the Charlottesville City Schools’ Adult Education Program: $4,000 to support the Festival of Cultures event.

To the Charlottesville Community Design Center:  $3,000 to support the newly created Charlottesville Energy Efficiency Program, which aims to protect the environment and public health through increased residential energy efficiency in Charlottesville and Albemarle. 

To Children, Youth & Family Services:  $6,500 to support the Parenting Mobile van that visits low-income neighborhoods weekly to offer accessible, family-friendly advice and parenting information, early childhood playgroups, and family consultation.

To the Emergency Food Bank: $9,500 to provide one year’s worth of lunch foods and beverages for the male and female guests of PACEM’s (People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry) 2007-2008 shelter season.

To the Fraternal Order of Police Thompson Hall Lodge #5 Associates: $2,500 to replace the windows of the Lodge buildings.

To From Inside Out:  $5,000 to teach art classes to inmates at prisons in the Charlottesville area.

To the Greene Care Clinic: $4,000 to help expand the newly opened clinic in Greene County by hiring a nurse practitioner to expand services to two daytime chronic illness clinics. 

To the Hospice of the Piedmont: $5,000 to support the Journeys programs to assist youth who are grieving by providing an outlet for their emotions and help cope with future grief. 

To the Interfaith Movement for Promoting Action by Congregations Together (IMPACT):  $3,000 to provide training and leadership development to congregations to prepare for an annual process of listening, research, action and fundraising to affect change with regard to affordable housing and public transportation.

To the Kids Lift Foundation:  $2,000 to support the annual Toy Lift that provides books and toys to newborn – 8th grade children in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson Counties.

To the Lighthouse Studio:  $3,800 to support a music video workshop and purchase two new computers necessary for program production. 

To the Manteo-Yogaville Emergency Response Squad:  $10,000 to purchase two used vehicles to respond to first aid calls in Buckingham County.

To the Mental Health America of Charlottesville and Albemarle:  $4,000 to increase access to information, outreach, and training and financial resources to help dismantle the barriers for people suffering from mental illness. 

To the Nelson County Community Development Foundation: $10,000 to provide free dental services to uninsured, low-income residents of Nelson County. 

The the Orange County Office of Youth:  $4,000 to support the Orange Parenting Program that will provide training for parents of children with very specific needs. 

To the People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry (PACEM): $3,000 to help PACEM provide staff training for financial management to help sustain the organization. 

To the Piedmont Housing Alliance: $5,000 to support a program to provide consumer education and counseling to address foreclosure and lending discrimination crisis. 

To Rosalia Films: $2,000 to help complete the documentary World Peace and other 4th Grade Achievements documenting the World Peace Game taught at Venable School in Charlottesville. 

To the Senior Center: $7,000 to purchase new audio-visual equipment to improve the capacity to provide Arts and Humanities programs to area seniors. 

To the Sorensen Institute of Political Leadership: $7,000 to provide full-tuition scholarships for two low-income students from the greater Charlottesville area to attend the High School Leaders Program.

To the Reading Window School: $3,000 to provide one-on-one literacy training for economically disadvantaged children in Louisa County.

To UVA Children’s Hospital: $4,000 to launch a clay animation project for pediatric patients at the University Children’s Hospital.

To the Wildlife Center of Virginia:  $10,000 to provide environmental outreach programs in 32 schools and 8 community events within the CACF service area.

To the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia: $4,500 to provide wildlife plants on the streamside of Fulfillment Farms, the only publicly-accessible large tract of natural land in Albemarle County.

To the Wintergreen Adaptive Skiing: $10,000 to support the Wounded Warrior Weekend, a two-day clinic of adaptive ski and snowboard instruction for wounded servicemen and women. 

To WVPT-Virginia’s Public Television: $12,500 to support the WVPT Kids’ Book Festival, a family oriented outdoor literacy event that provides free literacy activities, entertainment, food and new books.

Thanks guys. When the next album comes out, the whole freakin’ city should be lined up to pay you back.