New Non Profit in Town - Charity for Debt
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Monday, 21 April 08 - 04:18 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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I love writing about new businesses, new restaurants, and new ideas on this blog. Here is one that I actually helped get started. It is called Charity for Debt and it is a new non profit. Charity for Debt is stationed in Adams Morgan, but serves the entire DC area and many other communities around the country.
The Concept: The idea behind Charity for Debt is to create a unique partnership between students who have large student debt and giving individuals or businesses that will sponsor a student to volunteer their time at a local charity in exchange for money given directly to pay off the student's loan debt. Charity for Debt already has hundreds of willing students signed up and is working to find charity partnerships and fundraising.
Example of the model working: A generous individual gives a minimum gift of $1,000 to Charity for Debt. That individual then selects a student to volunteer from a pool of hundreds of students. Once a student is selected, the donor and student decide on the ideal charity for the student to contribute his/her time. This could be a charity that focuses on increasing reading levels in inner city youth, or helping animals recover from abuse, etc. The student then works for $20/hr, part time, usually 4 to 6 hours per week, for the chairty, until $800 in time is accumulated (the other $200 goes towards administrative fees). The student has to write daily progress reports, take photos of their actvities, and write an overall summary of their experience, which is archived on their online volunteer portfolio for anyone to read. Email notifications are sent to the donor when the student has updated their volunteer portfolio so the donor can see the positive outcomes their money is helping create. At the end of the 5 to 7 week process, Charity for Debt sends a check to the student's loan company for the given agreed upon amount.
So, the student gets their loan directly paid down, the non profit/charity gets a reliable, motivated temporary staff volunteer to help with critical operations, and the donor gets to help both and see how their donation is benefiting the community through a transparent online tracking system.
What they need: Charity for Debt is trying to raise $10,000 for a pilot program to run 10 students through the program, 5 in DC and 5 in Dallas. They have raised $5,000 so far but need a total of $10,000 to prove the model can work. Charity for Debt has already been contacted by several large media publications regarding the innovative model and there is enormous publicity potential once the pilot program is complete. So, I would like to encourage all Adams Morgan residents to consider giving to this unique and special start up non profit. Donors get double the results of their dollars because they will be helping a student get out of debt and helping staff a needy charity in the community.
If you would like to give, please read more at the Charity for Debt donation page here: http://www.charityfordebt.org/donors.php
Also, make sure you check out their website, it is very nicely designed.
If you know anyone that would be interested in donating, volunteering, or a charity/non profit to partner with, then please send this article on to them. Help Charity for Debt spread the word and grow into a great, sustainable non profit, all started in Adams Morgan!
Welcome the first Hemp store to Adams Morgan - Capitol Hemp
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Sunday, 30 March 08 - 11:12 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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If you walk by Starbucks, which I do frequently, you will notice that a new store is going in under Giovani Hair Design. I saw the door was open on Friday, so I decided to stick my head in, snap some photos, and talk to the owner about his new store.
The store is called Capitol Hemp. You can learn more about it at http://www.capitolhemp.com . You will find basic informatoin and an artist rendering of what the store will look like when finished. Adam Eidinger is the store owner and he is the communications director for Vote Hemp (http://www.votehemp.com). Adam passionately explained that every big city in the United States has a hemp store, except, Washington DC. Adam has lived in the Adams Morgan for many years and has been a strong voice for Hemp in politics and wanted to show his passion for Hemp by bringing the first store to the DC area.
Capitol Hemp will offer everything Hemp of course. There will be hemp clothes, hemp furniture, hemp food, hemp milk, and many other hemp items - that are all legal, don't worry. I was very imrpessed that the shelves and many of the structures in the store are completely made of hemp. The hemp "wood" is made from eucalyptus glue and is imported from China (since you can't grow hemp in the United State legally). You can see a photo of the hemp "wood" below.
Adam said they plan to have a soft launch around the middle of April and work through the kinks until the end of April when there will be more of an official grand opening. Adam even has installed a stage by the main window for bands or a DJ to entertain during the late hours of Friday and Saturday nights. This should attract an interesting mix of products and customers.
I am excited to welcome Adam to the Adams Morgan business neighborhood. Be sure to go over and browse through the hemp products at the end of April. Ask Adam about his hemp story and be prepared for a mouth full of hemp enthusiasm!
