Virginia Urban Wood Group
News & Updates
June 24, 2020 | Issue-2
Welcome!

Welcome to the second edition of the Virginia Urban Wood Group's newsletter! Our planned schedule is to offer this newsletter every other month .

Have a topic of interest that you want us to cover? Send your idea to me at the email address listed below!

We hope that you find this newsletter useful and enjoyable!

Joe Lehnen
VA Dept of Forestry
Urban Wood Program Coordinator
Upcoming Events
The Urban Wood Network: Future Visioning Webinar Series

Forming a State Organization-
Nebraska Urban Wood
July 8, 2020

Click here for more info >> Read More
Service Providers Spotlight

Over the past three years the VA Dept. of Forestry's Urban Wood Program has been developing an interactive Urban and Small Woodlot Forestry Business Directory. The directory now contains 160 businesses that serves the needs of Virginia citizens. This listing of service providers includes portable sawmillers, crafters, forestry mulchers, small parcel timber harvesters & resource managers, furniture builders and many more.

Take a cruise through the directory here >>

Virginia Urban Wood Group
June Update!
Yes, there is a Virginia Urban Wood Group! Formed in January 2018, the VA Urban Wood Group is presently comprised of a Board of Directors representing private-sector urban wood businesses, public utilities, municipalities, Trees Virginia, Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech University and the Virginia Department of Forestry.

The Board met on May 13th and June 16th. Meeting minutes are posted on the VA Urban Wood Group's web page.

In the near future the Virginia Urban Wood Group will be open for general membership.

For more information click here >>

The Future of Wood Crafting
Richmond Dynamic Duo Craft Urban Wood Bowls to Support Local
Food Bank
As the Coronavirus crisis continues there are occasional glimmers of light amidst the darker days of COVID-19. A truly inspirational story comes from Richmond, VA where a pair of Charlies (Hamilton & Unice) have dedicated all the proceeds from their bowl crafting business to Feeding America. The Feeding America network is the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, working to connect people with food and end hunger. Locally, proceeds are funneled to Feed More, a Richmond-based food distribution center. Charlie Hamilton and Charlie Unice and their Serving Bowls project were also recently featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper.

For more details, check out their web page >>




Urban Wood Outreach Education

Virginia is fortunate to have active and innovative youth wood technology programs across the Commonwealth. The Virginia Urban Wood Project has conducted a number of outreach programs at summer camps, middle schools, high schools, community colleges and universities.

More details about youth wood technology education can be found in the following online publication >>



Thanks!

Many thanks to Trees Virginia (Virginia's Urban Forest Council) for hosting this newsletter and allowing access to their Constant Contact platform!
The Virginia Urban Wood Program is supported by the Virginia Department of Forestry and a grant from the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Region.
The Marketing Corner

Social Media = Free Advertising!

An easy and FREE method to advertise your services or products is with the use of social media! Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are effective ways to communicate with your customers and build a client base for your business, and it's free advertising!

The beauty of these social media outlets is that it's all about pictures and videos and very few words. People who frequent these platforms do not want to read your life story, they want to see what new products you are making, the creativity of your work, the beauty of the wood, or see the results of the services you offer.

Three golden rules when using a social media outlet:

  • Post pics/news at least a couple times a week
  • Include reliable contact information
  • Make sure that someone is checking for messages daily! You do not want to lose a $10,000 sale because a potential customer did not receive a timely response and went shopping elsewhere!

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all easy to navigate and are very effective advertising tools. Take the time to use them or ask a family member or friend to help you out. You will be pleased with the results!
Virginia Urban Wood Group