A note from our Executive Director 

Welcome to our inaugural newsletter! You are receiving this email because you opted in either via online shopping or a pop-up sale event. We will only be sending these newsletters quarterly so as not to crowd your inbox; our goal is to provide a succinct update of Rustic Love's progress and impact. If you’d like to unsubscribe, the link is always available at the bottom of each email we send. We sincerely thank you for your ongoing support of our mission: To actively engage and bring the community together to help the food-insecure.


Our team has a "Focus of Three" - Empower, Connect and Support.

We Empower kids and families to be philanthropic and work together at our sign-builds and other volunteer opportunities, we Connect with our community by creating a thread of hearts all through our Town (and beyond!) which shows how we all have banded together to support this cause and we Support those in our community who are food-insecure by giving grants to organizations committed to helping provide provide basic nutrition to people in need. A recent statistic indicates that nearly 75,000 residents in Fairfax County alone experience food insecurity.


It was been a whirlwind two-and-a-half years since we crafted our first sign, and we are extremely grateful that our community has rallied together to help our neighbors in need! Seeing our heart signs dotting the lawns and businesses of our beautiful Town fuels our commitment to our mission and to actively support local organizations who work tirelessly to help ease food-insecurity. We hope you will continue with us on our journey. Here is an easy way to donate and you can also continue buying our heart-themed items online during the cold winter months. 


Let's get right into our news - be sure to see our big announcement about the Costco Connection below! THANK YOU for being a fan of Rustic Love - and please invite your friends to learn more about our mission and impact!



Michelle Connors

Founder & Executive Director


Costco News to kick off 2023!

The Costco Connection, which is the 3rd largest magazine in the country with more than 15 million subscribers, has featured Rustic Love in the "Member Connection" column in their February issue! We are so excited to share our mission with a nationwide audience and show how our amazing supporters and business partners in the Vienna area have made this fundraiser such a success!


You can find the article at Costco.com or check us out on page 83 if you get the Costco Connection in your mailbox.


Thank you for your supporting our mission to help the food-insecure in our community!

2022 Special Highlight

One of our favorite projects of 2022 was our targeted fundraiser to benefit the World Central Kitchen's efforts to provide relief to Ukraine refugees. In March, we engaged 3 teams of volunteers (including our amazing main team of adult volunteers pictured here) for a special build of Ukrainian flag-colored signs.


Through our volunteers dedicated efforts and the generosity of our community, we donated $25,452.46 to WCK, an impactful non-profit that provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises across the globe.

2022 Donation Recap

In 2022, we gave grants to twelve organizations to assist with their food-assistance programs: three high schools, two middle schools, four elementary schools, and three local non-profits. We also held a special auction with the Vienna Arts Society, whereby VAS artists donated their talents to produce one-of-a-kind Rustic Love signs."Love Nest" by Kimberly Stein, was the most popular, fetching $650 in the auction! Thank you to these talented artists and the winning bidders for their generosity.

2022 Grant Recipient Spotlight: 

Oakton Pantry

This model pantry not only assists food-insecure students at OHS, they have also expanded to serve families from four local elementary schools, as well as numerous community members in need. They also run a Pantry Club in which Student Leaders mentor the 127 students in the club to help pack and distribute groceries each week. Special Education classes also help with sorting and packing bags for the Pantry. Kudos to this incredible team!

Adult Volunteer Spotlight: 

Becky Witherow

Becky began volunteering with us in November 2020, helping with security at our initial pop-up events which drew hundreds of supporters. Over the past two years, she has stepped up in every way, and proved herself so invaluable that we invited her to serve as the Secretary to our Board in 2022. Becky hosts all of our sign builds and is the Build Coordinator, managing all the volunteers and production on-site. She is also on the "Daily Love Team", who plans our daily work strategy. We would not be where we are today without Becky's constant presence, work ethic and valuable insight. 

Student Volunteer Spotlight: 

Owen Coleman 

Owen came to help Rustic Love in the early days of the pandemic, volunteering over a number of weeks in the summer of 2020. He also came back in 2022 to manage a team of family, friends and fellow Boy Scouts to use a weekend-long Rustic Love build as his Eagle project. As Owen said, “The best part of working with Rustic Love on my Eagle project was knowing that all our team’s work was going to help families in our community.” We agree, Owen! 

2022 Build Crew Spotlight: Young Men's Service League

The Hunter Mill Chapter of the YMSL was one of many groups that came to build with us this past summer. This organization pairs high school boys with their moms on community service projects and this group helped build 150 signs in 3 hours with impressive efficiency and positive attitudes. We love working with community-minded students and thoroughly enjoyed this build!

Partner Spotlight: Achikian Goldsmiths

We have partnered with our hometown family jeweler, Achikian Goldsmiths, to bring you this delicate and timeless Rustic Love heart pendant in solid gold and silver. Wear it as a necklace, bracelet, or work with Ken Achikian to create earrings, add gemstones and more. Achikian Goldsmiths is generously donating all of the proceeds from each pendant to our mission to help the food-insecure. Choose from sterling silver, 14K white, 14K yellow or 14K rose gold pendants. It makes a wonderful, heart-felt gift and we are so grateful for this beautiful version of our rustic heart.

How can you help support our mission?

Each quarter, our Board of Directors reviews our grant schedule and determines the donations we make to our community. In 2022, our main focus was to research local school food pantries and assist them with grants to serve their students and families. Please consider making a financial donation to us via PayPal or credit card and shop our site anytime to get your own items with our trademarked open heart.

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