At Acorn & Oak, Vanguard Landing’s unique new gift shop, you can buy a gift and be a gift. Â
By Betsy DiJulio
Vanguard Landing, a thoughtfully designed residential community for people with intellectual and developmental differences, is nestled into 75 acres of farmland at the gateway to Pungo. There, adults are supported as they grow and flourish in a comprehensive community where they can live, work, and socialize as independently as possible.
Inclusion and individual choice are guiding principles on the sprawling acreage rooted in the agricultural heritage of southern Virginia Beach. Inspired by the property’s historic farmhouse, now known as the Lindsey Grace Small Event Space, the new cottages, townhomes, and other buildings echo the traditional rural architectural vernacular.
Founded in 2010 by Debbie Bond Dear and a team of like-minded parents, families, and community members, Vanguard Landing, a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization, secured its parcel of land in 2014 and then spent the ensuing 10 years fundraising, forming its board, and planning, meeting delays and setbacks head-on—as if to demonstrate the strength and resilience of their emblem, the live oak tree.
Groundbreaking took place in 2024, with the official opening this spring. On the bucolic horizon are a special events center, sportsplex, and guest house. The Enterprise building will be home to a bakery and sandwich shop, performing arts center, and a day program space. The combination of new and existing facilities embraces the dignity of the residents by offering a safe environment, customized support, skill building, wellness and fitness, nutritional meals, transportation, and social and community integration.
Shortly on the heels of the first residents walking through the doors of their bright and welcoming homes, Acorn & Oak flung open its door to people who want to spend a little that means a lot. Modeled after the Heartstrings Gift Shop at Misericordia in Chicago, Acorn & Oak offers shoppers the opportunity to invest in the community, one purchase at a time.
Just as the acorn symbolizes new beginnings, potential, and growth, the gift shop—a precursor to an even larger shop planned for the next phase—presents residents and their families with the same. A business model that welcomes a continually evolving mix of goods provides residents, staff, friends, and family members with opportunities to make and sell their wares and even staff the shop.
With product display by Marie Bond, Bond Dear’s mother, the homey yet stylish space offers, at any given time, a blend of vintage finds, handmade items, and Vanguard Landing brand merchandise. Cozy and welcoming with understated country chic, the experience wraps browsers in the warmth and appeal of casual-living room-meets-charming-boutique.
T-shirts, bags, mugs, and notecards emblazoned with the Vanguard Landing logo of a live oak tree—whose leaves and branches, if you look closely, resemble heads flanked by pairs of upstretched arms—take their place among items for the home: vintage ceramics, silver, and glassware donated for resale.
Erin Paschang, who teaches craft classes to the residents, sells her sea glass-and-sayings framed art, while Bond Dear’s daughter sells her ebullient foam doorknob hangers and gleeful dot art bags. Carla Ryan, a Virginia Beach-based digital artist, former second grade teacher, and owner of Thirteenwinks—named after her favorite number and a penchant for naps—sells laptop covers and flags. A 90-year-old former elementary teacher and resident of Williamsburg donates hand-sewn fabric device covers for sale, and the family member of a resident makes crocheted potholders.
Wearable handmade items encompass pendants made of nails forged into hearts, flower crowns for the littles, and beaded bracelets and necklaces crafted by a future resident. From time to time, extra sponsor gifts, such as pewter oak tree pins packaged in spring green boxes tied with crisp white ribbons, make an appearance.
Add to the mix the Virginia Beach edition of the Monopoly game, which includes Vanguard Landing, and seasonal items, such as colorful striped gardening gloves, and you never know what your charitable shopping spree may uncover. Plus, it’s fun to treasure hunt, as all items are staged on a pleasing medley of repurposed wood furniture and wire racks or tucked into childhood treasures, such as Bond Dear’s Easter basket.
At Acorn & Oak, a single revenue stream becomes a river of opportunity for residents, family members, and community supporters, changing the landscape for good.
Betsy DiJulio
Betsy DiJulio is a full-time art teacher, artist and curator with side hustles as a freelance writer, including for Coastal Virginia Magazine, and a vegan recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. Learn more on her website thebloomingplatter.com.
