The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Dave Fafara Joined Jerry Miller Live On The I Love CVille Show!

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Dave Fafara, President of Toy Lift, joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. I'm super excited for today's interview. A friend, Dave Fafara, is in our studio in downtown Charlottesville. This man needs no introduction in the Central Virginia community, in the Alamo County and Charlottesville. This man needs no introduction in the Central Virginia community, in the Alamo County and Charlottesville communities. A serial entrepreneur, a former coach at the University of Virginia, a champion of non-profits and philanthropies locally, a man that's offered behind-the-scenes guidance and behind-the-scenes support to so many in Central Virginia.

You know him as the man behind the brand, Shenandoah Joes, and we'll talk about that briefly, briefly on today's show. But what we're also going to talk today is celebrating the Toy Lift. I believe it's the 35-year anniversary for the Toy Lift. We will have Tom Powell and Liza Borges and Sean Ayers on the program. I believe it's next week. We'll talk all things Charlottesville and Almar County. Dave has been in the community since 1988.

Correct. Thirty-six years this man has seen Charlottesville and Almar and the elephant in the room, the University of Virginia evolve. So I want to talk about that evolution with him. seen Charlottesville and Albemarle and the elephant in the room, the University of Virginia evolve. So I want to talk about that evolution with him. I want to talk about the trials and tribulations of this community as it finds itself in a, I think in a lot of ways, Charlottesville and Albemarle County is searching for a brand identity since the pandemic with this hybrid and work from remote, work from home environment we're in. We've had a lot of new folks move to Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

And a lot of the institutional movers and shakers and institutional folks that have lived here for a long period of time are being in some ways gentrified out of the community. I've been here 24 years. Dave's been here 36. So he's got 12 years on me, and I'm going to pick his brain on those 12 years. Judah Wickhauer, man behind the camera, if we could give some love to our friends at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. We love John Vermillion. We love Andrew Vermillion. 60 consecutive years in business. I mean, that's a dream of mine for our businesses. No pressure on our sons, who are six years old and two years old. But 60 years, John and Andrew, you guys are doing something right.

Online at charlesfullsanitarysupply.com. And our friends at Mejicale Restaurant, River Hawkins and Johnny Arnalis, have built a street art museum, a cocktail bar, a music venue, and serve Latin fusion cuisine all in the old world of beer space. Mexicali Restaurant Guys on West Main Street. Judah Wittkower, studio camera, and then let's welcome a guy that everyone knows, Dave Fafara. You are live, my friend. Thank you for joining us.

Good afternoon. It's great to have you. Judah's a utility man. He does it all. There we go. So let me ask you this. You're a sports guy. He's the utility guy.

Utility guy, glue guys, some of your favorite in the history of sports that you can acknowledge. He can play second. He can play short. There it is. He's like Ozzie Smith. Yep. He can come up. Well, Ozzie, he was a starter.

But, you know, Judah can come off the bench and do anything that needs to be done. Okay. I bring Ozzie Smith up, a talented shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. Was that an arch nemesis of Dave growing up? If memory serves, you grew up in the Windy City, right? No, Louis F. Michel was the best shortstop. Okay, okay. White Sox or Cubs?

White Sox. Okay. There's only one team. Okay, there's only one team, the Chicago White Sox. Dave, where do we begin here? Why don't we begin with 35 years of Toy Lift? Isn't that great? So 35 years of Toy Lift isn't that great so 35 years of toy lift tom powell started it

and basically he just gave me the ball to run with it for a while so i'm still i'm running the show for tom um but tom is tom is toy lift um all i do is take his vision, and this year, year 35, our goal is to put smiles on over 3,500 kids' faces on Christmas morning, serving 1,700 families. So, you know, everybody asks us what our goal is and stuff, and it's simple. That, you know, those kids wake up Christmas morning morning have a smile on their face and I think that the great thing about toy lift is that everybody looks at coming from a business small business aspect or even a business that everybody looks at Black Friday Cyber Monday as the beginning of the

Christmas season for us in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the surrounding area, it's always Toy Lift Friday that begins the Christmas season for us. Friday, December 6th is the day we collect all the toys, which is great. That's the beginning of the spirit. But I really think that the following weekend, when people start to shop for kids is where the magic happens and when the magic happens and I look at it that way because the people who come to shop the following weekend there actually are the elves who are putting the packages together I love it for kids that they don't even know.

