Annandale Christian Community for Action -November 2021

Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA)

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you to everyone in the ACCA Community including churches, friends, and neighbors for your generosity this year and over the last 54 years. We are grateful to our community who continues to support its needy families.

A Day at the Child Development Center

Children at the Child Development Center enjoy the great fall weather. We are enrolling 3 and 4 year olds for the last remaining spots available in our program.

It was a beautiful day at the playground.

Photographer: Freddy Fuentes

Food Pantry News

Scouting for Food brought in over 7 tons of food to the ACCA Food Pantry!

Thanks go out to the following groups for their outstanding service to the Annandale community. To be exact, they brought in 14,493 lbs. of food on November 13. Thank you to all of our neighbors who put their groceries out for the scouts to pick up.

Following are the scout groups who pitched in on this important food drive just in time for the holidays.

Cub Scout Pack 678
Scout Troop 1789
Scout Troop 99
Scout Troop 150
Scout Troop 875
Ship 1176

These are the most-needed items right now. We will be collecting food donations on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the exception of County Holidays and other scheduled closings from 1 – 5 pm at the food pantry located at 7200 Columbia Pike (trailer separate from the day care center) in Annandale. Please do not drop off food if a volunteer is not available. Please share with your friends and neighbors. For more information or to help at the pantry, please contact pantry@accacares.org.

Who Does ACCA Help?

Following are some of the clients that we served in October of 2021 with financial assistance and furniture.

A single mom required surgery for cancer and she was unable to work for two months. She couldn't pay her rent so ACCA paid the majority of the overdue rent.

Two families living in the same apartment needed help with the rent. A mother, father and three young children rent an apartment and sublet a room to a single father and his child. ACCA paid three months overdue rent and the overdue utilities bills.

A family with three children has been living on unemployment benefits for months after both parents lost their jobs due to COVID. They tried to sublet their basement but could not find anyone who could pay the rent. ACCA/ERA paid seven months overdue rent and utilities.

Due to business closings during the pandemic, and to the long term ill effects from COVID, a couple has been unable to pay their rent for almost a year. They requested assistance with eleven months back rent and utilities, which ACCA/CARES paid.

A grandmother, mother and two children were unable to find work after the banquet reception business where they worked went bankrupt due to the pandemic. ACCA/ERA paid ten months rent that was in arrears.

A woman had to quit her job at two different supermarkets because of her compromised immune system from chemotherapy. She recently returned to work at one job but she was replaced at the other. She requested rent assistance and ACCA/ERA paid six months overdue rent, which includes utilities, trash and parking.

A grateful family who recently arrived in the US from Afghanistan received beds, table and chairs, living room furniture and other necessities. A volunteer helped them load a van and delivered to their apartment.

On November 30, 2021, we’ll unite for a worldwide celebration of generosity. GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to come together through generosity in all its forms by sharing acts of kindness and giving their voice, time, money, goods, and advocacy to support communities and causes.

Helping the neediest and most vulnerable among us, ACCA offers critical help in emergencies: rental assistance, funds for utility bills, medical and dental care; nutritious food and hygiene products; gently used furniture; transportation to medical appointments – the most basic, fundamental aid imaginable. Our Child Development Center provides affordable day care, early education, and special services annually for infants and children from low-income households, the kind of help that gives families a healthy start in life.

The persistent need of the vulnerable families in the ACCA service area coupled with the increasing costs for assistance, means that your generosity matters now more than ever. ACCA’s effective and efficient delivery of needed services has led to its repeated recognition as "One of the Best" by the Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy.

You can donate to ACCA online via the Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy. The Catalogue processes donations using Stripe, which deducts a 2.2% servicing fee + $.30 per domestic transaction fee from each donation.

Donate to ACCA

Ministries Updates for October

Food Ministry - In October, the pantry helped 57 families and 162 individuals.

Family Emergency Assistance - helped 20 families with assistance amounting to $33,633.52 and included 49 individuals.

Furniture Ministry - The ACCA furniture team made 10 deliveries to 28 individuals. Six of the households included clients with disabilities and 3 included senior citizens.

Transportation - In October, the joint ACCA-Shepherd’s Center transportation program provided 64 two-way rides.

CROP Walk - The 2021 CROP Hunger Walk took place on October 16 at Lake Accotink Park. There were about 35 people who joined us for the in-person send-off. Walkers from Friendship United Methodist, John Calvin Presbyterian, Peace Lutheran, St. Barnabas’ Episcopal and United Baptist churches participated. Church World Service shares part of the funds raised by CROP Hunger Walks with local hunger and poverty-fighting organizations like ACCA, and we will receive part of the funds from this fall’s walk next year.

Homework Club - is continuing its mission by providing essential ESOL classes online to local families.

ACCA remains committed to the challenge of Jesus, as described in Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”