Photos below:
Thanks Adam! Good luck with the opening in April. I will be by to try some hemp milk and hemp food, how crazy that will be!
2008 Spring Flowers on Lanier Street
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Friday, 28 March 08 - 09:25 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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I live on Lanier street in Adams Morgan. It is a beautiful street with rows of houses, a historic fireplace, the Adams Inn, and several great architectural condo buildings. As I walked down the street today, I noticed some amazing blooming flowers on Lanier street. I decided to take a few shots and post them on the blog. If you love flowers, there are some great ones to be seen all over the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
DCist.com Highlights Photos
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Wednesday, 26 March 08 - 01:25 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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I know I haven't written in a month or so, my apologies. I have been traveling quite a bit lately and haven't had the time to compose a new blog post, shame on me. I have recently been elected to be on the board of directors for the Adams Morgan Main Street Group. This is a volunteer organization that focuses on promoting businesses in the Adams Morgan area and revitalizing the neighborhood. I am proud to serve on the board and will explain more in my next post.
In this post, I wanted to share a couple of photos with my readers. These photos are screenshots of the DCist.com news blog. I follow this blog on a daily basis as they have great DC news and local photographers can submit photos, which they choose to highlight depending on the news theme of the day. Well, last week marked the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. Thousands of our soldiers have died fighting for our country and hundreds of protestors flooded the DC streets to stop traffic and make the city aware of the high costs of the war. I decided to snap a few photos on my lunch break of protestors crossing Connecticut avenue at K street. I found a few I thought were particularly moving and submitted them to DCist.com. To my surprise, my photo was highlighted as the front anti-war protest photos!
The photo I took:
To view more photos I took that day (about 20 more), check out my personal flickr set I created for the photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/9471696@N03/sets/72157604161276098/
It was a wild day indeed. I admire these protestors for protesting what they believe and love our country for letting them have a voice, even if we aren't ending the war in Iraq anytime soon. One older man passed by me and commented that this would never happen in other countries and that these hippies should be locked up. I thought, how ignorant is that, these protestors aren't hurting him and what would our country be like if people like him controlled everything we did or said. Just stupid. Well, you go protestors, protest your hearts out!
Rock Creek Bridge Photos and Others
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Sunday, 10 February 08 - 01:37 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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Here are a few photos that I took this weekend. We are going to put a collage of photos in our hallway of some local architecture. My first thought was to photography the awesome bridge right down the street. Since it is winter, many of the trees that block the view of the bridge have lost their leaves, so I figured there might be some good shots. I will continue to take mroe photos around the neighborhood until I have the perfect set for our hallway. Enjoy!
Below are a few random shots of the neighborhood that I took when walking home. I thought they were cool.
So's Your Mom Deli - Do You Know Where It Is?
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Saturday, 02 February 08 - 07:30 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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Have you ever tried the deli in Adams Morgan? Do you even know that there is a fancy deli in the Morgan? Well, I have lived here several years now and never knew there was a gourmet deli right around the corner. That deli is called So's Your Mom, and it is a great kept secret of our vibrant neighborhood.
I am a huge sandwich fan. I have thought about opening up my own sandwich shop someday, not here in DC, but somewhere in the far off future of our lives when we probably will move away. So, I am always on the look out for a quality sandwich shop so I can figure out the best and most popular sandwich recipes for my future shop.
So's Your Mom is a gourmet deli that sells sandwiches, soups, fresh coffee beans, salads, and a bunch of gourmet grocery items. I never knew this wonderful place existed. It is located on Columbia Street close to Cashions, Astor, and Napolean Bistro. My wife and I walk down this street on a regular basis and never knew this hidden treasure existed. We were walking back from the gym on Saturday and were both jonesin for a good sandwich. My wife mentioned that she had read about So's Your Mom being a deli and we decided to check it out.
As you walk in you see the traditional deli glass counter with meats and cheeses that you can choose from. I ordered a Pastrami sandwich with provolone cheese, russian dressing, coleslaw on Rye bread. My wife had an egg salad sandwich on wheat. We grabbed a big bag of kettle chips and two vitamin waters. The staff was friendly and told me the store has been in business for 30 years! We paid our $15 and were on our way home to enjoy our tasty sandwiches.
The sandwiches were right on, perfect execution and well priced. We will go back frequently now.
Poker Night at 18th and Red and $1 Beers!