So they're going through and they're picking toys out for a boy that may live in Buckingham, but they're the ones who are providing Christmas for that kid, which is great. for community I think that Toy Lift is the single most exciting event of the year in Charlottesville because it brings everybody together people who are new to Charlottesville who may not know

of Toy Lift get asked to help out or they go and they see what Charlottesville is really truly about is people helping others. And that was like talking about where Charlottesville was or is. I don't think that component of Charlottesville has left. Well said.

Georgia Gilmer says Dave Fafara rocks. Logan Wells-Caleilo is giving you some props. John Blair is giving you some props. Ginny Hu, thank you for the retweet. Ginny, we're going to talk about volunteerism with Dave and what he's seeing on that front. For those that are asking, we're going to talk about the small business community in Charlottesville and his thoughts on that. You arrived in Charlottesville 36 years ago. Yep.

Toilet is 35 years old. Put all that in perspective. 36 years of being a part of this community, De Fafara, and what that means to you. So moving here from California to coach at UVA for 23 years under Mark Bernardino was great. So I got the opportunity to see how Charlottesville has developed since 88, how it's grown, how it's changed. But the one thing, like I said earlier, the one thing that hasn't changed is community involvement and people helping others, whether it's through what we do with Toy Lift or other nonprofits. There's a great, I mean, look at how far Habitat for Humanity has come in the last 20 years. Habitat for Humanity, the Charlottesville area, you can make a legitimate argument, one of the top developers of housing in the region.

Correct. I mean, right there with other fantastic developers locally like Frank and Charlie at Southern. And frankly speaking, kind of in the same category of impact that maybe Ryan and Stanley have had. Yes, Ryan and Stanley have been more prolific. But Habitat is a significant developer. CEO Dan Rosenzweig over there. Yep. Look at the food bank and how much they've helped.

So there's a lot. You know, our focus is on the children and the families and stuff but look at what Habitat for Humanity the family providing them with homes the food bank providing families with food so they all kind of interweave with one another ours just with toys and books and stuff at Christmas, but the other ones are year-round, which is great. And that's the community of Charlottesville that hasn't changed yet. You are most known, I would say, in this community for being a steward of the community,

and that stewardship often was seen at Shenandoah Joe's. A lot of folks may not know this, and we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about it. You sold Shenandoah Joe's. A lot of folks may not know this, and we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about it. You sold Shenandoah Joe's. Yep, back in April. 24 years in the business. We started off at Harris Street just as a roaster and then evolved and had a couple of shops. Obviously, the city market, we were a staple at the city market.

Somebody made us an offer, and my wife said, okay. So I said, let's do it. So we sold in April, and that's where we're at. Still doing pools, obviously, doing that for 30 years and stuff. So I'm still busy doing pools and then, you know, helping out, you know, doing the toy lift. And a lot of people in the community have picked my brain in the last six, seven months about ideas that they have and have asked me. So I've had the opportunity to see some things that are coming down the pipeline that are pretty cool. So I think that the way it looks, I think we'll see a little bit of a turnaround.

It may take a couple years or so. Turn around from where? From what? Where are we here? What needs to be turned around? I still think more community and stuff like that. I'm a, I mean, and you know, I'm a

big, big proponent of shopping local. Same. I mean, shopping local keeps money in the economy, gives people jobs, helps small businesses like us. Christy and I have been blessed. I mean, no doubt about it. We've been blessed for 24 years that people helped us out. And my goal and Christy's goal was,

because we've been blessed, we want to reciprocate and give back to the community. So it's toy lift, other things that we've done, know helping small businesses behind the scenes with maybe advice guidance maybe helping them you know with uh finding people to connect with that i've known in the industry or business or just in the community that you know i'll call this guy for your electricity you need an electrician call Call this person. I trust him. You need a plumber? Do this. So I think that aspect.

I think in Charlottesville, that's great. But I think that we can do more for small businesses by shopping, providing them. You talked about John Vermillion. They're the best. They are the best. They are the best. I mean, I've used them for 30 years for all my pool stuff. I mean, they're great. Small business.

They have everything that you need for cleaning the house, vacuums, whatever. Other places. Go to bakeries. Go to restaurants. Shopping. If I can get it within 75 miles or an hour from here, I'll drive to a local business to pick it up as opposed to going online. Because as a small business person, I understood how much that meant to a small business.

