Kicks for Cans Food Drive  

Jean Rackowski with members of the Annandale Pride soccer team at the ACCA Food Pantry. Click the image above to see more photos.

The Annandale United Football Club's U-12 Girls Pride team hosted a friendly mini-camp with the Fredericksburg Football Club and St. Mary's Soccer Club in March. Families donated non-perishable foods in lieu of paying a registration fee, and collected more than 1,200 lbs. of food!   

 

The food drive was the idea of Head Coach Billy Blake and Assistant Coach Karen Billingslea. We're so impressed and thankful for this donation to the ACCA Food Pantry. 

Child Development Center   

Furniture Ministry 

Once again, wintery weather limited furniture crews to three weeks of operations in March. Still, they were still able to complete 25 deliveries and 23 pickups. An average of 13 volunteers per week made the heavy work lighter.

The furniture team received a second donation of 30 full size mattresses and box springs, in addition to the 68 sets received last month. Many thanks to volunteers Jim Dillon, Dave Lawhead, Pete McClintock, Ron Novak and Don Di Spirito for handling the pickup of the donated bed sets. Thanks also to Global Sustainability Solutions for coordinating the donation and to Annandale Shopping Center for providing storage space for these large donations.

Family Emergency Assistance   

Requests for assistance were steady in March, with a total of 29 households receiving nearly $19,000 in emergency assistance for rent and utilities. With the coming of warmer weather, we anticipate an increase in seasonal employment opportunities and lower utility bills, which will alleviate some of the need.

Health problems know no season, however, and among those assisted last month was a family with a child who received a liver transplant. The mother has been off work caring for the child, and the father has only recently been hired for a construction job, so they were behind on their rent. In another case, we served a single mother of three children, one of whom broke a leg. She was behind on her rent due to medical expenses. Through your donations, both were able to avoid being evicted. On behalf of all who were served, thank you.

Food Pantry   

Requests for food assistance dropped slightly in March, as seasonal workers begin to find jobs. Still, pantry volunteers made 76 deliveries, serving 251 individuals. Thank you to all the volunteers who made deliveries last month.

ACCA is pleased to welcome Tuan Nguyen of Holy Spirit as our newest food captain. If you are also interested in getting involved, please contact Jean Rackowski at henry.jean@verizon.net.    

In March, the Annandale Meals on Wheels delivered 532 meals to 16 clients. The deliveries include two meals per day, a hot meal and a cold meal, such as a sandwich and fruit. Some Meals on Wheels programs choose to make fewer deliveries and include frozen meals that can be microwaved on non-delivery days. Thanks to our wonderful ACCA volunteers, the Annandale program is able to continue delivering hot meals five times per week. 

Transportation volunteers served three clients in March, providing four rides.