Make a Difference this Holiday Season

By Morgan Mentzer, Arlington Chamber of Commerce 

The holiday season is the perfect time of year to take a break, reflect, and focus on gratitude and giving. Choosing to do good during this time of the year is a wonderful tradition to start for yourself or your family. Spend this holiday season giving back to your community through volunteering, performing random acts of kindness, or by making a donation.
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Your fellow Chamber members in the nonprofit sector compiled a list of ways you and your business can contribute and give back to the community this holiday season. 

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Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA)
Contact: Meghan Sharon, msharon@awla.org, (703) 931-9241 x252

• Check out AWLA’s Amazon wish list online and surprise shelter animals with treats and toys this holiday season.
• Become a monthly donor and give homeless animals food, shelter, medical care, and love every day of the year. 

Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC)
Contact: Jolie Smith, jolie.smith@afac.org, (571) 384-1443

• AFAC will be providing Thanksgiving turkeys and holiday hens to 3,300 Arlington families. You can sponsor a family meal for one of your neighbors in need. Visit afac.org/holidays for details.
• Organize a food drive to help AFAC collect food for Arlington families struggling against hunger. We'll provide you with boxes and will pick up the donated food.

Arlington Free Clinic
Contact: Bronwyn Towle, btowle@arlingtonfreeclinic.org, 703-979-1425 x143

• Give patients the supplies needed to maintain their oral health by donating toothpaste and dental floss.
• Keep our adult patients warm this winter by donating warm hats, gloves, and socks.

Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing
Contact: Julie Booth, jbooth@apah.org, 571-800-6462

• Donate gifts and toys for children ages 0-12 for APAH’s 2019 Holiday Gift Shop. Donations needed no later than December 3, 2019.
• The donated items will make up a holiday gift shop that will allow parents to choose an item for each of their children.

Aspire! Afterschool Learning
Contact: Anna Faulkner, anna@aspireafterschool.org, (703) 379-6488 x104

• Donate books to Arlington’s at-risk 3rd – 5th graders here. 
• Help our students stay warm this winter by donating jackets, gloves, hats, and scarves.

Bridges to Independence
Contact: Christina Armstrong, carmstrong@bridges2.org, 703-525-7177 x127

• Become a Holiday Helper and empower a homeless or low-income family to shop where they are this holiday season by purchasing a general gift card and delivering it to our family shelter: Sullivan House, 3103 9th Road North, Arlington, VA 22201.
• Become a Bridge Builder and enroll as a sustaining member by making a monthly gift, which can provide one employment workshop for 10-15 participants, empowering them to go from minimum wage to a livable wage.

 
Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington Christ House
Contact: John Croft, john.croft@ccda.net, (703) 549-8644 x107

• Donate adult-size backpacks to help men in our homeless shelter commute to new jobs and vocational school.
• Help men in our homeless shelter organize their personal papers, job prospects and correspondence by donating portfolio notebooks with zipper (waterproof, if possible).

Culpepper Garden
Contact: Jasmin Witcher, jwitcher@culpeppergarden.org, (703) 528-0162 x109

• Help a low-income older adult who has recently moved to our senior community by donating toiletry items for welcome bags (lotion, hand sanitizer, wash clothes, small pack of tissue).
• Donate a gift card to stores including Target, Harris Teeter, and Safeway to help seniors in need.

Doorways for Women and Families
Contact: Anna MacNiven, amacniven@doorwaysva.org, (703) 504-9291

• Support adults, youth, and children who are escaping domestic violence, experiencing homelessness, and moving beyond emergency shelter by donating Target, Giant, or Safeway gift cards.
• Donate African-American women’s hair care products for women in our shelter and housing programs.

Embracing Arlington Arts
Contact: Janet Kopenhaver, janetk@embracing-arlington-arts.org, (703) 528-6674

• Make a donation to Taking Care, an initiative that assists area theatre professionals in times of unforeseen financial hardship (http://bit. ly/35Pi338).

La Cocina VA
Contact: Paloma Martinez, palomamartinez@lacocinava.org, 202-930-3316

• Donate copy paper for use by La Cocina VA teachers and staff in our Bilingual Culinary Training and Food Assistance Program for low-income individuals.
• Donate a laptop for use by our culinary students to prepare resumes, cover letters, and learn culinary English vocabulary to prepare them for entering the workforce.

Operation Renewed Hope Foundation
Contact: Contact: Deborah Snyder, deborah@orhfounddation.org, (703) 887-8117

• Help a veteran family who has recently moved out of the foundation’s emergency shelter by donating gas or a grocery store gift card.

Rotary Club of Rosslyn-Fort Myer
Contact: Randy Fleitman, Fleitmanrh@hotmail.com, (703) 939-7550

• Help equip a youth center and music classroom at a school in the village of Chantal, Haiti. The center will enable Chantal’s students to practice indoors and participate in regional and national sports leagues, dance tournaments and music festivals. Please provide the items below by November 20.
• Soccer uniforms for 15 high school and 11 middle school male and female players. Also need soccer balls, pumps, nets, shin guards, and cleats. Musical instruments including drum sets, guitars, keyboards, brass instruments, etc.

Synetic Theater
Contact: Stephanie Ogden, stephanie@synetictheater.org, (703) 824-8060 x110

• Donate a gift card to Amazon.com to help support the cost of costumes and props for our productions.
• Sponsor a low-income teen on scholarship in our pre-professional training program by donating a week or month of their tuition.

All holiday contribution opportunities were submitted by nonprofit members of the Chamber. All of the Chamber’s nonprofit organization members were notified about the opportunity to submit items to this list.