And I can't wait to go down this road with you because I feel like the community I've been here 24 years has lost some of that commitment to keeping local. I remember 24 years ago one of the things as I arrived as as you know a first year at UVA and then took a job after the University of Virginia at the Daily Progress I was overwhelmed by the commitment of community members to keeping the money in the community with other local shops even if it meant paying a little bit more money. I remember when my parents would come visit to see me as I started getting older, my 20s and 30s, before I met my wife, now married with two kids, as you know. I always insisted when they came to visit, whether it was me picking up the tab or my parents picking up the tab when we went out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner of it being a locally owned and operated business as opposed to one that was not tied to the community,

almost to the point where my parents would be like, what is going on with this commitment? And I said, because it stays in the community and the money circulates in this ecosystem that gives back in so many different ways. I think some of that is lost. I got one more question on Chando and Joe's. That's it. Okay. You said you sold it in April. Yep. Was it bittersweet, the sale of a business that you, Dave,

Christy, your team, through hard work, took into arguably the most beloved coffee brand in the region? I don't know if it was bittersweet. It was just, you know, I mean, I'm young enough that I could still, if I wanted to, do something else. I told her she has me for a year, and then who knows after that. I'm still, I could be happy wherever I want, so bittersweet. I don't know if that's the word

it's time for somebody else to see where it goes and I'll find something else and I'll make it happy and I'll make it fun and I'll make it what it is evolution of

Charlottesville 36 years for you I've said so many times on this show in a lot of ways I don't recognize the Charlottesville. 36 years for you. I've said so many times on the show, in a lot of ways, I don't recognize the Charlottesville and Almaro that once captivated my heart and inspired me to be a business owner and then marry my wife and raise our family. How have you seen Charlottesville and Almaro County and Central Virginia change for the good? We're glasses half full people. We'll central virginia change for the good where glass is half full people we'll start there change for the good and change for something that's concerned you so i'm a little bit past the glass half full okay respect um

i you know what? I mean, I think there's still really a lot of good in Charlottesville. Okay. I mean, a lot. I think that people, if people, and you and I have talked about this before, I think the one thing that people are hesitant about is taking chances. I mean, we took a chance, and for 24 years it paid off. If it's something that you have passion for and love for,

you can make what you want out of it. I mean, hard work, you know, hard work will pay off eventually. It may not pay off in 12 months, 18 months, but down the road, it'll pay off. But I think that people are afraid to take chances. And my advice would be take that chance. And if you love what you're doing, then it's going to be successful. And you're going to have good days and bad days, but there'll be more good days than bad days. Well said. And that's definitely the life of an entrepreneur.

It's not easy being a small business owner. Is the community better set up for small business ownership and small business launch today than when it was when you started Shade Ojos? I see a lot more headwinds today. Such as? I see headwinds tied to policy and local government.

I see headwinds tied to a consumer base or a shopper's population that is not as committed to paying a little bit more for something local than buying something from an unknown massive entity online to save a couple of bucks. I see a university in UVA, and I bleed orange and blue. My dad went to UVA. My brother went to UVA. I went to UVA. I would love if my sons went to UVA. I see a university not committed to the community to the tune they once were committed to the community. I see, frankly speaking, I see a lot of our institutional businesses, iconic businesses that took on massive debt during COVID and the pandemic. And that debt is coming due now. And the folks behind those businesses are not sure how they're going to survive until next week. So with that, obviously with the university, they have a lot of pull in the community.

I think they could probably do, I think they could look at the local economy and the local people and maybe help them out because they have enough money to pay the little extra and stuff like that. It's the small businesses, it's the people that work at the small businesses who go to UVA football games, who go to UVA basketball games or baseball, whatever. Their money that they're making in their small shops is going to help with just, we're just talking about athletics and stuff like that. I think that that aspect UVA could probably take another look and say, you know what, let's look at the local business.

We, you know, may not buy everything from them, but if we buy something from them, or buy a little bit, then it's helping out that small business. Whether it's people who own restaurants, catering, supply companies, and stuff like that. I mean, anything little thing is going to help small businesses. So I think in that aspect, the university could help out a little bit more. I'm not saying that they have to buy everything because everything we know, everything is all based on budgets and money and stuff like that.

