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THE CHAPEL HILL INSIDER
FROM THE INSIDE…
Inside This Issue: The story behind one of Chapel Hill's most beloved nonprofits — how Charlotte White turned a $100 pay-it-forward challenge into the SKJAJA Fund, Color the Hill, and 2,880 kids served. Market Watch with Meri Lynch. Local news: Longleaf Swine BBQ just got keys to a Carrboro location, South Creek announces its first tenant. Plus Macbeth's final weekend at PlayMakers, the Django Reinhardt Festival, Martha Graham at Memorial Hall, both UNC basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament, Creek Week, and your full events calendar.
LET’S STEP INSIDE →
Feature Story
The Story Behind the SKJAJA Fund
Remember Color the Hill — hundreds of runners streaming through Finley Fields in clouds of color powder every spring? You probably knew the name SKJAJA. What you might not know is how it all started: with a $100 bill, an episode of Oprah, and a family dinner.
We sat down with Charlotte White — the owner of White Space Creative and the co-founder behind one of Chapel Hill's most beloved nonprofits — to hear the full story of how a pay-it-forward challenge turned into an organization that has served more than 2,880 young people in our community.
Inside the story:
A family dinner that changed everything
The Beach Shack Boil that launched a nonprofit
The link between SKJAJA and another local nonprofit making an impact
How Charlotte and a team of high schoolers built Color the Hill from scratch after the big color run companies said no
Where SKJAJA is today — and what Charlotte's doing now
Community Update
Rosé & Roses Soirée Raises $10,000 for the Monet Richardson Community Foundation
The Monet Richardson Community Foundation celebrated its fifth anniversary last Sunday with the Rosé & Roses Soirée at the Graduate Hotel — and the community showed up. The evening raised approximately $10,000 to support the foundation's educational scholarships, annual backpack drive, and community programming.
How Can You Pay It Forward?
If you weren't able to make it but want to support the work Pat Richardson and the foundation are doing to carry on Krissy's legacy, donations are still welcome at monetrichardsoncommunityfoundation.com/donate.
From Last Week
Market Watch with Meri Lynch
Your monthly Chapel Hill & Chatham County real estate check-in
Spring is here — and for the first time in years, the numbers are actually lining up for buyers, sellers, and everyone in between. This month Meri breaks down:
Meri Lynch, REALTOR with Coldwell Banker, HPW
What that mortgage rate milestone means for your purchasing power
Why Chapel Hill homes are sitting twice as long as last year — and what that tells us
A school board decision that could quietly shift home values across the district
The real story behind Chatham County's headline numbers (it's not as bad as it looks)
Development updates on Disney's Asteria, South Creek, and Carolina North
Questions? Reach out to Meri Lynch at https://merilynch.hpw.com/
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Upcoming Events
🎉 LOCAL EVENTS THIS WEEK
March 19–29 + Looking Ahead
🎭 ARTS & CULTURE
Macbeth — Final Weekend | PlayMakers, UNC Campus | Thu–Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm | Through March 22 playmakersrep.org/show/macbeth
5th Annual Carrboro Django Reinhardt Festival — March 20–22 Three days of world-class gypsy jazz right here in our backyard. This year's lineup features international musicians from the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland — including guitarist Paulus Schäfer, who founder Gabriel Pelli calls a "Dutch master elder statesman" of Django-style guitar.
