ALIVE! is hosting two free food distributions this week in Alexandria.
The nonprofit gives away free food to approximately 20,000 families in the city every month. No registration is needed, although proof of city residency may be requested. The walk-up distributions will be on Saturday (July 26) from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Recreation Center (25 West Reed Avenue) and William Ramsay Recreation Center (5650 Sanger Avenue).
There’s nothing like a good birthday cake, and on Friday (July 18), 24 cupcakes were delivered to make two-year-old Matilda feel special on the big day.
Natasha Gannon baked the cupcakes and delivered them to the United Community – Early Learning Center in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County. Since 2020, Gannon has baked upward of 50 cakes for the Northern Virginia chapter of Cake4Kids, which recently delivered its 10,000th cake to underserved youth.
A new coffee shop and wine bar has been proposed in Old Town.
Ksenia Varakina recently moved to Alexandria from New York City and wants to open Cherry On Top at 1021 Queen Street before the end of the year. She says that the proposed shop is off the beaten path and wants it to be a refuge for locals to unwind.
Not long ago, Bruce Anderson and a handful of his boyhood friends from Alexandria decided to give back with a free community cookout.
The event was a bigger hit than the group anticipated, with hundreds of people showing up to the Nannie J Lee Memorial Recreation Center (1108 Jefferson Street). Now in its third year, the Southside Community Fest features free food, live musical performances, a DJ, special guest speakers, and more.
A new restaurant is officially opening its doors on August 11 in Old Town.
HomeGrown: A Daytime Eatery will formally open in the space formerly occupied by BRABO Brasserie in the Archer Hotel Old Town Alexandria. The restaurant, which has more than a dozen locations throughout the country, was announced last November. This is their first Virginia location.
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.
If you’re looking for a place to eat, a number of Alexandria restaurants have been named 2025 RAMMY Honors finalists by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.
Nominations were announced in April, and the winners will be declared at the RAMMYS Awards & Gala on August 3 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Nominees were only eligible if they were in business throughout 2024.
Alexandria residents who get free meals from ALIVE!’s West End Food Hub will have to seek other accommodations.
Last week, ALIVE! announced that the food hub at 510 S. Van Dorn Street will be “closed until further notice” due to an ongoing HVAC replacement. Still, there are plenty of ways to get free food this month in Alexandria.
Shake Shack is cooking up plans to open in a former bank in Old Town.
The burger chain filed permit requests to open at the former Burke and Herbert Bank at 621 King Street last December. Shake Shack now seeks approval for new signage and has included a new rendering of the building exterior (see below) in their application heading to the Board of Architectural Review.
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!.
Plans to partially demolish the former Big Wheel Bikes property in Old Town and replace it with a taco restaurant are heading to Alexandria’s Board of Architectural Review.
On June 5 (Thursday), the Board will assess a permit to demolish and a certificate of appropriateness for proposed alterations for the property located a block away from the Potomac River.