But when you have a big entity like UVA, it's simple for them to help out. I think that people with small businesses, I think their hands are tied from growing. Why? Politics, maybe. Go down that road. I think that if somebody wanted to, say, open up a second shop, maybe the city or the county could offset some of the

building or the taxes. Or not even politics, maybe big people who own lots of property could say, hey, I own this property. We'll give you three months

to rent a basement. Get yourself going. So that could be that. The city could say, hey, you know what? We could offset taxes for three months or you don't have to pay property taxes for three months. Use that money to make your business better. You want to remodel? Here's some money to help you out and stuff like that. Because the money that

they make is going to eventually go back towards the city down the road. And tax revenue. Exactly. So, I mean, there's ways that it could go around whether or not they want to help out. You know, there's a lot of places that are empty right now that

probably could get filled if people were given the opportunity to fill them? So that's either landlords, the city, the county? UVA. You know this as well as I, as anyone. The employee base is not as robust and deep as it was. And it's pretty obvious economics here. If the level of affordability for Charlottesville and Almar County escalates, it gets more expensive. According to HUD, 2023 median family household income, Charlottesville metro area, $124,200. 2024 is going to be even more. Extremely challenging. Someone's making, you know, 12, 15, 17, 50, 20 bucks an hour to live in the community on a salary like that, where in years past, a bartender, a server, a teacher could live, a nurse, a police officer could live in the community.

Now that's not the case. Right. Finding employees to run businesses that are needing deep staffs or labor pool. How do you solve that equation? And how does that impact small businesses locally? Again, I think that people, I think people will pay for a good product and good service. They'll pay that little extra.

I think that if businesses promote... I think there are restaurants in town and businesses in town that people don't even know are in town that are great. Maybe that's one way that will bring people in the door, which will help with staffing and that problem. I think that if the university, well, that's tough to say because we don't know, I don't know what their salaries are and stuff like that. I just know where I was at with Jenna Dojo and restaurants and, you know, businesses that I tell.

I tried to do everything as local as possible. I, if I could get it from a local person, I did my best. Some of the things I couldn't because it wasn't available here and I had to get it shipped from, like, it shipped from somebody from North or South Carolina or whatever. But I think that Charlottesville will. I mean, I shouldn't say will. I think that Charlottesville can help small businesses by buying more, which will help with staffing because they'll put more money in their pocket

and then they'll be able to pay their staff more. Neil Williamson watching the program, president of the Free Enterprise Forum. He says every $100 spent at locally owned businesses contributes an additional 58 to the local economy. By comparison, $100 spent at a chain store in Portland yields just 33 in local economic impact. And then he includes the source with a link in the comments section of my personal Facebook page. We appreciate that, Neil Williamson. Comments

continue to come in. I will get to those in a matter of moments. That is one of the reasons I see some headwinds for the small business owner. The labor pool is shrinking because they're being priced out of where the jobs are. We are clearly seeing tailwinds and a boom for Waynesboro, for Stanton. We're clearly seeing a boom for Zion's Crossroads. Green County. Green County is booming. Well, look at, I mean, Fluvanna, and even down south towards Buckingham, Palmyra area.

Booming, booming. And the labor that's going there is going there because they can't afford to live in Charlottesville now more. And as a result, that small business ecosystem is improving because the labor pool is there, and ours is, you look at the storefronts, we got vacant storefronts here. We got a lot more today than we did five years ago. Exactly. A lot more. Not even comparable. Right. And I understand that the Office of Economic Development in Charlottesville likes to paint a picture of vacancy rates being extremely low. And I push back on that report and says, if the downtown mall's vacancy rate is this

and some of these storefronts are being filled by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority or Parks and Rec or the Operation Hope, which is the assimilation of folks that have done hard time in prison back into the community. They help with that. Is that really the storefront that we want on the mall? Yes, the vacancy rate is down, but is that really the storefront and the type of operation we want on the mall? That's beside the point. My point is this.

I think that Charles Fonal Moro and a lot of the region are struggling to find what its brand identity is. And I think part of that struggle stems from the collateral damage of COVID. We are still navigating that damage. We've seen a lot of people move to this community that were not here in 2019 that are able to work hybridly or remotely. and they choose to come here because either an affinity to UVA or because of all the quality of life aspects that you and I love, that all the viewers and listeners love, why we choose to live here. And as the demographic changes, it's become wealthier, it's become less committed to our institutional brands and our practices. I mean, hell, we talk volunteerism and community events. Dogwood Parade, shadow of its former self. Not even close. It used to be the real deal, right?

