Can Three People Lift an Entire City? Absolutely.

Three people can lift a city …

Can three people move mountains and change hearts? They sure can.

On this week’s The Biscuit CLT Podcast, we introduce you to Emmanuel and Adrienne Threatt and their organization, Hope Vibes — how they balance running a non-profit and a relationship, as well as their hopes for the city. We also tracked Charles Thomas, director of the Charlotte office of the Knight Foundation, to talk about their $5 million investment in creative solutions and community engagement at work in Charlotte’s Historic West End. Wanna’ know how busy Charles is? Just six days after we talked about the West End, the Knight Foundation announced this “small project.”

It’s been a busy couple of days for Charlotte’s creative Community. Here are just a few that have our attention.

Good Times for Three CLT Rockstars

#CLTAvenger, local style-maker and 49er, Ohavia Phillips, will be UNC-Charlotte’s on-court emcee for the 2019-2020 basketball season. Read more.

Local singer/songwriter, Jason Jet, celebrated the 10th anniversary of his first album, “Love Boulevard,” by announcing a listening party for his next EP, “Roll,” on Nov. 22. Tickets available here.

Greg Cox’s song “Good Day,” which was featured as one of our Daily Jam’s a few weeks ago, was listed this week on NPR’s national “Heavy Rotation” list. This is Greg’s second round of love from NPR. His first was “The Other Side,” the song he wrote with Emily Sage this time last year.

Our Friend and Photographer, Heather Liebler, Needs Our Help

If you’ve read The Biscuit for any length of time, you’ve read the name and seen the work of our chief photographer, Heather Liebler. She is a gifted artist and a giving woman, who donates her time to CreativeMornings/Charlotte and nonprofits around the city. Today, she needs your heart and your help.

On a trip to Florida last weekend, she and her two daughters were in a head-on collision. While she and her eldest daughter were relatively unharmed, her youngest daughter (and frequent model), Beatrix, is currently in intensive care at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida — 565 miles from home. Her condition is improving, but friends have set up a GoFundMe page to lend a hand. If you’re someone who has been helped or impacted by Heather’s work, as we’ve been, please consider making a donation or leaving a word of encouragement or a prayer for her family.

Maureen Krueger, Executive Director
Charlotte Community ToolBank
INSTAGRAM | WEB | TWITTER

As ED of the Charlotte Community ToolBank, Maureen Krueger and her team provide nonprofits and community-based organizations by renting them tools, equipment and expertise at a fraction of the open market. Since 2011, the Tool Bank has helped more than 600 charitable partners with over $7 million dollars in tools and special event items — hammers, screwdrivers, power tools, hardhats, gloves, tables, chairs, projection equipment, etc. — for more than 11,190 projects. To quote Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore, “That’s some Twinkie.”

As you can imagine, Maureen is a busy lady, but we caught up with her for 5 Ridiculous questions.

Which fictional handyman/woman would you want working with you on a job site?

I’m going to have to pick Rosie the Riveter because I have a rivet gun in my office that I am really excited to use.

Have you ever given a presentation with an item of clothing on inside out?

Negative on the inside out, at least not that I ever realized. I once did an Irish dance during a presentation in college. I am Irish, but I am not a dancer.

What Tool Bank items do you have you wish more Charlotte charitable organizations would borrow?

Tools! Our actual tools – hammers, garden hoes, shovels, screwdrivers, rakes, machetes, drills, etc. – are ready, willing and able to work hard with you. Charlotte likes a good party to support a good cause, so our special event items get borrowed all the time. Our tools have been spending too much time in our warehouse waiting for a project that needs them.

Are hard hats really necessary?
Are hard hats really necessary?
Are hard hats really necessary?
(Our editor, Tim, was hit in the head once and it didn’t seem to do anything to him.)

Did you know hard hats have an expiration date? Check the inside for something that looks like a sundial. The two numbers in the center are the year and the arrow points to the month it was manufactured. They can last up to 5 years with care and minor wear. More wear and exposure shortens the helmet’s life. This was probably Tim’s problem. #Themoreyouknow

When you see people sitting in ToolBank folding chairs, do you ever tell them,
“You’re sitting on my heart … and I love it”?
No, but I will from now on!! There is also now ‘I ❤ The Biscuit’ on the bottom of one of our 504 rentable chairs.

What’s the pick of Queen City pickles?

Yesterday was National Pickle Day and since holidays (yes, that includes random national food days) are a chance to indulge a little, we turned to Instagram to ask, “Who has the best fried pickles in CLT?” Read our readers pickle picks … especially if you’re sorry you missed the day …

Gauntlet. Thrown. Send us a postcard.

On Wednesday, our pal Ely Portillo (formerly of The Charlotte Observer and now the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute) tweeted about the research he was doing into vintage Charlotte postcards. Never short for a response, @CLTDevelopment issued a challenge to the Twittersphere, “If you could design a vintage Queen City postcard, what nine images would you put behind the letters?” Well, we wanna’ know, too. So, we’re lending a hand. We’ve created a template where the images behind the letters are transparent.

And, now here’s our challenge to professional and home graphic designers: Download this template PNG here and make your own card. Send it to us at hello@charlotteiscreative.com. The winner will be posted in next Thursday’s Biscuit … and will be invited to eat breakfast biscuits with our staff.

Carolina Panthers Vs. Atlanta Falcons

Panther … Panther … Panther-cats, HOOOOOO! Last week’s last-second loss was a bit of a gut punch. To get our cats out of the litter box and back in the fight against the Falcons, we turned to Charlotte artist, Brett Twokatly. “Two Cat” hit back by plugging into the power of nostalgia pitting the Thundercats’ Panthro against Captain Falcon of video game fame for this week’s #GameTimeGraphic. Our money’s on Panthro. That dirty bird is going down.

Feel free to cut, paste and use this graphic for your own online Panthers pride. Please just tag @cltiscreative and @b_twokat

Don’t go around hungry, y’all. If you missed the last batch of The Biscuit, don’t worry. We’ve kept it warm for you. But, not too warm, it featured pimento cheese candles … and they’re perishable, you know. Click here to dig in, y’all.

The Biscuit is proudly sponsored by: