The Coronavirus pandemic has affected many people’s stability. Some have lost their jobs, and others their savings. Regardless, if there is any time in which charities are worthwhile, it is now. In this article, I will be going over the following things: Which charities are assisting those in need, and how to donate to or receive aid from said charities. Not all of these charities were specifically designed for Coronavirus related issues, but many can help with things such as a lack of proper meals, or food delivery for a loved one.

In terms of donating to these, or any charities, no one is obligated to do so. These days are uncertain for all of us, and just because you are financially secure does not mean you should always donate money. However, if your family is well off and still at work, you may want to consider contributing to a charity. A few dollars may only make a small impact, but that doesn’t mean that they make no impact at all.

On the flip side, receiving help from a charity is never something to be afraid of or embarrassed by. If you or someone you know is facing serious challenges such as homelessness, starvation, etc, do not hesitate to reach out. In addition to that, the charities listed below are not the only charities in the area. If you need a service that is not provided by any of the following organizations, or you simply live too far away, ask for help from your community. A friend, family member, or other charity may be able to help in some way which these charities can not.

A list of local charities can be found below, alongside instructions on how each charity operates. If you have additional questions, call a number if one is listed, or search up the site of the charity itself.

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank:

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank operates mostly around Waynesboro and its surrounding area. As its name suggests, it runs through food pantries and soup kitchens. To donate follow the link below and enter the information required.

https://www.brafb.org/give-now/

To receive help follow the link below to a food pantry locator, or call 540-248-3663 for more information.

https://www.brafb.org/find-help/pantry-locator/

Finally, if you wish to contribute in a way such as volunteering or doing a fundraiser, visit the site below and click “Get Involved”. https://www.brafb.org/

Meals on Wheels:

The Meals on Wheels organization provides food through delivery and seeks to help people in need. Most of their clients are elderly or disabled. If you have a grandparent or know someone older who is afraid to leave quarantine, you can contact Meals on Wheels in their name, and have food delivered to them at their home. To donate, follow the link below and click donate now:

https://www.cvillemeals.org/support-us

Additionally, if you wish to contact Meals on Wheels to refer them to an elderly person, click this link, and then scroll to the bottom and click on the large orange button saying “Submit Client Application”.

https://www.cvillemeals.org/clients

Loaves and Fishes:

Loaves and Fishes is a food bank operating near Albemarle High School. Due to coronavirus lockdowns, they are doing a drive-through delivery.

To donate visit the page below, and click the yellow donate button in the top right.

http://cvilleloaves.org/index.php/get-involved/support-our-mission

To receive groceries, arrive at 2050 Lambs Road, Charlottesville VA 22901, near Albemarle High School. If you are having trouble locating the building, check out the link below and find the map tab.

http://cvilleloaves.org/index.php/get-groceries/how-to-get-free-groceries

Arrive no earlier than an hour before Loaves and Fishes opens. Loaves is open from 2:00-4:00 PM on Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 PM on Thursdays, and 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Saturdays. To receive food you are required to wear a mask. Once you arrive you are to stay in your car, talk to a staff member, and move your car where you are directed to. Then, groceries will be brought to the car for you to load in.

The Charlottesville City Schools Reopening Fund:

This fund has been organized by the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation or CACF. It has been designed to help students and teachers during online schooling. This includes things such as assistance for teachers and devices for students without them. This fund will go through schools, so there is no way to receive help from it directly, but you can donate to it. However, it must be said that this fund is for the Charlottesville district, and while Henley will most likely be affected, it may not be the focus of the fund. If you are interested in donating, proceed to the following link and fill out the form below:

https://cacf.iphiview.com/cacf/GivingOpportunities/OnlineContribution/tabid/512/dispatch/contrib

ution_id$149134_hash$3066b09082d118e5067fd786a1c4a780b9025499/Default.aspx

For for information on the CACF program follow the link below:

https://www.ccsptofund.org/

• Heterosexual (straight)- Often considered the “norm” It means to like genders other than your own (typically used to describe binary genders)

• Homosexual (gay and lesbian)- means to like the same gender as your own.

• Bisexual- means to like your own and other genders.

• Asexual- means to feel no sexual attraction, but doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have any interest in romantic relationships.

• Pansexual- means that they ignore gender entirely. They don’t have any preference for gender and it’s a lot more personality based.

Of course, these are only a few of the many different sexualities', and sexual orientations, so if you feel like none of these fit you and you want to learn more, or if you’re just a bit curious, there is more information online.

In addition to that, you don’t need to use a label and you don’t need to make your identity public. You can make decisions about what you want to do with your life. Middle school is early in our lives, and you will likely change a lot by the time you’re an adult. You don’t need to stick with the label that you use today! You can change and develop and so can your sexuality.

Now to begin talking about gender identity, I feel as if I must explain a bit more before starting the list. Sometimes, people are born into a body that they don't belong in. Whether they are born into a female body, but are actually a boy, or they are born a boy, but don't feel that they fit with either binary gender, they are all very real and valid. If someone requests that you refer to them with a different name or new pronouns, please honor their request and do so. They understand that it might be hard for a while and you may make mistakes, but if you make an effort to help them, that's often all they need. You may be wondering, What are pronouns? Pronouns are what you are referred to by. For example, He/Him, They/Them, She/her, and Zie/Zir are a few examples of pronouns. If you’re ever unsure about someone's pronouns then you can simply ask. More often than not they will appreciate you asking even if they’re cisgender. Now for the list!