The Dogwood Parade was like the big thing in the spring. The big thing in the spring. Remember they used to have the big tree at Barracks Road? I mean, if you weren't there on the first day to buy a Dogwood tree, if you went the second day, it was Road. I mean, if you weren't there on the first day to buy a dogwood tree, if you went the second day, it was gone. It was gone. We used to, it went down right in front of our studio on Market Street.

We used to be on the balconies on the second floor having a cocktail party during the dogwood parade. Now I can't get anybody to come to the cocktail party. They're like, what's the dogwood parade? And they're half the floats that they used to. Yeah, exactly. They would close McIntyre Road almost all morning. Exactly, exactly.

Fourth of July, no fireworks show in McIntyre Park. First night, Virginia is gone. There's no first night Virginia. And that used to be packed. Used to be packed. I mean, it's been, is it five years, four years, but we haven't had first night Virginia? Four years.

We talked about, John Blair made the point, the Christmas tree lighting and the naming of the christmas tree was big to do yep that's not happening with the same effect right well this is what i'll throw to you what is the brand identity what's happening to community engagement and volunteerism locally here what's going on here okay so first of all talk about volunteerism i mean for toy lift we probably that's one of the things that if people want to get involved we'll talk about toy lift for a little bit sure so we've been blessed having people all the time come in what can i do to help that's because of you what you and tom. That's because of the history of the

toy list. But even people for the first time who've never, they come in here and hear it and stuff like that. Okay. Again, that's the beginning of the Christmas season. That spirit, that's I mean, that's the most wonderful time of the year. It's Christmas.

For that month, it's awesome. I mean, that's just so cool. So, volunteers, I mean, if I can, I go around. I'll thank everybody for helping out and stuff like that. We'll put a big thank you out at the end of the toy lift. Everybody who helps us volunteering, people who may give us snacks and stuff to help out, whatever. We're grateful for that and we're thankful for all the people who come out. They can go to our website if they want to help out,

toylift.org, look to see what we need. Volunteers, people who are early drop-off sites are doing us a favor. That's volunteerism. They don't have to do that. We put them on our website so people know where to go. The people who are satellite sites, the people who, you talk about community, you know, people who help us out, like the guys from Blue Ridge Packing,

I mean, the boxes that they give us, you know, all the people who help us out in one way or another. You know, you're talking about big, big box stores and stuff like that. I can't say enough for the people at Five Below and Walmart who have helped us out for so many years by letting us maybe come in and doing a designated lane so we could shop and get through faster. Or help us get in there at an hour early before the store opens so we could shop and get through faster. Or help us get in there an hour early before the store opens so we can get shopping done. That's the community. That's the involvement

with either volunteerism or just local businesses helping us out. That's where I look at for the toy lift and stuff like that. You're talking about other things. I think that you're talking about COVID.

Now that it's kind of by the wayside, again, the chances of coming and getting more people involved, the Dogwood Parade. I mean, I miss the fireworks on the 4th of July at McIntyre. It was awesome. Uh-huh. It was great. Families getting together. Yeah.

Food trucks getting together. People hanging. I mean, it was an all-day event. It was a party. Yeah. It was an all-day event. And there's nothing stopping the city or the county from bringing it back there i bet you there are probably

i wait i could probably get 10 people who would fund that if the city and the county let us use mcintyre park again i it easy because that's something that people want to do. So I think that people are using it as an excuse maybe for not wanting to do that again. That's tough for me to say because I'm not in those offices and listening to them talk about it and stuff like that. But if they wanted to, I bet you there would be plenty of people here who would offset that. Comments coming in. Let's go to Ginny Hu on Twitter.

She's watching the program. She said, for about eight months, my son and I have been trying out new-to-us local restaurants once or twice a month. It's a great way to support those places and has become a really fun tradition for the two of us to share. She said the Barracks Road Christmas Parade is this Saturday at 9.30 a.m. Just a heads up for everyone. Mr. John Blair on LinkedIn. Jerry, first, my wife and I love Shenandoah Joes,

and we are appreciative of Mr. Fafara's entrepreneurial spirit that gave the city that great coffee. I'm curious. His flagship is located across from Dairy Market. Does he have any thoughts on why that particular food hall has had difficulty in retaining businesses? There's been a lot of attrition there. Yeah, there has been a lot of attrition there.

