Fill Up Our Van With Cans Next Week at BJ's!

March 28, 2018

Contents: BJ's Food Drive, Spring Event, BbG 5K Race, Volunteer Needs, Plot Against Hunger, Virtual Food Drive, Order AFAC Gear, Thank You, Sponsors

Upcoming Events

Click here for a full list of upcoming events

Food Drive at BJ's

Saturday & Sunday, April 7&8

10 am - 6 pm

Mark your calendar to say hello to the volunteers as they load up the van with non-perishable donations at the BJs Warehouse on Wilson Boulevard on April 7-8. This is one of our largest grocery store food drives of the year. We'll be asking for all the basic canned goods that our families look forward to receiving each week.

AFAC Presents:

Shining a Light on Hunger

Thursday, April 19

6:30 - 9:30 pm

Buy your tickets to AFAC's annual Spring Event, Shining a Light on Hunger! Join our celebration that brings together the many individuals, families, corporations and community partners who contribute to AFAC's success. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served. This year's event will feature Dorothy McAuliffe , First Lady of Virginia from 2014 - 2018, as our honorary guest. Let us bring elegance and inspiration together as we celebrate 30 years of fulfilling our mission and feeding our neighbors in need. Tickets are still available!

Body by Ginny 5k Obstacle Run/Walk for AFAC

Saturday, April 28

7:00 am

Is your FitBit not getting enough activity? Sign up for this obstacle run/walk to help you reach your 10,000 steps! Body by Ginny will have her annual 5K obstacle run/walk on Saturday, April 28 at Potomac Overlook Park. Get your corporate team, family, or friends together and start training for this fun obstacle race that goes over the creek and through the woods! 100% of proceeds from this race go directly to AFAC. Registration is live. Follow this link to sign up.

Volunteer Needs

Early bird? Nature lover?

The annual BBG 5k Obstacle Race/Walk will take place on Saturday, April 28 at Potomac Overlook Regional Park. We'll need approximately 5 volunteers who love watching sunrises to arrive around 6:30 am to help mark the race, encourage participants, and help with clean-up afterwards. You will be outside and on your feet for several hours. You can still participate in the race, if you choose. Sign up using our online calendar .

Teens Needing Service Hours

We're looking for 4 responsible and energetic teens to help with the children's program at our fundraising event on Thursday, April 19 from 6-9 pm at the Army-Navy Country Club. You'll be with a group of kids (ages 5-11) and helping with arts and crafts, a volunteer activity, and general "crowd control". Sign up using our online calendar.

90 minutes of help!

We could use consistent help (either once a week or once every other week) Tuesday-Thursday from 12:45-2:15 in assisting our social worker hour distributions. You'd help social workers and health care aides go through our distribution. We ask that you try it out a few times before making a commitment to a fixed time. We can always arrange for substitutions in the event of work obligations, vacations or illness. Sign up using our online calendar.

Taste of Arlington

May 20

Taste of Arlington , Arlington's largest block party, will be held on Sunday, May 20. AFAC and several other local non-profits will be the charity beneficiaries of the event. AFAC is responsible for recruiting over 90 volunteers to help with Restaurant Row & the clean-up shift. Duties could include supporting restaurant booths with their event operations, maintaining the water stations, and keeping the area clean. Volunteers will receive 5 tasting tickets to use during the event & a t-shirt. Sign up using this link.

Plot Against Hunger

Growers Wanted

Will you be a Romeo for our Juliets? AFAC needs tomato seedlings for clients and donating gardens. We have special Juliet tomato seeds to distribute to growers. Juliets are a small crack-resistant, sweet, fast growing variety that produces well in our climate and is the preferred tomato at AFAC. For seeds, contact Puwen at [email protected].

Garden Talks

Wednesdays at 7pm

Weekly garden talks at Arlington Central Library have begun for this season! Here are upcoming topics:

March 28: Small Fruit for the Northern Virginia garden

April 4: Planning & Planting the Herb Garden

April 11: Irrigation, Rain Barrels, Sub-Irrigation Planters, Ollas

Click here for the full schedule for the 2018 season!

Virtual Food Drive

We have updated prices on our Virtual Food Drive. To welcome in the new season, we are offering a Spring Chicken Special, where you can purchase chicken and eggs for 15 families for $40! Visit www.afac.org/vfd to shop for Arlington families in need!

Order AFAC Fleeces & Hats

We are doing another round of ordering AFAC fleeces and hats. If you'd like to purchase an AFAC fleece for $49, please fill out this form. Deadline to order fleeces and hats will be April 13. Click on this form for more details.

Thank You

Special thanks to Bloomberg BNA holding another incredible food drive for AFAC. Their departments compete to see who can collect the most food. This year, they brought in a whopping 7,558 pounds of nonperishable foods!

Thank you to the schools that held food drives for AFAC this week: Glebe Elementary collected 419 pounds and St. Ann's Catholic School collected 337 pounds of food.

Virginia Hospital Center started their annual cereal food drive with high hopes and after just a few weeks of collecting, they exceeded all expectations. VHC ended their drive will well over 3,000 boxes of cereal, weighing in at 4,325 pounds. Thank you!

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

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

Arlington Jazzercise Center, Central Library, Girl Scout Troop #6419, Langston Brown Senior Center, NOVA Catholic Community, Restoration Anglican Church, Rock Spring UCC, St. Ann Catholic Church, St. Ann Catholic School, St. John's Lutheran Church, Territory Foods, Trinity Episcopal Church