r/triangle

A few cool things have happened in the past few months with "On The Bench," so I wanted to share an update!

“On The Bench” is a program created through a partnership from three local non-profit organizations: Play NC, Bull City Woodshop, and Bike Durham. The program is designed to build and distribute locally-made wood benches to bus stops that need them in Durham, NC. “On the Bench” hopes to improve conditions for our public transit system and provide a solution to a significant problem in the community, while also spreading awareness for our charity partners.

In January, I was inspired by this Reddit post to start building benches for bus stops. That lead to a Play NC partnership with Bull City Woodshop and Bike Durham, the founding of the "On The Bench" program for Play NC, buckets of sawdust, and a lot of positive feedback from everyone that has learned about the project!

I designed the bench, but "bench building" falls outside of the general "sports and games" focus for Play NC (my charity), so Bull City Woodshop appropriately took over the main operations of the program and actual bench building. The program has been very successful for BCW, with two previously sold out classes and being awarded two significant community grants: $5,000 from a Durham City Mini-Grant and $4,000 from a Duke "Doing Good" Grant. BCW is holding at least two more FREE sessions (September 12 and October 17) and hope to add at least one more before the end of the year, if they sell out these FREE classes. We currently have 18 benches "out in the wild" / actively being sat upon at a bus stop, and we can build 10 benches per class, so these classes will increase our total to 38 benches for the year. They sold out quick last time, so sign up soon!

Sign up to build a bench, it's fun! I'll be there to help! https://bullcitywoodshop.org/pages/community-woodworking-classes-bull-city-woodshop

We have had a few benches damaged that had to be returned to the shop for minor repairs, but nothing major and most of the materials were able to be salvaged. Also, despite initial worries, no benches have been stolen. Plenty of graffiti, of course, but I call that free artwork and we're looking into ways to make these benches even more colorful, vibrant, and special to help discourage any serious vandalism. We have a goal of making at least 50 during our first year, so please register and help us fill the demand for at least one more class! If we get stuck at #48, I'll just make the last two myself.

To view a map of the current installments, with photos and addresses on the bus stops, check out the embedded map at playdurham.com/bench/

Our 4 newest benches were just installed along Fayetteville Road, between Highway 54 and Woodcroft Parkway. These have our fancy new information plaques, with a QR code to report damages or make a donation, and represent the first benches that we've added for the South Durham side of town!

Separately from "On The Bench," bench-making has also been popular enough that BCW has expanded their Woodshop Wagon program (the workshop comes to you) to feature benches. So far, BCW has had two local neighborhoods sign up to and make shared community benches for their streets, cul-de-sacs, and shared paths. BCW also started a program at the Emily K Center, where 6th–8th grade students get hands-on experience building benches for local bus stops. These benches will be everywhere!

How can you help?

• Register for a Free Class
• Donate and Sponsor a Bench
• Learn more and tell people about it

Let me know if you have any questions or have any other ideas to help! I'll post another update once we build Bench #50! Thanks for all of your support!

TLDR: I had an idea to build wooden benches for bus stops in January. Half way through the year, we have partnered with >5 local organizations, hosted woodworking classes for more than 500 people, built >20 bus benches (18 currently being used by bus riders), expanded to hosting community bench workshops for local neighborhoods, received >$11,000 in donations / grants to support the project, and we are on pace to install 50 benches in Durham by the end of the year.

Bonus: The last photo is my favorite thing to do with the scraps - make a baby bench!

I run a support group for dads and we have some openings.

I'm Ian, a licensed clinical mental health counselor and a dad myself. I'm running a weekly in-person group — Monday evenings, in Durham (1200 Broad St). It's open to any dad: new, soon-to-be, or a few years in.

A few practical notes:

• Closed group (everyone gets a quick screening call first)
• Meets in person
• 8-week commitment
• $40/group, billed monthly.

If this sounds like something you or someone you know might need, comment or message me, or visit cedarpathnc.com to connect.

If you’re looking for someone to update caulking or grout in your bathroom, DO NOT hire The Grout Medic.

I hired them to regrout and recaulk my shower. Less than two years later, the silicone completely failed, peeling off in long strips during routine cleaning. The back of every piece was covered in black mold, and the grout underneath had begun crumbling. The shower was in better condition before they worked on it.

Their response was even more disappointing. Instead of standing behind work that failed WAY prematurely, they hid behind a one-year caulking warranty and even nitpicked the exact amount I paid rather than addressing the obvious workmanship concerns. I was simply offered another proposal to pay them again to fix their failed work.

A professional shower restoration should last far longer than this. The quality of the work was poor, and their customer service was even worse. If you’re looking for a company that stands behind its workmanship when something goes wrong, this wasn’t my experience.

