AFAC’s Blog

June 26, 2009

Hello, all.

Here’s the latest from AFAC.

Client Count: Last week we served1,119 families. These consist of 2,037 adults and 1,190 children. The count edged up again. The two previous weeks averaged just 1,097.

Corporate Support: Our volunteer, Sarah, has identified the following companies as donors to places where their employees volunteer. If you work at one of these companies or another company like them, please contact me about the possibility of getting corporate support for AFAC. Companies who might support AFAC: Choice Hotels, Northrup Grumman, SRA, and Argon.

Plant A Row: I’ll have tomatoes soon in my garden. How about you? Don’t forget to bring your extra produce to AFAC. The families who turn to us want and need more produce. You can help. And check out the PAR website. To see it, just click through the AFAC website, www.afac.org.

Schedule: Next Tuesday, June 30th, is the last day of our fiscal year. We’ll be taking inventory after distribution that day. As of the end of May, we (really you!) had already distributed over 2 million pounds of food to Arlington families. The office will be closed next Friday, July 3rd, but we will have distribution that day. There will be no distribution on Saturday, July 4th, either at our main site or at the Clarendon United Methodist Church.

Wine! – Thanks to all the volunteers who have helped this month at the wine tastings/jazz concerts at the Village at Shirlington. Big crowds will mean big support for AFAC.

Food Drives – Don’t forget to help keep our shelves stocked over the summer. If you can help with a food drive, please contact Magda Jaskot, our food drive coordinator, at afacMagda@aol.com.

Thanks for all you do for AFAC. We need and appreciate your support.

Christine

Hello, all.

Here’s the latest from AFAC.

Client Count – The client count for the week ending June 13, 2009 totals 1,106 families, which consist of 2,040 adults and 1,226 children. There are currently 2,385 active referrals. One year ago, the client count was 865. Two years ago, the client count was 669. This means that our client load is up 65% in two years and up 28% in one year.

Run for AFAC – Thanks to all the runners and volunteers who helped on May 30th. The race generated $1,000 for AFAC. Soon we’ll be planning another race. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping. Thanks to Grace and Amy for their fine work on this event.

Jazz Series and Wine Tasting – The Village at Shirlington’s jazz series raps up next Wednesday, the 24th. This has turned out to be a very successful and fun series for AFAC. Since the event is far larger than predicted, we could use even more volunteers to staff the bar. We need six volunteers at each shift – 6 until 7:30 or 7:30 until 9. Volunteers will have time to enjoy the event (free wine tasting tickets!) before or after their shift. Please go to http://afacinfo.org/Volunteering-general.htm to register to volunteer.

Antiques & Modernism Show and Sale – The Arlington Kiwanis presents the 2009 Northern Virginia Antiques & Modernism Show and Sale this weekend at the Thomas Jefferson Center. There will be 175 exhibitors from 15 states. The show is Saturday, June 20th, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sunday, June 21st, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The Arlington Kiwanis is a great supporter of AFAC. Tickets are $8.00 at the door.

Summer Food Drives – Help us keep our pantry stocked over the summer. If you can help coordinate a food drive, please contact Magda Jaskot, our Food Drive Coordinator, at afacMagda@aol.com.

New Volunteer Opportunities – AFAC has several new volunteer opportunities. Produce Handlers are needed to unload, repackage and store the beautiful produce donated from local farmers markets as it comes in. Volunteers are needed on Saturday from 12 – 2 and Sunday from 1 – 3. We are still recruiting Weekend Supervisors to supervise and assist the many groups that want to volunteer at AFAC. Drivers are needed to pick up donations from Best Buns on weekday mornings and from Great Harvest Bread Company on Tuesday and Saturday mornings at 8 am. If you can help with any of these projects, please contact the volunteer department at volunteer4afac@aol.com. If you want to learn about other volunteer opportunities, see our newly updated website pages at http://afacinfo.org/Volunteering-new.html.

Produce storage advisor/trainer -
Do you have experience storing produce in a way that reduces spoilage? Or do you know anyone who has experience? AFAC would like to reduce spoilage of fresh fruits and vegetables that come from the farmers’ ma
rkets over the summer months. We would love to have an expert to come train a farmer’s market receiving team about best large-scale storage methods for the thousands of pounds of produce that are donated to AFAC. Please contact Puwen at afacpuwen@aol.com.

Volunteer Picnic – Thanks to all that helped put on our recent volunteer picnic. I especially want to thank the crew from Restoration Anglican Church, Catherine Smith and her family, and Cleveland James for their help at the picnic. These folks did it all – helping with decorations, set up, food, music…and probably more that I didn’t even know about.

