Church streamlines food pickup events

The weekly food distribution events at a church in the Valley Brook neighborhood have gotten more orderly since officers from the Mason Police District helped the church reorganize the pickup system.

Iglesia Pentecostal Cristo Vive distributes about 600 to 700 boxes and crates of food every Wednesday, 4-6 p.m. The church is located at 3330 Holloman Road, near Beechtree Elementary School in the Falls Church area.

Local residents had complained about traffic clogging their streets and cars taking up all the street parking.

People come to the event from across the region; some even come from Maryland and D.C. The church advertises the distribution events on social media.

The boxes are filled up with seasonal produce and other items. At this week’s event, there were apples, spinach, bananas, plantains, candy, cans of soup, yogurt, sour cream, chips, turkey bacon, and more.

The church requests a $10 donation per box, says Jose Canales, the pastor at Iglesia Pentecostal Cristo Vive. The donations help cover the cost of a truck that brings the food from a warehouse in Pennsylvania where another pastor collects it from local farmers.

Since the food distribution started about four years ago, the traffic congestion has worsened. Those picking up the food parked on the street and stood in long lines in front of the church. This year, the line of cars stretched all the way from Annandale Road, said MPO Stacy Sassano, the crime prevention officer at the Mason Police District.

Sassano met with church officials recently to figure out a plan to streamline the pickups. Now cars make a loop through the parking lot. People stay in their car while church volunteers collect donations and other volunteers load the boxes in the trunk.

Pastor Canales started the Iglesia Pentecostal in a basement in Woodbridge in 2007, says his son Chris Canales. As the congregation grew, it moved to Springfield in 2010, then to its current location on Holloman Road in 2017. The church has 10 vans it uses to collect churchgoers from Annandale, Springfield, Woodbridge, and other places.

Now that there are 700 to 800 congregants, Chris says, they’re looking for a new location.