Why? there yeah there has been a lot of attrition there why without me being in there to see how things are run there every day it's tough for me to say why there's attrition but I think that the dairy market building could be I think that the dairy market building could be, I think it could be great. I mean, it's walking distance. To everything. To everything. I mean, so many people in the Venable area. On the other side where we were at, people can walk there all the time.

Maybe a couple more retail shops or something like that, as opposed to making it all food or something. Maybe a couple more retail shops or something like that, as opposed to making it all food or something, maybe a couple more retail shops, so people could shop and eat at the same time and stuff. I think that maybe that would be one thing. But again, without me knowing the ins and outs of there, it's tough to say. I mean, the pizza's good there.

Move-through's great. Love you, Dino. Yep. Yeah. Grab a pizza with the family and then grab ice cream. We do that. Or have a beer or something. That's exactly what we do.

So, I mean, that's a great thing about it. But I think, I mean, if you you look the funny thing is about preston avenue is that you know we were there which was i mean we were a staple for the longest time we took a chance on that corner because if people remember what washington washington park was sketchy you know and when we opened up it was sketchy i used to live in oxford hills yeah and uh 2000 the apartments guys right by washington park i think i lived in oxford hills And when we opened up, it was sketchy. I used to live in Oxford Hills in 2000. The apartments, guys, right by Washington Park. I think I lived in Oxford Hills in 2004, 2005.

And Washington Park was not a park you walk through. Certainly not after dark. Yeah, but look at all the staples of businesses that stayed there. Martins. Martins Hardware. We were there. Yep.. Martins Hardware, we were there. Intrica Yoga. Mona Lisa Pasta.

Great pasta there. Sticks has been there. Down the road to Bodo's and stuff. It's still a great area to go. Again, all local people. All mom and pop shops. One of the most important corridors in the city, Preston Avenue. Yeah, and they're All mom and pop shops. One of the most important corridors in the city, Preston Avenue. Yeah, and they're all mom and pop shops, all those little businesses there.

That stretch. Yeah. I mean, look at Sean at the bike place at Blue Recyclery. So the juice guys. So there's still a lot for people to walk around and see. Josh and John at Cardinal Hall, the Random Row guys. I mean, you're 100% right about it. Kit at, is that Coconuts right there?

Pineapples? Oh, yeah. Kit Ashey, the Thai restaurant. She's a friend and a client. I'll throw this question to you. This is an interesting one from Deep Throat. He says, does Dave or you, Jerry, think UVA really wants to help other businesses in the area? Outside of the businesses that will be attractive to students, why would UVA care?

Other businesses compete with them for labor, for housing, and for their workers and for influence. Doesn't UVA just want to be the 800-pound gorilla, not just in the room, but the only gorilla in the zoo? Or put it another way, and please ask your guest this. 800-pound gorilla not just in the room, but the only gorilla in the zoo? Or put it another way, and please ask your guests this, the company can't keep the town a company town if other companies can thrive in said town. That's an interesting take right there. So. I mean, you've seen UVA. So, okay, so.

Cassie. That's easy. That's an easy, okay, so that's easy. That's an easy question. Okay, that's easy. I mean, we've seen, you know, from Bob O'Neill through today. Yeah, Jim Ryan. Yeah. So how many have you seen?

Bob O'Neill. Yeah. Castine. Yeah. Terry Sullivan. Terry Sullivan. Jim Ryan. Jim Ryan.

Four. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Not knowing the last two, like I've known Castine and Bob O'Neill personally, so I can't answer their ideas and their thoughts and stuff, but as UVA as a whole, I think that they could, I don't think, and again, from a small business, and I never did business with them, but I think that the big gorilla could, if they wanted to,

do more to help the small community. I mean, a lot more than that. They could, you know... John Vermillion sat in your seat, owner of Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, and said UVA used to be one of his biggest accounts. Oh, yeah. I remember seeing his parking lot and delivery trucks going out there.

