A few years ago at the Kozera family reunion in Pittsburgh, a stranger showed up. The man said he was our dead uncle Jay’s son. Finally learning who his birth father was, he wanted to learn about his family. The internet helped him locate his half-brothers (my cousins). They invited him to ...
West Virginia is considered to be the fourth “hungriest” state by organizations such as Feeding America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture studying food insecurity in this country. Certainly, Appalachia is hit hard. The food insecurity rate in southeast Ohio is 17.4%, though some ...
One of the worst floods in Parkersburg history came not from the rivers, but from a hilltop overlooking the city. Today there is a quiet park at the top of Quincy Street. It can be reached by car, or you can take the stairs. Nearly 200 of them will take you from Avery Street straight up the ...
There are nearly 6,000 children in foster care in West Virginia. Approximately one-third of them are between the ages of 13 and 17. These children are among our most vulnerable populations, and face challenges most of the rest of us are simply incapable of understanding. But they do have ...
There is still what to many West Virginians is an unfathomable amount of money to be spent out of the money entrusted to the West Virginia First Foundation. Nearly $40 million has already been handed out in grants. Now the foundation is planning to spend another $1.5 million to figure out what ...
In southern West Virginia, we have to think seriously about the highest and best use of our land. That phrase often gets used in real estate and economic development circles, but at its core, it is a practical question: How do we make the most of the assets we have in a way that creates ...
