What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1323916
JANUARY 3-9, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 3 2020 IN REVIEW People With A Plan A t this time of year, we at What's Up! usually suggest folks you might want to watch in the coming year — people we think will make a difference. But the unique nature of 2020 seemed to call us to look back on folks who helped make this challenging year a little bit better. There's no way we could mention all of them, of course — although we've touched on many of them in the past two issues. These are simply the ones who came to mind as people not yet acknowledged, people for whom we have been especially grateful. Alex Tripodi MayDay Community Kitchen In a fine dining establishment, $5 isn't enough to tip the server. But Alex Tripodi left that world behind in the spring of 2020, when he was furloughed from the newly opened Atlas the Restaurant in downtown Fayetteville. Instead, Tripodi found himself cooking for family and friends and soon became the masked provider of meals for a dozen or more people a day. "I realized if I could find the right kitchen, it wouldn't be hard to crank that up significantly," says Tripodi, who grew up in Fayetteville and graduated with the FHS class of 2004. "I'm a board member of the Omni Center (for Peace, Justice & Ecology) so they were able to make some introductions for me." Backed by an initial donation from the Fayetteville Friends Quaker community, Tripodi found himself — supported by scores of volunteers, donors, the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, Tri Cycle Farms and TUMC Pastor Terry Gosnell — feeding hundreds of people five or six days a week out of the kitchen at Trinity United Methodist Church on West Sycamore Street. His first "customers" were residents of Hillcrest Towers, a low-income housing community in central Fayetteville. Later, food preparation expanded to the Hillcrest Towers kitchen, too, and drivers started taking meals into the community. More recently, the "Safe Camp" at 7Hills Homeless Center joined the list of those being served, and on this last Monday of December, Tripodi was putting together meals for about 150 at a cost of less than $5. "I had to buy some onions," he explained of the expense. The rest of the food on this day was donated. Because of that kind of support, Tripodi wants potential donors to know that he can stretch $20 to feed hundreds. Operating under the Omni Center's 501(c)3 nonprofit status, he and his colleagues are starting to think about a business model for the future. But right now, he has lunch to serve. For more information, visit MayDay Community Kitchen on Facebook or donate via Cash App to $maydayck. — BECCA MARTIN-BROWN Donna Mulhollan Give Us This Day Our Daily Bird Donna Mulhollan of Fayetteville has no idea how much money was raised by her "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bird" efforts. But she knows what started in March as a way to help channel some donations to 7Hills Homeless Center ended up helping the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas, the Arkansas Audubon Society's Halberg Ecology Camp near Hot Springs and MayDay Community Kitchen. Mulhollan and her husband, Kelly Mulhollan, are best known to regional audiences as the musical duo Still on the Hill. What some may not remember is that they also used to perform as Toucan Jam, presenting a show titled "Things With Wings" — "an imaginary trip around the globe with story-songs about birds from every continent." "Birds are a big part of our life — and birds are having a hard time right now," Mulhollan explained earlier this year, so, in March, they had a whole new show ready titled "Words on Birds." "We were going to unveil it on April 1, but then this crisis hit, and all our gigs canceled." Instead, Mulhollan started creating birds via an art called needle felting and "began doing a bird a day for fun and to stave off isolation." "I kept feeling weird about making all these woolen birds without them having a purpose," she said last spring, so "I thought maybe I could make these felted bird paintings and sell them and give all the money to 7Hills! I could even make custom birds." In 2020, individuals kept communities strong Furloughed from a job at a high-end Fayetteville restaurant, Alex Tripodi took his knowledge of food and started feeding those in need, creating MayDay Community Kitchen. (Courtesy Photo) See People Page 4