Dear Green Hedges Community,
We find ourselves in unprecedented times, but now, more than ever, many of us feel a need to find ways to help and connect with others. The outpouring of “how can we help our community” has been heartwarming and we thank you for your continued generosity to support, not only our phenomenal faculty, but also our immediate community of families and the local Vienna residents affected by this pandemic.
Later this month, the School was planning to host its first-ever Community Engagement Week. While this week will no longer take place in the way it was envisioned, we would still like to maintain connections with the community from afar. Details of the new digitally reimagined #lovegrowshere event on May 1 will be forthcoming.
The below list is an introductory, and by no means exhaustive, list of ways to help. We have split the list in four categories as a response to the areas of support that we have heard from families: how we can support our faculty, small service-related businesses owned by our GHS families impacted by COVID-19, local Vienna partners supporting the greater community with food insecurity, and how our students can get involved from home.
Our Faculty:
- The School has sent blue light glasses to our faculty.
- The Board of Trustees has sent a gift of appreciation to each faculty member.
- The Parent Association will continue their monthly appreciation that was launched this past September and is asking for ideas from our community on how to continue to show our appreciation as our faculty connects with us digitally. Please contact PA President, Anu Simpkinson, with your ideas!
Small Businesses Owned By GHS Families:
- Caboose Brewing Company: They have temporarily closed their Vienna location but are still operating at the Caboose Commons location in Mosaic. They are open for food and beer takeout. Caboose Market also launched for grocery and beer delivery.
- Breakaway Fitness is providing online personal training sessions.
- Virginia Tire & Auto: They are here for all of your car needs and recently launched a fully contactless service that will pick up and drop off your car from your home.
- If your small service-related business is not listed, please let us know so we can share it in our next communication.
Vienna Organizations Providing for the Food Insecure in Our Community:
What our Students Can Do to Help From Home:
- Write cards to send to local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We have a long standing relationship with Sunrise Senior Living in Oakton and they would love to receive snail mail from our community! Please address all mail to: Sunset Hills Senior Living, 2863 Hunter Mill Road, Oakton, VA 22124.
- Make posters and put them outside your home to let your neighbors know you’re thinking of them.
- Send thank you notes to local first responders and hospital workers.
- Make posters and care kits for delivery drivers to show your appreciation.
- Is your child learning to sew? Here is a link for a face mask template.
- Other ideas your own family has brainstormed!
We’d like to share the work our students are doing for their community on our GHS social media. Please send photos to
communications@greenhedges.org
and tag them with the hashtag #ghslovegrowshere so we can repost them on Instagram.
Our desire to be a part of a community is now stronger than ever. The above list is a great starting point to beginning discussions in your own family about community, compassion, and empathy. If you feel we have left anything out above, please reply to this communication so that we may include it in our next letter of community support. We continue to keep all of you in our hearts and thank you for thinking of those most impacted.
With gratitude,
