July Volunteer Newsletter

Alexandria’s First Ever City-Wide Food Drive

Starting on July 4th Volunteer Alexandria is organizing Alexandria’s first City-Wide Canned Food Drive. Similar to toy drives in the past, supporters can drop off items at 17 collection sites in Alexandria. With your help we can reach our goal of collecting 30,000 pounds of food.

Special thanks Volunteer Alexandria for coordinating this huge food drive and to our sponsors: Ting Internet, Fitness Together, and the Alexandria Rotary Club.

Collection Locations:
Alexandria City Hall – 301 King St
Barrett Library – 717 Queen St
Beatley Library – 5005 Duke St
Burke Library – 4701 Seminary Rd
Department of Community and Human Services – 4850 Mark Center Dr
Department of Beer and Wine – 2724 Richmond Hwy
Duncan Library – 2501 Commonwealth Ave
Fairlington Presbyterian Church – 3846 King St
Fitness Together – 300 N Washington St, Suite 106
Old Town North Community Partners – 901 North Royal St
Sixteenth Tabernacle Beth-El – 634 N. Patrick St
The Goodhart Group – 106 N Lee St
United Bank, 2401 Mt. Vernon Ave
Venue Condominium – 925 N Fairfax St
Volunteer Alexandria – 2202 Mt. Vernon Ave
YMCA Alexandria – 420 E Monroe Ave
Zweet Sport – 727 N Henry St

If you’d like to help spread the word you can download the promotional flyer here

Virtual Furniture Meet-Up- July 20th
Have you been a part of ALIVE!’s furniture program in the past or would just like to learn more? Join us online on Thursday, July 20th at 7pm. We will be saying thank you to Mike Mackey for leading this program for ALIVE!, welcoming the incoming Furniture Program Chair Nancy Lopez, answering questions and sharing the vision of what this work looks like in the future. Click here to register for the zoom meeting on July 20th.

We had a busy Saturday last week! Not only did nearly 100 volunteers helped to hand out free groceries during ALIVE!’s Last Saturday food distributions but we also had a group of six volunteers pick up donated furniture and deliver these items to three Alexandria families in need.

Is there an upcoming Saturday when you’d like to lend a hand? Our goal is to have at least four volunteers every Saturday, so to get started just register through the link below.

Ready to sign up for the July Last Saturday Food Distribution events?

We still have volunteer shifts open for the July 29th Last Saturday distributions as well as upcoming food distributions in August, and September. Sign up through our website’s volunteer scheduling tool to reserve your next shift. These activities start at 7:15am and we generally wrap up around 11:30 am. Children ages 15-17 must be accompanied by an adult. Spanish, Dari, and Pashto language skills are needed at all locations. Click here to login and reserve your next shift.

Cora Kelly Elementary School (3600 Commonwealth Ave)
17 Food Distributors
6 Translators

Northern Virginia Community College- Alexandria Campus (parking lot B-1 via 5000 Dawes Ave)
20 Food Distributors
5 Traffic Marshals
7 Translators

William Ramsay Rec Center (5650 Sanger Ave)
7 Translators

Truck Drivers (Meeting at 801 South Payne St)
5 Drivers- Available for anyone 21+ with a valid drivers license. Commercial license is not required.

Join the Food Hub team
Assist clients by greeting, registering, and introducing them to the food selection process, translating as well as organizing groceries and light cleaning. We are especially looking for people who are flexible, comfortable working with and serving others, speak languages other than English, and are excited about helping people find food and other resources. Children ages 14-17 must be accompanied by an adult.

Del Ray Food Hub Volunteer (2601 Mt. Vernon Ave)
Tuesdays – Thursdays 11 am – 12 pm | 12 pm – 2:30 pm | 2 pm – 4:30 pm | 4:30 pm – 6 pm | 5 pm – 6pm
Saturdays 9:45 am – 2 pm

West End Food Hub Volunteer (510-F S. Van Dorn St)
Tuesdays – Thursdays: 10 am – 12 pm | 11 am – 2 pm | 2 pm – 4 pm | 4 pm – 6 pm | 5 pm – 6 pm
Saturdays 9:45 am – 2 pm

Bus Barn Shout Out! Alexandria Police Department
Thank you to the class of new recruits from the Alexandria Police Department for spending an afternoon at the ALIVE! Bus Barn packing 600 bags of shelf stable food products like canned vegetables, tomato paste, tuna, applesauce, and more for our upcoming food distributions. Each month, roughly 4,000 households seek food assistance through ALIVE! and we couldn’t meet this need without the support of amazing volunteers.

Let us know if you are interested in sorting donated food and packing bags of groceries for our upcoming distribution events. Good for groups of 4-10 people. Children ages 15-17 must be accompanied by an adult.

Tuesdays – Thursdays: 9 am – 12 pm | 1 pm – 4 pm
Meeting at 116 S. Quaker Ln
Scheduling varies as needed, so contact volunteermg@alive-inc.org to inquire about the next shift.