Category: Chattanooga outreach

Animals, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Environment, Farm Life, farming, Healing, Health, outdoors, Photography, UTC

Critter Clinic

Written by Delaney Holman

Jerry Harvey kisses Bonnie the raccoon. Bonnie was a retired education animal. Thursday, March 26, 2026 (Photo by Corbin Winters).

From a sleepy neighborhood street in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Opie Acres appears as an 800-square-foot home with a small shed jutting out of the woods. However, behind the privacy fences and the flourishing green backyards, a bustling rehabilitation farm filled with raccoons, opossums, squirrels, and even skunks can be found. 

Opie Acres, a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation farm, is bursting at the seams with more animals than a team of two full-time caretakers and volunteers can handle. The farm provides life-saving medical care to ill, injured, and orphaned Virginia Opossums and other wildlife. Even providing a sanctuary home for animals who can no longer live on their own to spend their last days in the peace and caring arms of Opie Acres. 

Isabella Thomson, a volunteer at Opie Acres, speaks about the Wildlife and Opossum Rehabilitation nonprofit and the role volunteers play in rescuing orphaned wildlife. Their organization serves as a safe space for injured animals that are often ignored and seen as pests. They provide medical care and educational resources for the Chattanooga, Tennessee, community, so the animals are not seen as a nuisance but rather as extraordinary animals.

Jerry Harvey, the President and Chief Rehabilitator at Opie Acres, has woven together careers as a veterinary technician, paramedic, comedian, and hairdresser throughout his life, yet the one through line has been his love for animal rehabilitation. “Dealing with people and dealing with different situations of all kinds made a really great wildlife rehabilitator, in my opinion,” said Harvey.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Family, outdoors, Sports, Uncategorized, UTC

Wheels of Hope

Written by Zoie Denton

Blake Pierce washing a bike outside of the WOBC warehouse in preparation to give it away at the Traffic Garden Jamz event. Pierce is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of WOBC. Friday, April 3, 2026. (Photo by Ashlyn Yoes)

In the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a quiet yet powerful movement is taking place. It is not built on grand gestures, but on simple acts of generosity and connection. White Oak Bicycle Co-op may look like a modest operation at first, but behind its doors, lives are being repaired one bike at a time. White Oak addresses two major challenges at once: access to transportation and access to physical activity.

At the center of it all is Blake Pierce, the executive director and co-founder, whose vision continues to guide the organization. What started as neighbors fixing bikes in garages has grown into something much bigger. For Pierce, White Oak is more than just a bike shop; it’s a direct response to real needs within the community.

White Oak Bicycle Co-op is a local Chattanooga non-profit that specializes in providing bikes and repair services to underprivileged and children in the community. Produced by Kara Newstreet.

“We saw early on that transportation was one of the biggest barriers people were facing,” Pierce says. “A simple bike can remove that barrier almost immediately.”

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Malcolm Key Audio, outdoors, Photography, Sports

Skatepark Flattened

Written by John Talley

Jackson Gammon soars above a wooden half-pipe outside of Cassette Skate Shop. The business held its grand opening of a temporary skatepark in February. Friday, February 20th, 2026. (Photo by Andromeda Stewart)

Chattanooga, Tennessee, is home to a vibrant skate community currently undergoing immense changes. What was once a cultural hub, practice grounds, and the only legal spot designated for skating, ChattTown Skatepark is currently reduced to being a dirt lot. While only a temporary inconvenience, skaters from far and wide are searching for a gathering place while the $4.4 million skate park renovation is underway.

The dilapidated wooden structures hadn’t satisfied local skaters for decades. A need for a new park was brought to light by local skaters who spoke up about how the previous wooden ramps just weren’t cutting it anymore. The Chattown Skatepark officially closed for reconstruction on November 10, 2025, and is set to reopen in late 2026. 

Gene Haman, the owner of VW Clubhouse, shares how Thursday nights have welcomed a community of displaced skateboarders in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A backyard car shop turned haven with a simple half pipe, these skateboarders stay resilient amidst the current renovation of ChattTown skatepark.

Despite not having a main skate park for the next few months, the Chattanooga skate scene is still thriving and finding any and every opportunity to go out and skate together. It’s community players that work behind-the-scenes, offering their own business parking lots and backyard shops to Chattanooga skateboarders that act as the glue for skate culture while ChattTown is closed.  

