In September of 2007, the director was mountain biking in Annandale’s Wakefield Park when he suffered a horrible fall and head trauma that threatened his life. He characterizes his ongoing recovery as brutally difficult, yet the accident was a blessing. He says it “knocked me out of my head and into my heart. I mean, what is a guy who really is moved by the power of Jesus and Gandhi doing in a 17,000 square-foot, three-home compound in Pasadena? Something’s askew here.” His revelation prompted him to sell almost all of his possessions and move into a trailer park—albeit an upscale park in Malibu—and to reassess his life.
That’s not to suggest that Shadyac was not a reflective and charitable man prior to the accident. Quite the opposite. After shooting “Evan Almighty” in Crozet, between 2006 and 2009 he spent a reported $5 million to buy and renovate a 19th-century church on Market Street in Charlottesville and turn it into The Haven at First + Market—a day center for the homeless and working poor. Shadyac says that when he was a student at UVA, the cafeteria, sanitation and maintenance crews had helped him get an education, yet many of them were unable to pay for their own needs, and he wanted to do what he could to serve them. “My heart of course is bursting for Virginia. The Haven grew out of my presence here and my waking up to the needs of the community. The living wage and homeless situations seemed so manageable and certainly not enough was being done.”
Kaki Dimock, The Haven’s executive director, says that the facility serves over 75 homeless people every day, and she notes that in August 2010, “Tom provided an additional $100,000 to support this first critical year. Many of our guests have met Tom and count him among their friends.” Shadyac hopes that everyone in the community will eventually come for a locally-sourced free breakfast, served daily, and meet those persons who may be challenged: “That person is edified, you’re edified and community happens that way.”
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