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Thursday, 31 January 08 - 02:14 AM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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Tuesday nights are free poker nights at the new bar 18th and Red on, obviously, 18th street. I am not sure why they chose the name 18th and Red, seems like a horrible name to me, but whatever, that isn't what this posting is about. This posting is about my recent experience trying out the free poker night. A few weeks ago, I was having a few beers with a friend at Millie and Als on Tuesday and we starting walking down the street and I noticed two guys setting up two large poker tables at 18th and Red. I decided to stick my head in the door and see what the deal was. It turns out that the bar hosts a free poker night every Tuesday evening for local poker hounds. So, this Tuesday, I decided to give it a try.
I got there a little too early. I thought games started at 8, but they didn't get started until 8:30. Much to my surprise, they had $1 bud light and miller light on draft. So, I spent the hour before the game drinking several beers to calm my nerves. The staff was very friendly and they had basketball on all the plasma tvs. I heard the food was good, but I already had a bite to eat before walking over.
8:30 rolled around and the tables were set up. You play for fun, no money is allowed, but winners get prizes and a chance to play for a World Series of Poker entry at the big all DC poker tournament sometime in the spring I think. I have never played in one of these free poker nights, and the most interesting rule is that you start with 5,000 chips, BUT for every beer you drink you get 100 extra chips, if you buy food you get 300 extra chips, and if you order a JagerBomb you get 500 extra chips. I think this is sort of a stupid rule, but it was hilarious when the old guy bought a quadruple JagerBomb and proceeded to drink this huge drink in front of everyone. He may have received 2,000 in extra chips, but I am sure the booz affected his play soon. He was at another table than me, so I couldn't see.
There were twelve players in all and you could tell that everyone knew each other, except for me. I did feel out of place, but whatever, that is good for a person sometimes I think. There was quite a bit of table talk and the players at my table were pretty good. I played very tight so I could try and read the players a bit since they seemed to know everyone's habits already. There wasn't much bluffing until about half way through the game. I would have loved to bluff on several hands, but I never pulled any cards to establish I can flop a solid hand in the beginning. The cards were not nice to me the entire freakin night. I made it about two hours before all my chips faded away. I went all in with 1,500 chips on a potential flush, and of course couldn't pull it out on the river or the turn. Oh well.
Overall it was a fun thing to do on Tuesday night. I think I spent $5 total and was able to play poker, which I love to do. I definitely will go back, but will play much looser next time, I mean what do I have to lose right. I hope to see you out there.
Safeway Rant by a guest writer
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Monday, 21 January 08 - 06:32 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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Adams Morgan Safeway, in case you were wondering: it was the live rat in the checkout area that finally broke my heart.
In my many years of shopping with you, I don't recall a visit in which I found you fully stocked, or well-staffed, or sparklingly clean. But your 
dysfunctions were reliable: I knew not to try to buy milk on Sunday evenings because you'd be all out. I learned not to shop between 6 and 8 pm, unless I wanted to wait in a long line. And I more or less gave up on seeing the original color of floor tile, because I know this one isn't too far off to cause concern.
But lately you've been another store entirely. It's like I don't even know who you are anymore, Adams Morgan Safeway. You've turned against me and all the other shoppers who have cared for you, despite your many obvious flaws, for year after year.
In sequential visits, I have witnessed the malfunctioning of: your dairy case (covered in tape to bar purchases of possibly-spoiled products); change dispensers; check scanners; the ice freezer. I have seen lines at 10 o'clock at night.
Any one of those is forgivable. Two is an unlucky streak. In fact, I might be able to ignore all those things. But when I saw a live rat run through your checkout area on the night of January 1st, eliciting screams from several shoppers and at least one checker, I said to myself, "that's the last straw." (Although I give kudos to the security guard, who calmly helped the rat exit through one of the front door.)
I can't love you anymore, Adams Morgan Safeway. Not for any of your flaws, but for their sum: added together, they show a profound disrespect for the community from which you profit.
Families bring their children to you, Safeway. We get our produce from you. We are your neighbors. A sizeable portion of our weekly income goes directly into your tills. We've treated you with respect and decency. Why do you do us this way?
From: Guest Writer and friend of mine, lets call him Barry
Note from the editor: I have never seen a rat in Safeway before and I shop there often. It will be interesting to see how the new Harris Teeter competition makes Safeway change or lose customers.