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art, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, History, Religion, Uncategorized

Glass Guardians

Written by Zoie Denton

St. Peters and Paul Basilica located in Chattanooga, Tennessee has been an influential part of the community since its construction dating back to 1888-1890 in bringing the community together in worship. Holding recognition for being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the potential development of a 12 story building nearby sparked conversations of the risk of shading the beautiful ambiance of the hand painted, stained glass windows. The church and community came together to protect their sacred foundations in harmony with local construction developers.

In the heart of downtown Chattanooga, TN, where brick and modern storefronts stand shoulder to shoulder, the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul rises with a quiet glory. For more than a century, its twin spires and complex stonework have anchored East Eighth Street, drawing worshippers, visitors, and observers into a space defined by reverence and light. It is a church known not only for its architectural beauty, but for its roots in the civic and spiritual life of the city.

In December 2025, word reached Father David Carter, pastor and rector of the basilica, that a zoning change had been proposed for the property directly behind and beside the church. Initially, plans indicated that an existing three-story building on Lindsay Street would be replaced by a six-story structure. Development is not uncommon in a growing city, and at first, the proposal seemed manageable.

Jackie Sims and Maggie Clark in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Paul.  The pair go to different churches as they travel, and this is the first time they see the Basilica, with its stained-glass windows. Thursday, February 12, 2026. Photo By Cj Copeland

Suddenly, the plan changed, and the six-story concept became a 12-story apartment building.

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art, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Entertainment, Family, Music, Photography

Carrying the Tune

Written by Delaney Holman

Steve Grubb, president of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Barbershop Society, speaks about the Choo Choo Chorus. This is a male chorus that sings barbershop harmonies and performs melodies for the Chattanooga community by breaking out into quartets. He highlights how they are not just a barbershop harmony, but also a brotherhood.

There is a quiet, elderly community living in the alcove-like rooms at the Martin Boyd Assisted Living facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. However, on Thursday nights at 7 p.m., the sound of brotherhood and song begins to float through the hall. The bellowing of harmonies comes from a group of men just down the hall in a community room. A sweater-vested, white-haired, sensible-sneaker ensemble is keeping an old art form alive in Chattanooga: Barbershop Quartets. 

As a collective, this group practices and gathers as “The Choo Choo Chorus,” an all-male chorus born from the Barbershop Harmony Society in Nashville, TN. Officially, the chorus performs in breakout barbershop quartets, a grouping of four men who blend a cappella singing to create a sound unique to this configuration. Each person is responsible for their own part. There is no standout lead singer; it is every member building a song together.

The Choo-Choo Chorus rehearses in the Martin-Boyd Christian Home Thursday at 7:00. They are available to anyone who wants to listen to them sing in a beautifully decorated environment. Thursday, February 5, 2026 (Photo by Conner Coady).

Jimmy Tompkins, the chorus’s charming and at times stern director, keeps the men’s pace with snaps and a wistful bounce in his step. During these practices, one of the men most on beat and best developed in his singing is Paul Blazek, a tall, jolly man who has settled into the risers after serving as director for 33 years and passing the torch to Tompkins.

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Broadcast, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Health, Malcolm Key Audio, Safety, teachers, Uncategorized, UTC

A Promise to Defend
Defend Systems’ active shooter training arrived at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga following a fake active-shooter 9-1-1 call on August 21, 2025. All UTC faculty and staff were required to attend a three-hour Defend Systems training designed to improve preparedness and response to armed violence threats. (Video by Kayelyn McCaslin).

Written by Malcolm Key

Malcolm Key speaks with Sean O’Brien and Brink Fidler about the false-flag shooting alert at UTC in August 2025. The pair discuss their hope to arm people with education in order to confront questions of public safety within higher education.  

Run. Hide. Fight. A message of few words, but of massive impact for students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on August 21, 2025. Just one full week into the first semester, students had to act on instinct: barricading into closets and running to the closest outgoing car. Within minutes, city law enforcement redirected to UTC to join campus police in sweeping every inch of campus, prepared to find the threat and establish safety. After the dust settled, and no signs of injury or gunfire were found, UTC Police debriefed, with an emphasis on the question, “How can we do better?”

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art, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Dance, Entertainment, Music, Photography, Uncategorized

Setting the Stage

Written by Sydney Banks

Kendra Norwood and her hula students hit the final pose of a dance combination. The free dance class was hosted at Studio 34 in Chattanooga by The Pop-Up Project. Monday, November 23, 2025. (Photo by Sydney Banks)

Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a blooming, bustling city in every sense of the words. Beyond its iconic natural landscapes, it thrives with a vibrant arts culture. Theater companies, music clubs, dance classes, the ballet, the symphony, and many other groups are among the most pivotal organizations in the community. 

