AFAC will have modified hours in observation of the upcoming holiday season.
Tuesday, December 24: OPEN for morning distribution and social worker hours. All evening activities canceled. Food donation drop offs will be accepted until 1pm.
Wednesday, December 25: CLOSED
Tuesday, December 31: OPEN for morning distribution and social worker hours. All evening activities canceled. Food donation drop offs will be accepted until 1pm.
Wednesday, January 1: CLOSED
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Our Scouting For Food drive on November 9 was a success! Over 47,000 lbs of food was collected for our largest annual food drive of the year. Thank you to National Capital Area Council Boy Scouts of America's Chain Bridge District scouts for collecting food; to the volunteer groups from Bloomberg, Booz Allen Hamilton, Emory Alumni Association DC Chapter, SeKon Enterprise, ASCEND, and AFAC volunteers; to Our Savior Lutheran Church for donating their space for the food drive; and to the residents of Arlington who donated to help feed our neighbors in need.
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AFAC Christmas Tree at Pentagon City Mall
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Come see AFAC's Christmas tree at Pentagon City Mall through December 24 as part of their Festival of the Trees event! We decorated the tree with empty cans, seeds, cooking utensils, and more AFAC related items! Decorated trees are located outside the 2nd level entrance by Godiva.
AFAC will have a table on December 21st from 5-7pm, where there will be a hot chocolate station, live music, holiday craft making, and more!
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Holiday Meals for Families in Need
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Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goal of getting to $25,000 by Thanksgiving! You helped make sure Arlington families could spend this holiday together surrounded by a traditional turkey dinner. We will now increase our goal to $50,000 as we get ready to hand out whole roaster chickens for the December holidays.
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Giant's Community Bag Program
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For the month of December, when you buy a reusable bag from the Giant Food near Bailey's Crossroads (3480 S. Jefferson St in Falls Church), $1 gets donated to AFAC through their Community Bag Program! Thank you Giant for their continued support of AFAC!
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Many families, groups, and individuals want to help AFAC at the holidays. Here are some general times when we need help:
- Weekday mornings in the prep area during our distributions on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 9:15-12:15. You'll be sorting through food donations and helping restock our shelves during distribution itself. We may also need help during all distributions taking place 12/16-12/21 since we will be distributing chicken roasters to all of our families.
- Social worker hours on Tuesday-Thursday from 1:00-2:00 pm. You'll interact directly with social workers and their clients, covering several stations. It's a fairly quiet hour, so you may be asked to restock during breaks between visits.
- A special rescheduled weekday chicken bagging: Thursday, January 2 from 2-4 pm.
- AM restocking: If you get up with the roosters, come to AFAC between 7:30-9:00 am before heading into the office. You'll feel great about helping others before most people have even had their second cup of coffee!
For these opportunities, please log into the
volunteer calendar and look for vacancies. You may not walk in for these activities and you must be at least 14 years of age.
If you are home from college for winter break and you're comfortable doing food drive pick-ups in your own vehicle, please email
volunteer4afac@afac.org to get on the schedule 1-2 days per week.
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Friends of Urban Agriculture Meeting
December 12, 6:30 - 8:30pm
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Join the Arlington Friends of Urban Agriculture at their winter meeting on Thursday evening as they award their 2nd annual Golden Radish Award to Kirsten Conrad, a friend of AFAC! The main topic for the meeting will be about the status of what is grown regionally. Admission is FREE, but please RSVP.
See event page for more details.
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Spring Garden Kickoff
March 7, 10:00am - 1:00pm
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Save the date! Plot Against Hunger presents the 7th Annual Spring Garden Kick-off on Saturday, March 7 from 10am - 2pm at Arlington Central Library. The kick-off is a great way to learn about how to start a garden for AFAC, how to donate produce to AFAC, and hear from community garden coordinators and others about lessons learned. Stay tuned for more information.
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We had a very successful Giving Tuesday this year! Thank you to everyone who donated and to
Dr. Chee-Hahn Hung for being our sponsor for the day to kick off holiday donations!
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped us during our busiest week of the year! During this year's Turkey Week, we served 2,544 families. Special thanks to the Arlington County Fire Department (pictured) and the Arlington County Police Department for sending volunteers to help us out during our food distributions.