• Cisgender- Identifying by the gender you where born with

• Transgender- someone who transitions from their birth gender to a different gender.

• Nonbinary- someone who doesn’t fit with either binary gender

• Genderfluid- someone whose gender flows and changes.

Obviously, I couldn’t possibly cover every gender identity in one little list, but there are many resources online that provide more information.

If you' re interested in good safe spaces and organizations for LGBTQIA+ this website that shows lots of local LGBTQIA+ organizations and such: http://cvillepride.org/2018/07/31/organizations-support/

Plus, the Henley GSA (gender sexuality alliance) is an amazing group of students and teachers who create a safe space and discuss issues regarding LGBTQIA+ in our school and area. Sadly the plans for the GSA while online have not been confirmed.

As you may know, there are protests around the United States, but have you ever wondered about what is going on around the world? In Belarus, Europe there is a protest where people are filling the streets with signs and flags of their country. What are they protesting for? They are protesting the reelection of their president. He has been the president since 1994 and the people of Belarus want him out of office. Nearly 65,000 people came to protest to kick him out of office.

I’m sure you have heard of the Black Lives Matter protests, but there may be some things you might not know. The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 have been going on for nearly 6 months and 5 weeks. This protest all started after the death of George Floyd; he was pinned to the ground by a police officer, making breathing difficult. After saying, "I can’t breathe," to the officer and being ignored ,he passed away. Since then there have been multiple fires and many homes destroyed. Also, people have many opinions about these protests. Some people think that fighting the police and burning buildings isn’t the best choice, they find that a peaceful protest is enough to get their word out. Although more people have turned to an area where they must destroy things to get their “word” out there have been other kinds of protests.

Now I know you are thinking I already know all of this stuff! Well, I am here to ask you, did you know about the protests going on in Hong Kong? This protest has been active since 2019 and is still going on today! This protest all started after the extraction (removal) bill was released. This bill would allow criminal suspects to be sent back to mainland China, under certain circumstances. Opponents said this risked many people in Hong Kong to be exposed to violent treatment. After weeks of protests, Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said the bill would be suspended for good. But protesters feared that the bill would be brought back, so protests continued, calling for the bill to be withdrawn for good.

When asked about the importance of 1619 most people can't think of anything. This is not the case for other dates. Date such as 1776 with the writing of the Declaration of Independence, or in 1803 with the Louisiana purchase. So why then, has reporter Nikole Hanna-Jones chosen this historically forgotten year as the main focus of her project? Because this year marks the beginning of a dark time in American history, defined by the institution of slavery.

Think about this, Jamestown was established in 1607 and roughly 12 years later Africans were brought to Virginia as slaves, therefore building this country on the foundation of slavery. About a year after the first slaves were brought to America, Jamestown began to expand and profit in new ways. It was this period between 1610 and 1620 that made Jamestown thrive, ships came with colonists, women, food, supplies but most importantly free labor.

The 1619 project aims to teach all of America’s youth the real truth about the history of our country. About how our country is built by enslaved Africans on Native American grounds. Our country wouldn’t be nearly as advanced if slaves didn’t play such an important role in American history. Most public schools aren’t allowed to teach kids in this country about the gruesome truths throughout history, especially in Virginia.

One of the many things that COVID-19 has impacted significantly is school. Throughout the world, schools have decided that the safest option for schooling this year is to accomplish it completely online. This virtual style of learning is what Henley is using. Henley has both synchronous and asynchronous learning. This means that in each class, students spend half the time on Zoom, and half doing independent work. After talking to many students, it seems that most people feel the same about online learning. Emily See says that it is “Hard to pay attention and boring, but it is fun at times because you can eat whenever and sleep during break.” Evan Beleyea says, “I wish we could be back in normal school so I could talk to my friends.” After talking to a few parents, they seem to have mostly the same opinions as students, as they would prefer having their kids back in school. Ultimately, most prefer regular school, but they know it’s not the safest option right now.

2020 has been a crazy year so far, and this article was made to write all of those unbelievable things that have happened during 2020 down and to report them to others. As we all know, the craziest thing to happen so far this year was Coronavirus, the reason we’re all in quarantine, but there are many other things that have happened in 2020 as well that might be just as crazy or maybe even crazier. Here are a few of those facts right now.

Recently there was a camera sent to monitor a rock that had been acting suspiciously. The team that was investigating the recording found that it wasn't a rock at all. It was actually a 67 foot long colossal squid, the biggest one ever recorded.

Scientists have recently sent a special camera into a volcano to try and monitor the activity, what they found were pockets of water around the volcano with fish in them. These fish have the ability to know when the volcano will erupt.

A little while ago NASA was monitoring the planet Venus and found that there was a kind of toxic liquid that also resides on earth. The liquid requires living bacteria to produce it and scientists don't know how the liquid got to be on Venus.

Hurricane Sally has been flooding the streets recently and there have been fish and other aquatic life appearing on the roads. There have also been tons of red ants that have gotten caught in the flood and created a red flood.

A little while ago NASA officially confirmed the existence of UFOs that have been spotted, but there is little known about them except for the fact that they don't obey the laws of any known technology.

There was a report of murder hornets in Washington, it is said that they can kill people in 2 to 3 stings. The hornets are also reported to be huge at almost a foot long!