But then there, again... And then a new regime came in and it became about nickels and dimes and not about the commitment to local. Exactly. And the thing is, as I said earlier, look at how many of the small local businesses that could do business with UVA are not doing them because of the nickel and diming. But again, it's the people who go to football games and drop ticket prices, you know, drop money on tickets, and then maybe parking or seasons passes

or the food and all that stuff. I think that they, it could be a better balance than it is now. I 1,000% agree with that. I think it could be a better balance than it is now. I 1,000% agree with that. I think it could be a better balance now. And I attribute it to, and I respect you tremendously, and Dave has a lot to say, but he's also mindful of what he says. I will say this.

I think since we've had a brand-new leadership team at the university that is new to Charlottesville, that commitment at the top of the leadership totem pole has not been as strong to what is best for Charlottesville and Almar County. I agree 100%. It's been more about dollars and cents and less about what is best for Charlottesville and Alamaro County and Central Virginia. It's a difference. I look at it as a difference between a house and a home. Go down that road. A house is a building.

Yeah. A home is family. A home is where you go into the pantry and you see the checkered marks on the pantry shelf with your two sons growing in size. Yep. Where your wife has marked it down. Yep. And it means the world to her.

So the difference between a house and a home. 100%. Home is family, and it's like the heart, and it's the soul, where the house is just a building that you go to. Give us your best Leonard Sandridge story. He was great. And tell, let the folks know who Leonard Sandridge is. Leonard Sandridge, vice president.

Leonard Sandridge was a people person. That's it. He was a people person. He treated everybody the same. Family, how you doing? Anytime you run into him, how's it going? But, I mean, that's, you know, I don't know if you, again, I haven't been there since I retired from coaching,

so I haven't seen those. So I don't know how those people are. I just know from my past and my experience. But the thing about it is that's a great question because if you look at Charlottesville, almost every small business person is a people person. You have to be. I would say the majority of them. I don't know all of them, but if you're successful

and you've been in business well, you are a people person. And so you'll see a lot of the smaller business. John Vermillion, people person. You'd bring him up. But the guys from Botos, people person. I mean, they'll whatever they can. You know, so that's why when we were talking about the glass being half full, that's why I think the glass is more than half full,

because there are still people in the community that are people person. And I think the city and the county, if they got out of their way a little bit and gave people the opportunity, I think you'd see a lot more people, persons wanting to do business in the city and the county. I 1,000% agree with that. But they have to be given the chance. Right. Right.

And I think that's being- And Neil said it the best. For every $100, there given the chance. Right. Right. And I think that's being thrown. And Neil said it the best. For every $100, there's $55. Okay. So if you tell, if there's like 20 people who want to open up small businesses in town here, give them a break to begin with. And then that $55, the $100 and the $55, that's going to increase more and more because more and more people will want to come here and not go to Stanton to do business. They want to stay here and not drive an hour over to there.

John Shabe highlighted this, the owner of Pro Renata, with his challenges of getting water to his headquarter brewery in Crozet. In part, one of the reasons why he's brewing beer in the Chandoa Valley and is expanding his Pro Renata brand in downtown Stanton, the challenges of dealing with Almar County. I encourage you to listen to that interview the last time Dr. John Shade was on our show. 120, it's the 120 marker, 50 minutes flies when you're having fun with your friend. I'll close with this. Platforms, talk about anything you want. Plug toy lift. And then how about this? Why are you bullish for what's ahead

for Charlottesville and the region? Okay, let's just do toy lift. Okay. And then we'll close with the other stuff. It's the beginning of the Christmas season. That's as simple as that remember when you were a kid it was like Christmas morning and you opened up a present

and then remember that when you were a kid you were told that all good girls and boys get Christmas the 3,700 kids that we serve this year, if it wasn't for Toy Lift and they didn't have a Christmas,

they would wake up thinking that they were bad boys and girls. And it's all about volunteerism. It's all about the spirit of Christmas you're getting moved with emotion put that in perspective what are you feeling right now? every year you know

that's it. I love it. I love this guy. Toy lift, guys. Toy lift. Dave Fafara is a good man. Proud to call him a friend. I appreciate everything that you do, Dave. Wonderful wife,

wonderful family. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you for joining us on the show. Charlottesville, you see what this man is about right here. It's the I Love Seville show on a Tuesday afternoon, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, a community that has a lot to be thankful for, and this man right here, Dave Fafara, is one of them. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Thank you.