Take a Walk With AFAC at the Arlington CROP Walk!

‌

September 27, 2018

Arlington CROP Walk - October 13

The annual Arlington CROP Walk is on Saturday, October 13! This is a family and pet friendly walk through Arlington aimed to raise awareness to hunger on both a global and local scale. Register your team or join AFAC's team for a 5K or 10K walk through Arlington. Click to here to sign up.

Help AFAC Families Over the Winter Holidays

The holiday season is right around the corner and it’s time to think about how you and/or your organization can help out Arlington families in need. There are three ways to get involved.

Create your own Hope Against Hunger fundraising page for your company to help sponsor holiday meals for families.
Host a holiday food drive at your organization, apartment complex, etc. Register your drive and see our flyer templates for most needed items.
Volunteer your time. Sign up using the online calendar if you are an individual or contact the Volunteer Department for potential group opportunities.

Upcoming Events

Click for a full list of upcoming events

Shredding 4 Hunger

Saturday, September 29 10am-1pm

Arlington Church of the Brethren

RESCHEDULED EVENT (now September 29th): Join AFAC for free document shredding with a food or monetary donation from 10am-1pm at Arlington Church of the Brethren (300 N. Montague St). Sponsored by Ann Wilson of Keller Williams Realty.

Think Before you Toss

Monday, October 15

AFAC is part of the DC Food Recovery Working Group, which is hosting a DC Food Recovery Week from October 13-20. Join AFAC's Cooking & Nutrition Manager on Monday, October 15th from 7:30-8:30pm to learn some recipes to reduce food waste at home. Please note, this class is for ages 14 and older and is limited to 20 people. The class will take place upstairs in the AFAC office. Suggested donation of $5 or 5 cans of foods. Click here to register.

CANstruction

October 27 - November 3

Dulles International Airport

AIA Northern Virginia's 15th annual Canstruction event will be back held at Dulles International Airport this year due to renovations at Reagan National Airport. On Friday, October 26, local architecture firms build their structures made of canned goods - all of which will be donated to AFAC at the end. Click here to view photos from previous Canstruction events!

Arlington Turkey Trot

Thursday, November 22

It's not too early to start thinking about the annual Turkey Trot! Registration for this Thanksgiving morning's race is live. Sign up before it gets sold out! Proceeds from the race benefit AFAC, A-SPAN, Arlington Thrive, Bridges 2 Independence, OAR, and Young Life of South Arlington. Click here to register.

Volunteer Updates

Bakers Wanted!

The Farmers Market season will be ending soon and we would like to deliver thank you tote bags containing homemade baked goods and treats to all the wonderful farmers who have donated fresh produce to us throughout this past year. Please email Jocalyn Lombardi for more information at jocalyn.lombardi@afac.org.

Latino American Festival

AFAC will have a table at the Latino American Festival on Friday, Oct 5th from 4:30-9:30pm at Arlington Mill Rec Center. We'd love your help at our table where you'll discuss healthy eating from head to toe, play games, and pass out recipes. At least one Spanish speaker needed, shifts are from 4:30-7pm and 7-9:30pm. Sign up on the v olunteer calendar for more details.

De-CANstruction

Sunday, November 4 8:30-11:30am

Dulles International Airport

AFAC is looking for volunteers to help with breaking down CANstruction sculptures at Dulles Airport so the food can be transported to AFAC. We need 50 volunteers (ages 12+) so this is a great way for larger groups to get involved. Please email volunteer4afac@afac.org for more details.

AFAC Apparel for Sale!

We are doing another round of orders for AFAC fleeces and hats for volunteers. We also have a new shipment of Plot Against Hunger shirts available as well. If you would like to purchase any of these items, please fill out this order form.

Plot Against Hunger

CUMC Garden Update

What a difference a year can make! Visit Clarendon United Methodist Church (6th and N. Irving) and take a look at their stupendous garden that they are growing for AFAC.

Arlington FOUA Social

Thursday, September 27

Arlington Friends of Urban Agriculture's Board of Directors invites you to a social hour on Thursday, September 27 at Trade Roots from 6:30-8:30pm. They would love to meet you and talk to you about why you are interested in urban ag, learn what you would like to see FOUA do in the future, and to share garden stories! Please RSVP here.

