Help Liz & Mead Oriental Rugs Survive and Thrive!

Mead Oriental Rugs has been a part of the Charlottesville community for over 40 years. Joe Mead loved nothing better than to share a good story with his visitors and customers while showing them the gorgeous rugs he had acquired in far away places. He often welcomed children to play on the stacks or invited friends to play a bit of old time music as he whiled away the hours. Yes the rug shop echoes with so many memories, colorful textiles, rich stories, wheeling and dealing, laughter, friends, and the many employees that have been integral in the successful life of the shop.

Liz, Joe's oldest daughter, has spent most of her life cultivating an intimate relationship with the rug shop. Not only learning to recognize patterns and origins, repairing, sewing and the proper cleaning of the rugs themselves; but also, familiarizing herself with the heartbeat of what makes the shop tick - learning the subtle flow and timing of communicating with the customers, the delicate financial balance and accounting, and the management and nurturing of happy and healthy employees.

Now that Joe has left this world, Liz is faced with the daunting...task of figuring out how to preserve this way of life running the rug shop; the only life she knows. She very recently learned that the rug shop is in dire straights; there is very little money in the store account, a lien on the business and no instructions on how to proceed. For now the future of the store is completely up in the air, has rent, bills, employee paychecks and Liz has a mortgage and needs to eat. Please consider donating to this fund raiser so that we can help to provide Liz with a bit of breathing room as she grieves and develops a sustainable plan for her future and the successful future of the Mead Oriental Rugs.