We were happy to kick off our first food packing of the new year with Dominion Energy-Virginia, our partner in our Weekend Food for Kids program. RBH Global Wealth and Sandy Spring Bank staff joined us again and we welcomed friends from Quadrant Inc., Reston, a long-time supporter of our programs, especially our food program. In about an hour, we packed 1680 food bags that were quickly loaded into Dominion trucks, and delivered to 6 elementary schools in Prince William and Fairfax Counties. A seventh school in Alexandria received 70 grocery gift cards.

We also gave those seven schools new sweatpants, leggings, shirts, underwear, and coats.  Our bargain-savvy members had purchased the clothing and some of the coats provided.  Other coats were donated by the Arlington-Fairfax Elks Club and by a marvelous member.  We also provided hand-made winter hats and scarves donated by the skilled artisans of the Dunbarton Hugs Team in Bristow and the Crafts Club of Nativity Church in Burke.  We are very grateful for these donations that helped us brighten the day for additional students. In January, we provided  275 items of clothing in addition to those delivered in November.  Separately, we ordered 159 pairs of sneakers, as requested by the schools, that were delivered in December and January to 5 schools and reflected each school’s needs and preferred delivery schedule. We plan to provide spring and summer clothes to the schools and order additional sneakers based on the specific needs and requests of the schools.