Hi everyone! I’m Kaitlin, a licensed therapist (LCMHC-A) practicing out of Loblolly Wellness. I wanted to share my flyer for anyone currently looking for a supportive, down-to-earth space to work through burnout, body disconnection, or just life's messy middles.

I believe therapy shouldn't feel like a clinical interrogation—there is plenty of room for genuine laughter, authentic human connection, and working with your brain, not against it. As an unmasked neurodivergent clinician with a background in teaching, I love working with young adults, the neurodivergent community, and folks looking for LGBTQIA+ affirming care.

How I work: Highly collaborative, trauma-informed care integrating Somatic, ACT, and Person-Centered Therapies.

Insurances accepted: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna/Evernorth, Aetna, and MedCost (Self-pay rate is $150).

If you or anyone you know might be looking for a partner in their mental health journey, feel free to check out our website at www.loblollywc.com or reach out directly at kmontgomery@loblollywc.com / (919) 249-8345.

Meet Twist - the snuggliest, sweetest, goofiest boy. Twist is available for adoption through Durham APS! https://www.apsofdurham.org/dogs/twist/

At 60 lbs, Twist is the perfect sized pittie and only 1.5 years old, so he still has many many years of love to give. Twist is an active guy who loves going for walks and on outings to Pet Smart, as well as playing fetch in the back yard. He thinks he's a lap dog and will lovingly snuggle up on the couch with you and give lots of kisses. If you're looking for a well-behaved, affectionate buddy with a big old block head and heart of gold, Twist is the guy for you!

🚨 UPDATE + PLEASE SHARE 🚨

Last week my partner posted about my P. Mauriat Le Bravo baritone saxophone and Vandoren B5 bari mouthpiece being stolen from my truck in Durham, NC on the morning of June 29th around 8:45am. The response from everyone here in Bullcity was incredible, thank you!

Here is where things stand:

We have surveillance footage of the suspect attempting to sell the horn at the Tuba Exchange in Durham. We tracked it to National Pawn on Guess Road where it was sold for $600 to a man driving a late model silver Audi in the parking lot.

Police have been involved throughout and have collected footage from multiple locations. The case is active and they have the serial number on file.

To whoever bought it from the parking lot of National Pawn on Guess Road:

We just want the horn back. That's it. If you purchased this saxophone recently and this sounds familiar, please DM me. No drama, no trouble, no questions asked. You bought it in good faith and we understand that.

For everyone else:

If you see a P. Mauriat Le Bravo baritone sax listed anywhere, on Marketplace, Craigslist, Reverb, OfferUp, or anywhere else, please do not buy it and DM me immediately.

This horn means everything. Please share. 🙏

📍 Durham, NC
🎷 P. Mauriat Le Bravo Baritone Saxophone
🎷 Vandoren B5 Baritone Mouthpiece
🚗 Late model silver Audi

Tw: Graphic Language

For context, we came back from work only to find out that our card was deactivated early. We only had one more day left in the room, and we are about to move in, just waiting to hear from the landlord to let us know that our apartment is ready, but it would have been nice for us to have our last day to rest, pack up, clean up and move.

Instead me, my fiancé and several other people were locked out of their rooms with no property manager to help. They fired the previous one, failed to provide back up or communicate this to any of their other coworkers, so we ended up having to call the police so that she could contact the maintenance man so that he could unlock everyone's door. We got into our room around 10:30 on Thursday night.

One guest was outside since 4 p.m waiting to get a key, he didn't get to his room until 11 or so.

An elderly couple was trapped outside and needed their medication. The police had to call EMS so he could get a breathing treatment because there was smoke outside and he couldn't breathe. His wife was terrified of him going to the hospital without her while she was stuck outside.

We talked to the property manager the next day, June 5th . The maintenance man corroborated our story amd gave us our deposit back, however they never took the keys back and never told the new property manager who tried to kick us out but, nobody was there because it was after hours 🙄

This area is rough as it is, we don't need to be paying these high ass prices that they keep increasing by $10 every week it's ridiculous! On top of other shady practices they have they have the worst and I mean worst roach infestation I have ever witnessed, it's like the Orkin man be making them mad or something because they do not care about none of that.

I want to make a case against InTown Suites and if anyone wants to help lmk, I got evidence for days and am making a detailed report to the NC DOJ File a Complaint Portal (not BBB Accredited, go figure) and i got this video posted on my Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as well as made a review and posted there, went through all the steps of reporting but I want corporations to start being held accountable and its up to US to do that, these reps won't listen? We'll make them. But I need to do this the right way. Any help would be appreciated.