Yaupon Place receives AARP Community Challenge Grant. Projects completed!!

We are thrilled to be named among 260 grantees nationally who received the competitive “Community Challenge Grant” from AARP Livable Communities. We share AARP’s goals to create an outdoor public space that is accessible, inclusive, and beneficial for our diverse, valued, older members of the community. With their generous funds, we have now realized our dreams for more welcoming infrastructure at the park. Come see for yourselves!

2 new entrance paths. New welcome signs and a parking sign (yes, you can park there!). 6 ADA compliant picnic tables. 21 benches with back support. New path entrance to community gathering area, and a new library box.

"How Stories Can Save Us"

Yaupon Place hosts author, activist, and community storyteller, Mark Yaconelli, on his newest book tour for Between the Listening & the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us.

There is a depth to story that we rarely take time to ponder, let alone to tell and hear. Story is how we transform pain. Story is how we make something useful out of the absurd. Story is how we bridge divisions in our families, communities, and our lands. Sharing stories is how we make a home within ourselves, one another, and with the Earth. In this interactive presentation, author, community activist, and veteran storyteller Mark Yaconelli will help you experience how stories can heal our families, our friends, and our world.

Yaupon Place receives $1,000 Green Grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful for labyrinth garden

Over 30 adults and kids combined to contribute over 84 hours of labor to start beautifying our labyrinth and planting an herb garden around its perimeter! The impact of this generous grant brought the community together for the first time in taking care of the park on a shared project, and the relational benefits and new friendships formed cannot be understated. During our workdays, we shared stories of our love for the outdoors and the ways we have each healed from experiences in nature.

The drought and the ground itself gave us a run for our money with unexpected debris buried below the surface (old bricks, asphalt chunks, coal, etc.). Shalom Farms came over with their plow to loosen the soil, and plants were secured in the ground just before first frost. More landscaping expertise and beautification coming Summer 2023 as community groups join us for more work days, learning about the benefits of labyrinths and herbs.

Stay tuned as we continue to work on this garden. A HUGE thanks to Keep Virginia Beautiful and our dedicated community volunteers for getting us started so well!

Picnic hosted by
Afghan community

Sunday, June 11, 2023, 5-7pm - close to 100 people in attendance!

Ali Ansari, neighbor and supporter of Yaupon Place, organized a Farsi Afghan food picnic for ALL to enjoy! Several local Afghan families cooked samples of their traditional foods (using Shalom Farms’ veggies!), and all were invited to come eat, mingle and learn more about Afghan culture and food. Before the evening was over, traditional Farsi music was filling the air, kids ran around making new friends, and artwork from current refugees (many Afghan) in Turkey & Greece was displayed. It was an evening to remember, and we can’t wait to do it again.