In January 2025, ArtsBuild, a private non-profit arts organization, announced a feasibility study to evaluate the need for a new performing arts center (PAC) in Chattanooga. Despite its vibrant arts scene, the city is grappling with a major issue: a lack of appropriate, flexible, mid-sized performing arts facilities. Local artists are restricted to rehearsing and performing in spaces that are unable to accommodate each type of audience; an aspect of the performing arts that is extremely important to the viewer’s experience. 

This study examined the disconnect between local art groups and their individual struggles with limited space. Project manager Blake Harris, an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee and the artistic director of the local theater company Obvious Dad, initiated the study after recognizing these issues. 

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Animals, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Love, UTC

Paws on Patrol

Written by Mackenzie Sweat

Corporal Aaron Bayer with UTCPD’s therapy dog, Sophie on UTC campus. Thursday, November 12th, 2025. (Photo By Mackenzie Sweat).

As classes let out, crowds of students swarm UTC’s campus, their minds heavy with the weight of homework or homelife. A sight stops them in their tracks, a furry four-legged animal with a shiny gold badge on her chest. This is Sophie, the new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Police Department K9 therapy dog. As students approach Sophie instantly, the energy shifts. What were anxious frowns, are now smiling faces and calm minds, just by petting her soft fur.

Sophie, a 13-month-old lab, started her role on Nov. 3 alongside UTC Police Corporal Aaron Bayer, who is responsible for community engagement. Sophie has been in her position for just under a month, and Bayer has already seen students react very positively to her. 

 “We went from being nobodies to… students calling and asking for us, and people stopping by the police department just to see her (Sophie). Students remember her name. They see us on campus now, and they’ll come running toward her,’’ said Bayer. He notices what kind of impact Sophie has had on campus.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Healing, Love, Philanthropy, Uncategorized

A Fresh Start

By Moses Malone

Sylvie Lawrence, a ShowerUp Volunteer, speaks about how the non-profit organization ShowerUp serves those that are unhoused or anyone that is in need of a helping hand. They provide mobile showers, hygiene kits, laundry, and personal care items. Their main goal is to spread hope and love to the community of Chattanooga Tennessee.

On a beautiful, chilly morning, amid the city sounds of traffic and train rumbles, laughter and cries of joy fill the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee. These cheerful groups stand outside a mobile trailer that promises a hot, steamy shower for the unhoused and those who need a helping hand. On the side of the trailer, the word “ShowerUp” reads: a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing hope, love, and compassion to the Chattanooga community.

“ShowerUp, in my own words, is this non-profit that is there for other people…we want to evaluate the dignity that they [the unhoused] already have and let them know what they’re really worth,” said John Justin Lin, a ShowerUp Operational Manager.

ShowerUp’s journey began 10 years ago, when Paul and Rhonda Schmitz handed out sandwiches to the unhoused. They built relationships with people on the streets and realized that they could do more than provide meals. The couple asked themselves: What do people need most? The answer to that wasn’t money, food, or clothes; it was a regular shower. Since then, a mobile community built on compassion has expanded from Nashville, TN, to Chattanooga in June 2023.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Environment, Health, outdoors, Regenerative, Sustainability, UTC

EDGE of Change

Written by Angelina Fraga

EDGE sets up this event on the stairs of Chamberlain Field. Students really enjoyed the event. Friday, November 2025. (Photo by Angelina Fraga).

College students today will soon make up the front lines against Earth’s worsening environmental crisis. EDGE (Ecological Decisions for a Global Environment), a club at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), promotes sustainability and environmentally friendly practices on campus and in the broader Chattanooga area. According to Dr. Jodi Caskey, the main faculty advisor for EDGE, the average college student’s environmental awareness remains moldable. The mission is to shape that awareness for a better tomorrow.

EDGE was established as a crisis response. There was a time when smog filled the air of Chattanooga and the lungs of its population. The Tennessee River ran rancid, contaminated with untreated sewage and industrial waste. In 1969, a report released by the federal government’s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare officially named Chattanooga the “worst city in the nation for particulate air pollution.” 

Those trying times led to an environmental revolution in Chattanooga and, subsequently, across the country. The founders of EDGE played a pivotal role in that revolution. In the late 70s, EDGE was established as UTC’s very first environmental club. The founders went on to help create UTC’s environmental science department, further strengthening the existing sustainability community. 

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