Kids Count – I’m begining to prepare a report on how Arlington children are helping AFAC, and thus helping other Arlington children. We have lots of young volunteers and donors. Help me make sure all are counted by letting me know how your youngster helped this year at AFAC. And look for a report by the end of the summer.

Coming Up Soon – September is Hunger Action Month – We are looking for ways to participate in this national effort to fight hunger. This is the expansion of what used to be Hunger Awareness Day. If your organization would like to participate, please let me know. Right now, Crate & Barrel has said they will particpate by having a 5% day for us, and some of the restaurants who participated in our Restaurant Night will help again this year.

Thank you for all you do for AFAC. We need and appreciate your support!

Have a great weekend.

Christine

Hello!

Client Count: The client count for the week ending May 23, 2009 totals 1,136 families, which consist of 2,048 adults and 1,284 children. There are currently 2,407 active referrals. One year ago, the client count was 926. Two years ago, the client count was 665. This means that we are up 23% from one year ago, and we are up 73% from two years ago.

You can help AFAC tomorrow in two ways!

Run for AFAC – This 5k walk/run will be held tomorrow, Saturday, May 30, 2009. The run will be at Bluemont Junction at 601 N. Manchester St. The run is being sponsored by two students from Yorktown High School. Registration starts at 9:00 a.m, and the run starts at 10:00 a.m. The young ladies putting this event together for us have gotten some excellent raffle items. To register before the day, send an email with your name, email address and phone number to run4afac@aol.com. Five volunteers are needed the day of the run. The cost of the race is $15 for students and $25 for adults.

Arlington Area Zonta Club Food Collection – Members of the Arlington Area Zonta Club will be hosting a food drive the the Cherrydale Safeway tomorrow Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That Safeway is at 3713 Lee Highway. Look for Zonta volunteers outside the store collecting from store patrons.

Other Upcoming Events & Other Volunteer Opportunities

June 3rd – The Arlington office of Long & Foster has again chosen us for their community service project. They’ll be sponsoring a food drive and their ‘Bar-be-cue Benefiting AFAC’. It is Wednesday, June 3 from 5 to 7 pm. in their parking lot at 4600 Lee Highway. Long & Foster agents, vendors and clients have all been generous to us in the past. If you can attend, please let me know.
June 4th – We’re gearing up for our celebration to support the Permanent Home Campaign. Don’t miss a lovely evening of music, good food and a spectacular silent auction at the Washington Golf and Country Club on June 4th. Visit our website (www.afac.org) for details and to view sponsorship opportunities and to purchase tickets. For more information contact Melissa Kalner at mkalner77@gmail.com. For questions about sponsorship, contact afacbeth@aol.com. We hope to see you there!
Volunteer Appreciation Picnic – Come and relax at AFAC! We will be hosting a picnic for all of our volunteers on Sunday, June 14, from 5 – 7 pm. We’ll provide food, music and lots of praise for our many, many volunteers. Please mark your calendar.

Jazz Series and Wine Tasting – The Village at Shirlington is having a jazz series, along with a wine tasting, every Wednesday night in June. Proceeds from this event will benefit AFAC. We need volunteers to staff the bar. We need three volunteers at each shift – 6 until 7:30 or 7:30 until 9. Volunteers will have time to enjoy the event (free wine tasting tickets!) before or after their shift. Please go to http://afacinfo.org/Volunteering-general.htm to register to volunteer.

Summer Food Drives – We are just now planning a program of food drives in June. Help us keep our pantry stocked over the summer. If you can help coordinate a food drive, please contact Magda Jaskot, our Food Drive Coordinator, at afacMagda@aol.com.

New Volunteer Opportunities – The Volunteer Department is looking for weekend volunteers. We need Weekend Supervisors to supervise and assist the many groups that want to volunteer at AFAC. We also need drivers to pick up market-end produce from local farmers markets on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer. Other volunteers are needed to unload, repackage and store the produce as it comes in. Drivers are needed to pick up donations from Best Buns on weekday mornings.
Produce storage advisor/trainer -
Do you have experience storing produce in a way that reduces spoilage? Or do you know anyone who has experience? AFAC would like to reduce spoilage of fresh fruits and vegetables that come from the farmers’ markets over the summer months. We would love to have an expert to come train a farmer’s market receiving team about best large-scale storage methods for the thousands of pounds of produce that are donated to AFAC. Please contact Puwen at afacpuwen@aol.com.

Thank you for all you do for AFAC. We need and appreciate your support!

Have a great weekend.

Christine