A huge thank you to all those who organized a holiday food drive for AFAC! We are grateful for the community support over the holiday months. See below for a full list of holiday food drive participants.
An immense thank you to Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School for donating 1,544 lbs of food to AFAC, United Way Worldwide for donating 2,464 lbs, and Nestle for donating 1,872 pounds! Thank you all for your immense generosity!
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Thank you to all those who held food drives or donated to Plot Against Hunger in November!
10th and Barton Community Garden; Abe Porter & Troop 104; ADS Federal; Amazon Web Services - AWE; American Association of Airport Executives; American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators; American Heart Association; Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool; Aurora Hills Branch Library; Arlington Church of the Brethren; Arlington County Police Department; Arlington County Utilities Services; Arlington Cornhole; Arlington Presbyterian Church and Garden; Arlington Traditional School; Army Navy Country Club Fitness Program; AVA Ballston Apartments; Avalon Bay Apartments; Avalon Courthouse Place; Barcroft Elementary; Bean, Kinney & Korman; Belvedere Condominiums; Bethel UCC; Beyond the Hoop & the Hurricanes; BM Smith Apartments; Brigade of Mercy; Broadstone; Burns & McDonnell; Cannon; Calvary Children's School; Calvary UMC; Carol King; Children's Weekday Program; Cherrydale Branch Library; Central Library & Garden; Cindy Strong; Clarendon Presbyterian Garden; Coldwell Banker; Columbia Pike Branch Library; Congregation Etz Hayim; Cort Furniture; CRDF Global; CrossCountry Consulting; CWTSato Travel; Darcie S.; Decisive Analytics Corporation; Dewberry; Dorchester Apartments; Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School; DTI Management; Thariani Orthodontics; Eclipse Condominiums; EJF Capital; Elizabeth Daffin; Episcopal High School's Garden; Falls Church Library - Food For Fines; Fairfax County Fire Rescue; Faith Lutheran Church and Garden; First Presbyterian Church & Garden; Glebe Community Garden; Grace Shea; Graham Holdings; Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School; HB Woodlawn - Music Program; Health Management Academy; Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh; Hyde Park Condominiums; Info Lock; John Snow Inc; Junior League of Northern Virginia; Kelly Hurley; Kinder Haus Toys; Lancaster Co-Op CSA; Loudon Hunger Relief; Merit School of Arlington; Marymount University's Food for Thought Garden Club; Maxar; Memorial Baptist Church; Mission1st Group, Inc.; Moms Club of South Arlington; Mount Olive Baptist Church; Mount Olivet United Methodist Church; Muhammad & Kim Baten; National Transportation Board of Safety; Nestle; Nicecream; NOVA Catholic Community; Oakwood School; Origins Apartments; Pentagon MMA; Penzey's Spices; Potomac Overlook Garden; Promontory Network; Pure Barre; Prosperity Flats; Restoration Anglican Church; Resurrection Lutheran Church and Garden; Rock Spring UCC & Garden; Roy Croom; Sally Larentson; Sedona Slate Apartments; St. Andrew's Episcopal & Garden; St. Ann's Catholic Church; St. John's Episcopal; St. Mary's Episcopal; St. Michael's Episcopal; St. Peter's Episcopal; Susan Howell's Garden; Strategic Management; Territory Foods; The Pauline Newmann Inn of Court; The Sutton; Tower Villas; Trinity Episcopal Church; Unitarian Universalist; United Way Worldwide; USDA Agricultural Research Service; UUCA; UVA CLUB of DC; Virginia Healthcare Services; Vorsight; Walter Reed Annex Garden; Washington-Liberty High School; Washington Wealth Advisors; Westover Branch Library & Garden; Windgate III; Women's Club of Arlington; Yoga Alliance; Yorktown High School - AFAC Club
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, Ashlawn ES, Discovery ES, McKinley ES, Nottingham ES, Oakridge ES, Tuckahoe ES, Temple Rodef Shalom's Religious School, and Washington-Lee HS.
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.
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Fresh News is generously sponsored by Washington Workplace
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Arlington Food Assistance Center | 703.845.8486 |
www.afac.org
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