Fri 3/20: Voyage Hot Club ft. Sam Farthing & Paulus Schaefer — Cat's Cradle Back Room, doors 7pm, show 8–10:30pm
Sat 3/21: Paulus Schaefer and Friends — Cat's Cradle Back Room, doors 7pm, show 8–10:30pm
Sun 3/22: Jazz Jam & Hang — Lapin Bleu, downtown Chapel Hill, 4–10pm. FREE. All acoustic instruments and levels welcome, listeners and dancers too. 🎟️ onyxclubboys.com/carrboro-django-reinhardt-festival
Martha Graham Dance Company: GRAHAM100 | Wed, March 25, 7:30pm | Memorial Hall | From $39 carolinaperformingarts.org
Faces of the Forest | Sat, March 21, 1–3pm | Chapel Hill Public Library & Pritchard Park | FREE New ceramic art installation by Chapel Hill potter Levi Yakubu. All ages. chapelhillpubliclibrary.org
UNC MFA Thesis Exhibitions | Through March 29 | Lump Gallery, Raleigh | Sat & Sun 1–5pm lumpprojects.org
🌿 COMMUNITY
Orange County Creek Week | March 21–29 | 20+ free events Kick-Off: Sat 3/21, 11am–3:30pm, Drakeford Library, Carrboro | Closing: Sat 3/28, 3–6pm, Eno River Brewing orangecountync.gov/3491/Creek-Week
39th Annual CROP Hunger Walk | Sun, March 22 | Carrboro Town Commons Registration 1:30pm, step-off 2:30pm | 3.7-mile route (1-mile option) | Goal: $50,000 events.crophungerwalk.org/chw/event/chapelhillnc
🏀 TAR HEEL BASKETBALL — NCAA TOURNAMENT
UNC Men vs. VCU | Thu, March 19, 6:50pm | TNT | Listen: 97.9 FM / 1360 AM (radio only) chapelboro.com
UNC Women vs. Western Illinois | Fri, March 20 (time TBD) | Carmichael Arena goheels.com
🏛️ SEYMOUR CENTER HIGHLIGHTS | 2551 Homestead Rd, Chapel Hill | (919) 968-2070
Thu 3/19: Open Mic, 1pm | Fri 3/20: Celebrating Women's History, 1pm | Sat 3/21: R-Place Art Show, 2pm | Wed 3/25: Solo Agers, 4pm | Fri 3/27: Friday Films, 1pm | Free VITA tax prep available Wed evenings & Fri/Sat orangecountync.gov/2708/Activity-Calendars
👀 LOOKING AHEAD
March 30–April 3: CHCCS Spring Break | April 8–26: Steel Magnolias at PlayMakers | April 25–26: Chapel Hill Garden Tour (30th anniversary!)
How would you like the Events Section to be organized
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Local Stories
FROM AROUND TOWN
📰 LOCAL NEWS
From Around Town
South Creek Hits a Milestone — and Announces Its First Business That big construction project across 15-501 from Southern Village just got real. The South Creek development team held a topping-off ceremony last week for 95 Market, the neighborhood's first building, and they tucked a time capsule into the wall to mark the moment. The bigger news? The first commercial tenant has been announced: Sounds and Colors Early Learning Villages, a locally-owned immersion preschool. The developers are looking to add a café, salon, or doctor's office to the remaining ground-floor spaces. South Creek will eventually include 92 apartments in 95 Market (for rent), plus 600 condos and 100 townhomes for sale, all anchored by an 80-acre nature preserve.
Longleaf Swine Is Coming to Carrboro If you've been mourning the loss of Allen & Son — or just craving whole-hog barbecue closer to home — mark this one. Raleigh's Longleaf Swine BBQ just got the keys to the former Luna Rotisserie space at 307 E. Main St. in downtown Carrboro and is targeting a fall opening. Owner Adam Cunningham told Chapelboro he's been eyeing the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area for a while and plans to give the Carrboro spot its own dive-bar-meets-smokehouse personality, plus expanded vegan options. This will be Longleaf's first location outside of Raleigh.
Monday's Storms Brought Tornado Watches — and School Closures If you spent Monday refreshing your weather app, you weren't alone. A band of severe storms swept across the Piedmont with tornado watches, high wind warnings, and gusts that had Governor Stein urging everyone to enable emergency alerts. CHCCS, Orange County Schools, and Chatham County Schools all closed for the day. The good news: no major damage reported locally, and the rest of this week is looking a lot calmer.
Chapel Hill Insider is your weekly guide to the people, places, and stories that make our community special. Know someone we should feature? Have a story tip? Reply to this email.
INsight from the INSIDER
Thoughts on Paying It Forward
Why did the clock break up with Daylight Saving Time?
You know what I keep thinking about after working on Charlotte's story this week? That the SKJAJA Fund didn't start with a strategic plan or a grant application. It started with a $100 bill and a dare to do something good with it. And 2,880 kids later, it's still going — not because of any one big moment, but because of all the small ones. A young man picking up a cello. A backpack drive that continues years after the young woman who started it. A family pooling $200 and throwing a party.
That's how most of the good things in this town can happen. Somebody sees a need, does the thing, and doesn't wait for permission. Times like these are a good time to remember that.
See you next week, Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill Cartoon Map
Big news: Ed King's beloved hand-drawn Chapel Hill Cartoon Map is now available digitally! In partnership with the original artist, we've brought this charming map—capturing every quirky corner and beloved business in our town—into the digital age.
Click to view the map online!
Until next time,
Be in the know!