Why we live in Adams Morgan
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Monday, 21 January 08 - 05:44 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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My wife and I decided to take a night out in our neighborhood the other day. We had such an amazing time just a few blocks away from our condo that it reminded me why it is so great to live in Adams Morgan and why the Morgan is so unique. The main reason we moved here is because there is such a great livelihood to the hood. New restaurants are being established like Napoleon and Las Canteras that provide a gourmet meal. Several of the bars in the area also have rockin tunes from blues to jazz to hard rock, you pick, and there is probably a bar on 18th street that can help wet your music tastes. So, here is how are awesome evening went down:
1. We had to figure out what to wear. This is more of an issue for my wife of course, but this is a critical part to having a comfortable and enjoyable evening. You have to take into account that it is damn cold around here these days so you have to decide if a jacket is in order or if you can do without one (which is preferred). Then, you have to wear something fairly nice to go to Napoleon bistro because it is a fancy french restaurant, but you also need an outfit that you can sport to a bar and listen to music with a beer in hand. I dediced to go with nice jeans, a button shirt (untucked) and a jacket. My wife actually went with a dress and a jacket, she looks hot in everything.
2. We walked 2.5 blocks from our condo building, past the fire house on Lanier street, to Napoleon bistro. This is second time we have been Napoleon and let me tell you, it is unbelievable. The atmosphere is intimate and warm. The waiters have french accents and speak super fast, very authentic. We started with wine and a simple salad. My wife had a shrimp based crepe and I had coq au vin (which I have never had before). Honestly, I liked my wife's dish better than mine, but I had never tried a coq au vin and was feeling adventurous. The wine was crisp and tasty and the meal was right on. We sat next to the large windows and could people watch as fellow residents and neighbors walked by.
3. It was about 9 oclock by the time we finished, so we thought we would walk a block over to Madams Organ for some jammin blues tunes. If you get to Madams Organ before 10pm, your cover is only $5, and after it gets up to $15. The bar was fairly crowded but I saw a table for four with only two people sitting down. I quickly got a couple beers from the bar and then walked over to the couple and offered to buy them a round of drinks if we could join them at their table (which was prime location). The couple was actually from out of town (Canada) and we talked for quite a while. The band soon came on and proceeded to rock the house. The bar filled up quickly and the dance floor was packed with people of all races, ages, and drunk levels. It was quite the sight. It made me appreciate the diversity of our neighborhood and how close great music is from our house on a nightly basis.
4. We walked home, safely, around midnight and the rest from there is private ;)
All in all, I love this place and our neighborhood. We try and go out to a new restaurant and listen to local music every week or at least every other week. It is a great feeling to be a part of such a vibrant area. It seems crime hasn't been much of an issue lately, perhaps because it is so damn cold, but also because our local police have been stepping things up. Make sure you try Napoleon bistro if you haven't already. The risotto is my favorite.
2008 Is Going to be Great
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Saturday, 05 January 08 - 05:51 PM (GMT) By Jonathon Lunardi in General |
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Well, it looks like we are in the year of 2008 now doesn't it? I must apologize for not contributing to this blog in the past 3 weeks. It is against the blogger bible and we really had some good traffic there for a while. So, I apologize profusely to all those readers out there and feel I have let you down in a way.
As it is the new year, I hope to contribute to this blog much more and on a regular basis. I must admit, life has been crazy. We finished our kitchen renovation, which took its toll on our financial and mental sanity for many months. My wife's parents came to visit for the holidays and we finished the kitchen, literally, the day before they arrived. We were stressed to the max and there were many many unforseen problems. I am happy to say that everything is in working order and we even had a New Years party at our place and the kitchen performed up to expectations. If you want to see some of the photos of the kitchen, if you care, please check them out here:
http://www.jlunardi.com/condo2008
If anyone out there needs advice on kitchen renovation, my wife and I are glad to pass on our lessons and experiences. Out of all of the contractors we used, I can only recommend one, and he is a gem of a contractor, nice, inexpensive, timely, and smart. I would be glad to pass on his name. We are going to have him install a backsplash in our kitchen next I think, after we recover a bit.
So, to all those readers out there, my apologies, life has been crazy, but I think things will cool down a bit so I can report on more Adams Morgan stories.
Cheers to everyone, 2008, here we come!
... More items are available in my News Archive
