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🌱 Patch AM: How one Blacksburg soup night helps fill children’s empty bowls

Coming up: LABORATORY ~ West Coast Swing on the Blacksburg Patch calendar

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Thursday October 8th Patch AM
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Hello Blacksburg! Here's our latest buzz. Let's get into it. ☕️️

🎃 Hosting a Halloween event in Blacksburg? Let Patch get the word out for you. Post it to the Patch calendar.

In today's newsletter:

  • How one Blacksburg soup night helps fill children's empty bowls
  • How a Blacksburg quilt project is stitching together young leaders
  • Ready to time-travel at Blacksburg's first NRV Renaissance Festival?

Also on today's calendar: Thursday Evening at Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival and 9 more events.

Today's riddle: What is clean when it is black and dirty when it is white? 🤔 (Answer below!)

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Weather forecast:

  • Thursday: Sunny and delightful, with a high of 76 and low of 45 degrees.
  • Friday: Sunny and comfortable, temps: high: 74, low: 51.
  • Saturday: Mainly cloudy and not as warm, with a high of 66 and low of 55 degrees.

📰 News we're reading

1. 10/13: Empty Bowls, Full Hearts (nrvnews.com) — Blacksburg residents are invited to the YMCA at Virginia Tech's Empty Bowls fundraiser on October 13 at the Y Center on North Main Street, supporting Meals On Main for food-insecure children across the New River Valley. Guests can enjoy soups from local restaurants, live music, and choose a handcrafted ceramic bowl to take home. All proceeds fund YMCA food assistance programs for local families.
   

2. ChangemakerYOU hosts Piecework in Practice Leadership event (montcova.com) — Blacksburg girls recently gathered at Margaret Beeks Elementary for ChangemakerYOU's first Piecework in Practice leadership experience, using quilt-making as a metaphor for courage and collaboration. Virginia Tech women's basketball players joined students, parents, and mentors for games and conversations about valuing their unique "pieces." Organizers hope to bring similar intergenerational leadership events to more local schools and community groups.
   

3. Inaugural NRV Renaissance Festival debuts in Blacksburg (wfxrtv.com) — A new Renaissance-themed festival is coming to Beliveau Farm Winery near Blacksburg over Halloween weekend, giving locals a fresh fall outing close to home. Expect costumed performers, sword-fighting demonstrations, falconry, acrobatics, and plenty of food and wine. Organizers hope to build a yearly New River Valley tradition and are encouraging guests to dress in historic or fantasy attire.
   

4. Mountaineers Ready to Serve Up the Competition at the ITA Regionals (mountathletics.com) — Blacksburg is hosting the ITA Atlantic Regional tennis tournament at Virginia Tech's Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center and Washington Street courts from today through Sunday, bringing collegiate players from Mount St. Mary's and other programs to town. While some Mountaineers compete here, their teammates head to Annapolis for another invitational. Local fans can catch high-level college tennis action right in their backyard.
   

5. Lifeboat Foundation Bios: Professor Feras A. Batarseh (lifeboat.com) — Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus is home to a pioneering AI and cyberbiosecurity water lab led by Professor Feras Batarseh, whose work focuses on protecting water and agriculture systems. Residents may spot his research shaping how utilities defend against cyber threats and manage drought. His international collaborations and Fulbright-supported projects bring global attention back to Virginia Tech's local innovations.
   

📸 Around Blacksburg

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💬 Chatter

What your neighbors are talking about on social media

  • As a retired professor of child development and early childhood education and
    on a positive note I want to thank the montgomery co school board and superintendent for providing a school day where students beginning in a new… (Nextdoor Forest Hills)
  • New River Valley Community Services posted a job opening for Revenue Cycle Billing Specialist ($2,000 Sign on Bonus) in Blacksburg. Apply here.
  • Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. posted a job opening for Night Auditor in Blacksburg. Apply here. You can search for other jobs near Blacksburg here.

Ok Blacksburg! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!

-- The Patch AM Team

P.S. The answer to today's riddle: "What is clean when it is black and dirty when it is white?" — A chalk board (Thank you Charlie H. for sending it in!)
Got a good riddle for PatchAM? Submit it here!

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