With the need for food assistance on the rise, a local charity is aiming to collect 25,000 pounds of food every month this summer.
The Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project gathers food year-round from many of the diocesan schools in the area. On Thursday (July 10), kids participating in summer camp at Bishop Ireton High School filled a box truck with canned fruit, vegetables, rice, and more. More than 1,200 pounds of food were collected at Bishop Ireton.
Volunteer Alexandria has set a goal of collecting 40,000 pounds of canned food in July.
The organization’s third Food4ALX collection drive will donate the canned items to Hunger Free Alexandria’s food pantries and ALIVE!.
With summer vacation just days away, Alexandria leaders were on hand at Francis C. Hammond Middle School on Thursday (June 5) to receive 500 free backpacks filled with school supplies.
The backpacks, most of which are being stored for the start of the 2025-2026 school year, were donated to the Title I school as part of a collaboration between United Way National Capital Area, Enterprise Mobility, and American Water. United Way NCA’s partnership with Alexandria City Public Schools has provided more than 3,500 backpacks to the West End school since 2017.
There’s nothing like a new pair of shoes. This afternoon, all James K. Polk Elementary School students in Alexandria’s West End received free sneakers.
That’s 770 pairs of shoes, all donated to the students by Pennsylvania-based nonprofit Operation Warm and Georgia-based builder Beazer Homes. The event was just one in a handful today across the country that the companies are offering to school systems.
The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) is asking for help in making the holidays special for some local kids this weekend.
ARHA is collecting toys for its 15th annual Santa’s Winter Wonderland this weekend, in which children 17 and under who are members of ARHA households receive gifts from Santa.
July was a good month for giving in Alexandria, as more than 36,500 pounds of food was collected in Volunteer Alexandria‘s second annual food drive for ALIVE!.
There were dozens of collection points for food in last month’s community-wide effort to help the food bank. Last year’s effort raise more than 25,000 pounds.
As families around Alexandria get ready for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is hoping for some help from the community to make life a little easier for some students and parents.
ACPS is running its 2024 Backpack and School Supply Drive with donors able to purchase backpacks and supplies for students from a wishlist or via direct donations.
A $5,000 bench honoring Martin Luther King Jr. is being donated to Charles Houston Recreation Center in Old Town.
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association is making the donation in recognition of the civil rights leader, which City Council will approve at its meeting on Tuesday.
(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) It could’ve been curtains for all those free prom dresses this year at Alexandria City High School.
With the high school’s annual shindig scheduled for May 18, it was a shock for administrators to learn Monday that UNCUT Youth, the organization responsible for providing free prom dresses to dozens of students, had backed out.
A local nonprofit is donating a $50,000 scoreboard at the Kelley Cares Miracle Field outside the Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center in Old Town.
The scoreboard is a gift to the city from the Miracle League of Alexandria and it will be presented to City Council for approval on April 2. Additionally, the $3,000 installation for the scoreboard’s support beams is being donated by the Simpson Development Company.
Friends of Guest House residents were greeted with the gift of pajamas and cozy socks on Christmas morning. Alexandria realtor Maureen Clyne ended up exceeding her goal of 100 pairs of pajamas and socks by collecting 140 pairs.
“The generosity of the Alexandria community never ceases to amaze me,” said Clyne. “I want to give a special shout out to Margaret Ticer Janowsky of Del Ray Cafe who donated 40 pairs and my colleagues at Coldwell Banker Realty in Old Town who also donated.”
