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Fellowship Square improves the lives of older adults who struggle to make ends meet by providing them with affordable housing and supportive services. |
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Winter Wonderland
Lake Anne Ribbon Cutting
Christy's Corner
Resident Life
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Volunteer Spotlight
Community Partner Highlight
Meet Our New Staff Member
Welcome Our New Fellow
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Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting |
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Fellowship Square and its partner, Enterprise Community Development, celebrated the much-anticipated grand opening and ribbon cutting of Lake Anne House on a sunny Thursday morning, September 29. Some 80 guests gathered on the patio, shaded by a tent, to watch resident performers dance and perform a few piano pieces preceding remarks from the project’s partners and another resident who shared his excitement about living in the new building.
Key partners included Virginia Housing, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Capital One and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The in-person event marked the end of a multi-year effort to redevelop the 1970s-era housing community and preserve affordable housing in Fairfax County, one of Virginia’s most expensive counties.
“Lake Anne House is an example of the high-quality affordable housing we can build with ingenuity, tenacity, and partnership. It is what fixing our housing supply looks like - a demonstration of how we can work collaboratively at all levels to build and rehabilitate housing - project by project, block by block, community by community - across the country,” said United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman, who spoke at the event.
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Transitioning to the New Lake Anne Building
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As we age, malnutrition can become an issue. Physical changes in our bodies like the deterioration of teeth and gums, disease onset, reduced dietary intake and inactivity can all contribute to lack of nutrition and diminished health. Other lifestyle factors like not being able to stand for a long period of time to cook and prepare food, as well as the challenge of carrying groceries, can also contribute to poor nutritional intake and eventually malnutrition.
In addition, residents at Fellowship House, struggle to have the funds to purchase food and may lack regular access to healthy foods. Thankfully, we have many programs in place to keep residents’ refrigerators and cupboards fully stocked.
Through community partners like Cornerstones, Panera Bread, Meals-on-Wheels, the Capital Area Food Bank, Food Rescue-DC, Reston Strong, Alexander Memorial Baptist Church and many others, residents receive a variety of staples throughout the month. We also host many resident events each month that include snacks and meals. For residents that experience an emergency food shortage, the Service Coordinator arranges for emergency food deliveries, gives them access to our onsite food pantry, and in some cases, grocery gift cards.
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Nutrition is a reoccurring theme in our monthly programs, and we continue to recruit partners to help us in this area. In addition, your financial donation through our Annual Campaign gives us the funds we need to put these programs and partnerships in place.
I encourage you to make a financial contribution today to support our efforts and help provide nutritious foods – and other necessities to the 850+ residents that rely on us for critical needs.
With gratitude,
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Image by frimufilms on Freepik |
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Residents make Health and Safety Preparedness a Priority |
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Lake Ridge
Fellowship House
Pictured (left to right): Joanne J.,
Susan H., Christopher B., Sara B.,
Martha T.
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Hunters Woods Fellowship House
During the month of October, Lisa Sharp, Nutritionist and Registered Dietitian, discussed how eating a balanced diet is essential for healthy bones.
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Largo Landing
Fellowship House
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According to Healthinaging.org, Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease that affects approximately 10 million people of all ethnic backgrounds in the US. Research has found that about one out of every five American women over the age of 50 already has osteoporosis.
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Creatively Celebrating a New Season
On Friday, October 14th, volunteers from Ideaventions Academy, a private school in Reston, VA, joined with residents at Hunters Woods Fellowship House to paint rocks celebrating hope and the fall season. Everyone enjoyed an afternoon of comradery and creativity. “Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your community for the afternoon! We enjoyed working together, and look forward to our next gathering.” Marcy Stehney, parent coordinator for Ideaventions Academy.
If you or your group is interested in volunteering at a Fellowship House, please email Diane Beatley, Program Manager for Fellowship Square.
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COMMUNITY PARTNER HIGHLIGHT |
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Monthly Access to Healthy Food for Largo Landing Residents |
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Every month since February 2022, Alexander Memorial Baptist Church has provided food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Capital Area Food Bank to residents of Largo Landing Fellowship House.
The church offers a monthly drive-through food distribution for the community and ensures that Largo Landing residents are included. Staff and volunteers take the house bus to the church to pick up a literal “busload” of food. Each distribution includes nonperishable food, frozen meat, and fruits or vegetables.
We are grateful for this ongoing partnership that provides nutritious food for the senior residents.
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MEET OUR NEW STAFF MEMBER! |
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Brenda Martinez
Fellowship Square Communications and Development Coordinator
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Brenda Martinez resides in Reston, VA but her family is from El Salvador. She is fluent in both Spanish and English. As the first person in her family to attend a university, she decided to go out of state from Fairfax, Virginia to Miami, Florida and attend Barry University. She studied Marketing and was the first marketing manager for the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). SMIF offered finance students the chance to invest in the stock market with an endowment funds received by the business department. Proceeds were awarded to low-income students who needed funds to remain in school. Brenda created branding materials to launch a successful club that many of her colleagues attended. Brenda also worked as the assistant to the Theology department for four years as a work-study position.
After graduation, Brenda took a year off to enjoy Miami and traveled to India and Italy. During that time, she volunteered at a yoga school for children. Upon her return to the States, she worked for multiple companies in the Reston area through a temp agency. One of her assignments was at Hunters Woods Fellowship House, where she discovered that she loved working among seniors.
After seven years at Hunters Woods Fellowship House working as the bookkeeper, event coordinator and leasing consultant, Brenda wanted to do more! She was thrilled when she stumbled upon the opportunity to work for the Fellowship Square Foundation at its headquarters, continuing her passion of making a difference for seniors.
During her free time, Brenda enjoys reading a good historical fiction novel and spending quality time with family. She is happy to live in the heart of Reston and able to enjoy the wonderful trails the city has to offer.
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About Civic Fellows Program
Fellowship Square has been selected as one of ten nonprofit partners for George Mason University’s (GMU) new Civic Fellows Program. Through this program, students commit to 6-8 hours per week of service with an area nonprofit over the course of the academic year. At Fellowship Square, the Civic Fellow will be researching technical tools that can assist in capturing and reporting on program outcomes.
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Carly Epstein is a graduate student at George Mason University pursuing a master’s in criminal justice. Originally from New Jersey, Carly came to Northern Virginia a few years ago to earn her bachelor’s, also at George Mason, studying Criminology and Forensic Psychology.
While in school, Carly works as a preschool teacher and a photographer. In her spare time, she enjoys art projects, volunteering, and exploring with friends. Having volunteered with O.A.R. Fairfax, Carly is eager to work with other nonprofit organizations and gain as much knowledge about ways to help raise awareness and educate others about societal issues.
During her time at Fellowship Square, Carly hopes to help with facilitating change for the community residents. In the future, Carly hopes to travel, volunteer and work for nonprofits across the world while learning about various cultures, ethnicities, and behaviors.
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Reminder: If you have a Thrivent account, please designate Fellowship Square for donations
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Stay in touch with Fellowship Square on Facebook!
We post articles, updates on activities and events, our monthly newsletter, and pertinent information regarding our properties.
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