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April 2013 eNews

Advocacy Update

Consequences of the federal sequester continue to hit Northern Virginia. Read more.

Urgency echoed off the walls of Congress during the Immigration Reform Rally.

On April 10th, several Reston Interfaith staff, volunteers, and clients joined tens of thousands of immigration reform advocates at a gathering in front of the U.S. Capitol.  The purpose of the rally was to bring additional strength to the many voices already speaking to Congress and the public about the importance of making 2013 the year for passing comprehensive immigration reform.  A central rallying cry was the importance of creating a path to citizenship for the 11+ million undocumented immigrants who reside in the U.S., contributing greatly to its economic strength, but with no rights and separated from family members.

Extraordinary Volunteers Honored

April 22-26th was National Volunteer Week and Reston Interfaith celebrated our amazing volunteers for accomplishing extraordinary things through service. Thank you to our 3,000 volunteers who support our programs and services annually. A few of our volunteers were recently recognized for their exceptional service.

At the Volunteer Fairfax Awards Ceremony:

  • Dr. Stuart Rakoff honored by Supervisor Cathy Hudgins as a Community Champion for the Hunter Mill District
  • Mike Sneed honored as the Fairfax County Rising Star volunteer for his service at the Embry Rucker Community Shelter and the Herndon Closet

We also recognized the following individuals and organizations for their continuous and over the top support:

At the Town of Herndon Mayor’s Volunteer Appreciation night the following individuals and organizations were recognized:

  • Ivan Young as a Distinguished Volunteer for providing over 10 years of tutoring and support to Reston Interfaith.
  • Griffin Owens Insurance was awarded the Distinguished Corporate Service Award for their support and help to address the issues surrounding homelessness.
  • Kyle Alger as a Distinguished Youth Volunteer, for his work to encourage nature education and support for Reston Interfaith programs and events.

Click here to read more about our inspiring volunteers.

Our Heartfelt Thanks

These committed supporters make it possible to meet the needs of families and individuals every step of the way.

  • Erik and Lynne Bursch for donating the proceeds from their annual Chili Invitational Cook Off event.
  • Comcast Cares Day Volunteers for putting new mulch and sand on the playground at LLC, and cleaning playground toys as well!
  • CANgineering Local professionals and student volunteers donate in a unique way. CANgineering took place at Langston Hughes Middle School. Engineers from Northrop Grumman helped students design a CANgineer castle out of canned foods. This annual event was part of Engineers Week, to inspire middle schoolers to seek careers in STEM fields. Over 750 cans of fruits and veggies were donated our food pantry. A special thanks to Northrop Grumman for purchasing the supplies and to the students for their team work.
  • Dahl-Marrow International for their ongoing food drive.
  • Rosemary Edwards, owner of N’used Clothing Boutique, and Ellen Moyer, Realtor RE/MAX Allegiance of Reston for hosting “Gals Who Give”. Rosemary donated a percentage of the sales over 3 days and Ellen is donating a portion of all her home sales through July 2013.
  • Hidden Lane Landscaping & Design for designing, installing, and providing materials to create a children’s garden at Laurel Learning Center.
  • Diane Lanigan for her continuing help as a meal server and recent efforts to help our clients’ four- legged friends with pet food.
  • Jacob Mills, Nick Nagy and Bob Sullivan for volunteering at the Southgate Community Day.
  • Safeway at South Lakes and Hunters Woods for donating thousands of dollars in groceries to our food pantry, reducing milk and egg expenses by 30-50% monthly.
  • Shenandoah Pharmacy Students for volunteering at Laurel Learning Center.
  • St. John Neumann’s Mini-Work Camp Adults and Teen volunteers have worked with the Townhouse Program for over 10 years to make repairs and improvements on the homes one Saturday a month.
  • Amanda Stolarski and the Time Warner Cable Road Runner team for landscaping and cleaning projects this month.
  • The volunteers who came and helped during the Herndon Neighborhood Resource Center’s Book Fair on Saturday April 20th. With your help we were able to give out over 300 books to the over 150 clients who attended the event!
  • Matt Valentini, Ed Johnson and the teams from JBG Companies  for bringing out 20 employee volunteers on two separate days to assist us with painting, landscaping, brush removal, food pick up, pantry organization and a host of other good deeds AND a wonderful catered lunch.
  • Susan Walsh for providing health education and healthy eating habits mentoring to Emergency & Self-Sufficiency Services Program clients.
  • Thank you to the following organizations and individuals for providing catering: