It's WINDSday | March 20, 2024

Celebrating the Power of Wind, Clean Energy and a Green Environment

On perhaps the dreariest day of the year, Shelby Huffaker was having one of the best of her young life.

“This kind of stuff just blows my mind,” said the Smithfield High School senior who was one of 125 girls from five jurisdictions (Isle of Wight, Gloucester, York, Chesapeake and Portsmouth) on a window tour of Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT), host of mammoth monopiles (24 on the pier so far) that will anchor 176 wind turbines starting 27 miles off our coast, installation to begin in May. “I want to be an engineer, but this trip gives me more reason to want to focus on offshore wind. And being on these nice buses helped too.”

Giving teens, especially ones inclined toward science and the trades, a “behind the fence” view of the future, even through a constant rainstorm, is what inspired Wind Energy Rocks, a now two-year-long collaboration between WINDSdays and the Hampton Roads Workforce Council. A new state grant paid for the transportation for what we dubbed G.L.O.W., Girls Lead Offshore Wind. “What they are experiencing is so much more than they can get from a website or a classroom,” said Christina Brooks, Senior Director of Community Initiatives for the Hampton Roads Workforce Council.

After the window tour, led by reps from the VA Port Authority and Skanska, the construction contractor that is reinforcing the PMT pier to hold the heavy monopiles, blades, transition pieces and nacelles for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, the Venture coaches spirited the students through the Elizabeth River tunnels to Norfolk.

First stop was Centura College, which is teaching wind turbine technician skills. Next was ODU for lunch, conversation with the HR Alliance’s “Women of Offshore Wind," and a briefing on ODU’s new School of Supply Chain, Logistics, and Maritime Operations.

Thank you to the teachers, the guides but perhaps especially to the bus drivers who gave some of our best and brightest young ladies a safe and satisfying experience on a messy March WINDSday to remember. 

There are many food pantries in Hampton Roads, few larger or busier than the one behind the Eastern Shore Chapel on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach.

Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, dozens of volunteers receive, collect, sort and stock thousands of items, in a small market and outdoor stalls. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, some 230 families fill up boxes and bags with everything from eggs, milk, bananas and meat to peanut butter, bread, tuna and jam.

“Thank goodness for our rescue food program,” says Kay O’Reilly who has run this non-profit for 15 years.

What’s rescued are pallets of generally fresh products, including ones from Harris Teeter, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Wegman’s and about every other grocer in the region. “Some deliver to us, some we pick up,” says board chair Joan Berlin. “We have to buy packaged items though at a deep discount from the Food Bank, but that still runs to nearly $20,000 a month.” Add another $800/ month for electricity (got to keep those coolers running) and you see the need for financial donations, which can be made by CLICKING HERE.

You must qualify by income to shop here, but consumer dignity is preserved. “We let our families, some of them military, come here once a week and pick what they want, rather than handing them a bag of groceries,” says O’Reilly. “And they are grateful, some actually returning to volunteer.” So shop if you need it, and help if you don’t, because you never know when you might be staring at an empty fridge. 

The Pink Dinghy on 19^th Street in VB’s Vibe District is certainly pink and has a dinghy (small boat) on the roof. But until Stephanie Dietz and her co-founder, the late Chase Pittman, came along in 2020, it was a duplex.

Yep, the addresses (609 and 609 ½) are still above the doors and inside, the bathroom and kitchen are right where they were, the living and bedrooms replaced by a handful of tables, a bar, cash register and other features of a restaurant that now Stephanie (Steph), husband John Urena and a loyal staff work tirelessly to entertain a growing legion of foodies.

“I have been a chef for years, mostly in New York where I grew up,” says John, who counts the employees at the NBA’s headquarters on 5^th Avenue among his former bosses. “Here I have been the first sous chef at New Realm on General Booth Boulevard and was the pizza guy at Wasserhund. I like breweries.”

Steph went to Cox High School, then to NY to pursue her passion, where she met and married John. Tired of the expense of big city living and with Walter in tow, they came back to Virginia Beach to be near family, which has helped with childcare.

Otherwise the couple is in the Dinghy, preparing and serving an eclectic mix of ethnic inspired dinners. Check out the apple covered pancakes.

“On Monday nights, when we’re closed, we hold cooking classes with a four-course dinner as a payoff,” says John. At all times, Steph is not just creating new dishes but baking donuts and apple fritters, which are becoming the Pink Dinghy’s signature feature. Unless you count the boat on the roof. www.thepinkdinghy.com

At WINDSdays we love outdoor sports because let’s face it, the wind matters.

Take baseball at any level, including the wildly popular Kempsville PONY Baseball Association, which kicked off its season this past Saturday with a first pitch ceremony at their 15-year-old complex off Reon Road in Virginia Beach.

PONY stands for Protect Our National Youth so the divisions – Shetland, Pinto, Mustang, Bronco, Pony, Colt and Palomino – all bear horse names, except for the new but wonderful Champions League for special needs young people.

“Little League, a completely different operation, stops at 12, while PONY continues through 19,” says John Shipp, Kempsville PONY president for a decade. He is supported by a large roster of volunteers including coaches, board members, concession stand workers and parents who spawned the 450 kids in attendance this day.  

If your sons, daughters or grands are suiting up for games, best of luck, and know that a contest where a gust of air can turn a fly into a homer or an out is not only still the national pastime but also a forever WINDSday favorite. 

Stay connected with WINDSday via Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn