Tag: volunteers

Free tax help available
If you’re starting to get anxious about filing your taxes, calm down. Free assistance is available to lower-income taxpayers through the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The deadline for filing federal taxes this year is Monday, April 18, because Emancipation Day, April 16, is a holiday in the … Continued

Friends group forming for Oak Hill Park
An overgrown trail in Oak Hill Park. [Glen Erickson Bell] Oak Hill Park in Annandale has long been neglected by the Fairfax County Park Authority. Nearby residents have done some maintenance on their own over the years, but now Glen Erickson Bell is mobilizing his neighbors to become more active advocates by creating a friends … Continued

The Congressional Schools give back
More than 100 students and volunteers took part in the second annual Service Day hosted by The Congressional Schools of Virginia on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 18. Participants made 240 “power packs” full of snacks for students at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School, delivered five boxes of clothes and shoes to the Willston Multicultural Center … Continued

Volunteers clean up Hogge Park
Volunteers pick up trash in Hogge Park. [FCPD] Hogge Park in Bailey’s Crossroads is a lot cleaner, thanks to the efforts of community residents, Stuart High School students, Fairfax County police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and Park Authority representatives. About 60 volunteers who took part in a cleanup day Jan. 9 collected enough litter to fill … Continued

Volunteers bring holiday cheer to veterans
The Decorate A Vet house on Wayne Drive in the Broyhill Crest neighborhood in Annandale. Have you seen one of these “Decorate A Vet” signs in your neighborhood and wondered what’s going on? These are the homes of military families or veterans that have been decorated and fixed up for the holidays by a team … Continued

Santa’s Ride will stop at Bailey’s Elementary School
Santa’s Ride will be stopping at Bailey’s Primary Elementary School on Dec. 15. Every year, local law enforcement officers cruise by local elementary schools on motorcycles – some dressed in Santa outfits or as other winter characters – to collect donated toys for children at Fairfax Hospital and the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center. Local residents … Continued

Help a needy family enjoy the holidays
Boy Scouts collect food for the ACCA food pantry during the Scouting for Food event earlier this month. How about embracing the true meaning of Christmas this year by “adopting” a needy family for the holidays? The Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA), a coalition of local churches, is coordinating a program matching donors with … Continued

Rotarians, students provide Thanksgiving meals to the needy
More than 100 needy families will be able to enjoy Thanksgiving, thanks to the generosity of the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club and the JEB Stuart High School Interact Club. Club members distributed 111 boxes of food to lower-income residents in the Culmore area Nov. 21. This was the program’s 37th year. Volunteers gathered at the … Continued

Food pantry will help NOVA students
A food pantry is being established at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College by the Roteract Club, the college version of Rotary. The food pantry is supported with donations from the college and the community. It’s in the C-F building and will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. It serves the … Continued

Blankets and coats collected for refugees from Syria and Iraq
Here’s a great opportunity to clear out your closets and help refugees at the same time. Fairfax County is participating in a regional effort to collect clean, gently used blankets and coats for refugee families who fled war and terrorism in Syria and Iraq. You can bring your items to the Mason Government Center, 6507 … Continued

Annandale Rotary hosts Inter-Service Luncheon at Annandale HS
Annandale Rotary Club President Bob Kahane speaks at the group’s Inter-Service Lunch. Once a year, the Rotary Club of Annandale hosts an Inter-Service Luncheon, bringing together people from other community and volunteer organizations. This year’s event, Nov. 11, was held at the Annandale High School Bistro, and featured guest speaker Tim Thomas, Annandale’s new principal … Continued

Help local Boy Scouts collect food for those in need
Cub Scouts collect food at a Safeway. You might want to do a little extra grocery shopping to help the needy during the Scouting for Food campaign sponsored by the National Capital Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will be going door-to-door Nov. 7 dropping off plastic bags and … Continued

Fire stations’ crab feast a huge success
The crab and shrimp fest in the AVFD social hall. [Photo by Rachel Martin of PR Performance Fitness, one of the event’s corporate sponsors. The first ever all-you-can-eat crab legs and spiced shrimp feast hosted by the Annandale and Bailey’s Crossroads volunteer fire departments Oct. 25 was “a tremendous success,” says AVFD President Gary Moore. … Continued

Just Neighbors offers a life line to local immigrants
A green card. Like many undocumented residents of the Annandale/Mason area, Alejandro didn’t see much of a future for himself after he graduated from Annandale High School. Just Neighbors, an immigrant advocacy organization based in Bailey’s Crossroads, helped him attain status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows certain people who came to … Continued

Learn about career training at Computer CORE open house
The Lee Building [Google Maps] The public is invited to Computer CORE’s open house Oct. 3, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., in the organization’s new headquarters at the Lee Building, 5881 Leesburg Pike, Room 204, in Bailey’s Crossroads. Computer CORE provides computer and job skills training to lower-income adults in Northern Virginia, many of them immigrants, dislocated … Continued