Urban Agriculture Symposium

Friday, October 5

AFAC's Puwen Lee and Aisha Salazar will be presenting at the Arlington-Alexandria Urban Agriculture Symposium on Friday, October 5th at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Join them for a day of fun, food, and learning about vertical gardening, agriculture business development, community garden management, edible landscaping, and other topics.

Garden Talks

Wednesdays, 7pm

Weekly garden talks at Arlington Central Library are wrapping up for the 2018 season. Here are the topics for the last 2 discussions:

October 3 : Growing Season Extension and Winter Sowing

October 10: Harvest Celebration

Click here for the full schedule for the 2018 season!

Thank You

Big thanks to all the golfers and sponsors who helped make our 4th Annual Golf Tournament a success! Over $50,000 was raised at the event. Special thanks go out to Credibility International for being the title sponsor. Click here for pictures.

Huge thanks to Giant Food, Arlington Transit, and National Express for generously hosting AFAC's annual Stuff the Bus food drive! With their support, AFAC received 4,253 pounds of healthy nonperishables!

Thank you to BJ's Wholesale Club for hosting AFAC for another Drive Away Hunger food drive and to the shoppers who donated 3,181 pounds of food!

Special thanks to Marker Miller Farm for allowing AFAC to glean 2,807 pounds of fresh apples, to USDA in Beltsville for donating 168 pounds of fresh beans, to Storyblocks for donating 962 pounds of nonperishable food, and to the Maywood neighborhood for donating 578 pounds of food.

Thank you to Grace Community Church for hosting a Sponsor Purchased Food (SPF) event! Members bagged 12,500 pounds of produce in between their services on Sunday.

AFAC relies on the support of many volunteers to get our work done. In the last few weeks, volunteers from Ashlawn Elementary School, Clarendon Presbyterian Church, Freddie Mac, Hilton's Human Resource Learning Team, Kiwanis, My Social Calendar, NIC Federal, Northern Virginia Women’s Rugby Club, Pentagon City Ward LDS, Ritz Carlton, St. John's Episcopal Church, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Technomics, Temple Rodef Shalom, UUCA, and the US Coast Guard volunteered their time. Our thanks to the many groups who help us feed the 2,300 families who come to AFAC each week. We appreciate the help of these groups and all of the individuals who volunteer for AFAC.

Thank you to all those who held food drives or donated to Plot Against Hunger!

10th & Barton Community Garden; American Legion Garden; Arlington Church of the Brethren; Arlington Community Church; Arlington Jazzercise Center; Ashlawn Elementary Garden; Central Library & Garden; Claremont Immersion PTA; Clarendon Presbyterian Church & Garden; Faith Lutheran Church; First Presbyterian Church & Garden; Fort Barnard Community Garden; Funshine Preschool; Glebe Community Garden; Lyon Park Citizens Organization; Marymount University's "Food For Thought" Garden Club; Mount Vernon Masonry; Nancy Hyde's Garden; NIC Federal; Northern Virginia Catholic Community; Potomac Overlook Garden; Resurrection Lutheran Church & Garden; Rock Spring UCC & Garden; Roy Croom; Shirlington Branch Library; Sinclair Farms CSA; St. Andrew's Episcopal Church & Garden; St. Mary's Episcopal Church; Stephen & Nisha Pryor's CSA; Susan Howell's Garden; Temple Rodef Shalom; Territory Foods; United Community Ministries; Walter Reed Garden; Women's Club of Arlington

Many thanks to the farmers' markets and farm vendors in Arlington who donate unsold fresh and local produce to AFAC all season long. Participating farmers markets include Arlington Courthouse, Ballston, Columbia Pike, Crystal City, Fairlington, Marymount, Rosslyn, and Westover.

Big thanks to the Arlington Public Schools that donate healthy snacks on a weekly basis as a part of the Food Bus program: Arlington Science Focus ES, Arlington Traditional ES, Discovery ES, McKinley ES, Nottingham ES, and Tuckahoe ES.