Clean Valley Day

A group of six went out to clean up the Roanoke River and Wasena Park Saturday morning for Clean Valley Day.

We came across several articles of clothing, shoes, drug paraphernalia, and the usual - plastic bags, bottles, cans etc. Poor Crystal spent an hour on cigarette butts alone, and Aaron helped a man in a hover-round who was stuck in the mud, so good deeds were done all around. Despite our bags being stolen by a boy scout and having to end a little early (and, um, we were really upset about ending early....), it was a pretty successful morning, and definitely a much better activity to do with friends than to do alone!

Sorry, no actual pics from PLC - we had our hands full.

On the same note, on April 24th there is an e-waste recycling event at the Roanoke Civic Center from 8am-5pm, so make sure you bring your old, unusable, broken electronics and get rid of them the right way!

Catching Up

We've had a lot of events recently!

In late February, Heather O showed us some massage moves involving thumbs, elbows, and "Cs". We now know what to do with bubbles in our backs...

A group of PLCers volunteered again at the Rescue Mission in early March. The group prepared, served, and cleaned up a Monday night dinner for hundreds of people. I heard the peanut butter celery sticks were a pain to serve, but overall it was a good night.

Bros day. Last weekend Q hosted a trip down to the Blue Ridge Institute in Ferrum to view the Virginia Rockabilly Music exhibit there....

Winter 2010

It's been an unusually snowy winter for Roanoke which has had it's pros and cons. We got off to a slow start in 2010 because of it, and another, unrelated event that impacted our January plans to tour the historic Grandin Theatre... our friend Jason Garnett, long-time manager of The Grandin, was fired, and though the details were foggy, we believed in Jason's passion for bringing inde films to the area and some of us decided to participate in a protest of his firing.

Fortunately, since then, Jason has been able to use his passion for film and created a whole new venue for Roanoke. PLC hopes to support him in this! For now, you can visit his site here: http://theshadowboxcinema.com/

Our first official event of 2010 was on February 13th. PLC got together at Ariel's house and made about 200 Valentine's Day cupcakes for the Roanoke Rescue Mission. Ariel baked everything, while the rest of us took the easy part and decorated.

There was also some intense button-making going on...

And then more cupcakes...

In the Beginning...

PLC was created in Roanoke, Virginia in the end of 2008 by a couple of friends. There was Dan, who was interested in anarchist and subversive literature and groups, and Chewy, who was interested in being productive with friends and having his friends learn more about each other. Q was the social butterfly (and he will thank me for describing him as such). Together, they were tired of the same old bar, the same old drink, same old conversation. And so the Porchlight Collective was started. Though the focus remains slightly fuzzy, it has grown into a core group, slowly expanding and contracting throughout each season. Below is a brief summary of the events that took place in our first year:

In December 2008 the first PLC meeting took place at Dan and Julie's house. It was a comfort food potluck and then the group had a discussion about what PLC should be and future events. There was surprisingly a number of people that showed up and were interested.

In early 2009 the first "public" event took place. It was a music/art show featuring Red Clay River as the band and friends from Richmond, Fred and Katie Davis from Salvation Tattoo, showcasing prints of paintings, drawings, and wood etchings. The event took place at the Water Heater in Roanoke, was a lot of fun, and a big success.

In March 2009 Marcus and Kait gave a food demonstration involving Mexican entrees and vegan desserts. (It was yummy!)

In May 2009 Chewy held a Cinco de Mayo themed party. Again, it was a potluck (Mexican food of course) and there was a pinata and a tequila worm. Ok, this one was mainly a Mexican themed party, but it was fun and different than our regular.

In June 2009 Shaun and Kyle taught us about general car maintenance and up keep. Hobo hot pots were made on the grill at Shaun and Rebekah's apartment.

In late June a small group of PLCers took a day trip to Floyd,VA for a festival and then did a wine tasting at Chateau Morrisette.

In August 2009 we held a chili cook-off. We had SO MUCH good food.... it was awesome, with lots of variety. Veggie chili, buffalo chili, vegan, and black bean.... it was some good eatin'.

In October 2009 we had Q and Aaron teach us how to screen print. We screen printed shirts, jackets, and patches with PLC logos.

In November 2009, Shaun organized our first service event, which was serving food at the Roanoke Rescue Mission. Eight PLC members served dinner to shelter residents, residents in the recovery program, and homeless men and women off the streets.

In December 2009 we had a one year celebration home cookin' potluck at Ariel's house. We ate some fabulous food and then discussed what worked for us in the past year and ideas for future events.