June 2023

Preschool Graduation

The ACCA Child Development Center (CDC) celebrated its students at a special event on June 17 as they prepared for the next step in their academic careers! The 5-year -old children will move on to Kindergarten in August after being prepared for this transition by the dedicated staff at the CDC.

Congrats to Peace Lutheran

The Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) presented a Sustainability Champion Award on June 8 to Peace Lutheran Church, one of 27 ACCA Churches.

The awards honor people and organizations who make significant contributions toward the FACS mission of creating moral and equitable solutions to climate change in Virginia. Peace Lutheran Church’s commitment to sustainability falls under one of its six guiding principles: “We promote love and justice for all of God’s creation.” To reduce its energy consumption, the church funded and installed rooftop solar panels in 2021.

Peace Lutheran has also taken other steps to curb energy use, including programmable thermostats, LED lights, automatic light switches, upgrading dishwashers, planting native trees, turning much of the property into gardens, installing an energy-efficient HVAC system, and encouraging staff to drive less by working from home.

Congratulations to Peace Lutheran on this important achievement!

Child Development Center Staff Development

The staff at the ACCA Child Development Center (CDC) recently attended a two-day training session focusing on Project-Based Learning.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is more than just a teaching method. It is a revitalization of education for students so that they can develop intellectually and emotionally. By using real-world scenarios, challenges, and problems, students gain useful knowledge and skills. The goal of using complex questions or problems is to develop and enhance student learning by encouraging critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and self-management. Students make their own decisions, perform their own research, and review their own and fellow students’ processes and projects.

The CDC staff visited local businesses and designed learning experiences based on what they learned.

ACCA in the Community

ACCA is proud to help support the work of Just Neighbors, a local organization that provides high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, asylees and refugees in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

During the last nine months, Just Neighbors has served 58 clients impacting over 200 individuals in our area. Many of these families would not be able to pursue their legal status without ACCA’s financial support.

Immigration status is a key social determinant of health. Legal status means not only a legal right to work, which generally means better jobs and an increase in income, but also reduces stress from fear of deportation, potentially creates access to health insurance or Medicaid, and may provide better living conditions and reducing dependence on other social services. Find out more about Just Neighbors.

Donations for Food Pantry

As families across the country struggle with reduced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, we have seen an increase in demand for food from our food pantry here in Annandale. Can you help? We need:

1) Cash to purchase fresh foods. Donate online through the Catalogue for Philanthropy

2) Nonperishable foods - We will be collecting food donations Tuesday-Friday afternoons from 1:30 pm - 4 pm, with the exception of County Holidays and other scheduled closings. The ACCA food pantry is located at 7200 Columbia Pike (trailer separate from the day care center) in Annandale (next to the fire station). Please do not drop off food if a volunteer is not available. What we need.

Please share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors.

May Impact Report

Type of Assistance	Households Helped	Individuals Helped	Amount Provided/Donated
Rent, Utilities, Medical *	30	85	$25,349
Furniture	2	6
Transportation	56	56
Food	120	373
Total for May	208	520

* We had to restrict the amounts of assistance provided due to the continuing need of the community and our efforts to keep people housed. This is reflected in the number of families assisted vs the total amount of assistance provided which looks small compared to our usual. The need continues but the dollars are dwindling. This program received extra funding of $128,000 from the Legacy Fund to cover March through June 30th, the end of the fiscal year.

Donate to ACCA

Save the Date

Please save Saturday October 14 for the Annandale CROP Hunger Walk. The walk will be at Lake Accotink Park, with registration beginning at 8 a.m. The walk raises funds for Church World Service hunger relief and poverty-fighting programs around the world and for ACCA.

For more information contact Camille Mittelholtz [email protected] or [email protected]

Storage Space Needed

Our current furniture warehouse is full! The ACCA Furniture Program needs storage space for the gently used furniture that is donated and then delivered to our neighbors in need. We need help locating storage space. Please share with your friends and neighbors! Email furniture@ac cacares.org. Mo re info:

Other Volunteer Needs

Our critical needs right now are for drivers delivering groceries, and furniture delivery team members. Please share these needs with your family, friends, and neighbors! Please contact us and we'll give you the details.

Furniture Delivery - Can you help deliver furniture and household goods to families in the ACCA service area? We will be collecting and delivering furniture on the following Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon: July 8. After a break for truck maintenance in August, we'll resume work on September 9 and 23. Register online or contact [email protected] if you're able to help by Thursday of those weeks.

Food Delivery Drivers - ACCA is looking for food delivery drivers to deliver food to needy clients within the Annandale/Bailey's Crossroads area. There is no fixed commitment. Drivers can work weekly or every few weeks or less as it fits their schedules each week. Deliveries are between 1:30 and about 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. Drivers receive food referrals from the food captain, contact the client to ensure they will be home, pick up pre-packed food at the pantry, and drive to the client’s residence. The time involved is usually less than an hour. Complete the volunteer interest form.

Volunteers Needed for ESL Program at the Annandale United Methodist Church (AUMC) Mission Center.

Over sixty (60) clients at the AUMC Mission Center have shown an interest in English as a Second Language classes. The Mission Center needs three people to volunteer to be assistant instructors and also a lead instructor to teach a second ESL class. The class will meet twice a week: 90 minutes on Tuesday evening followed by a 60 minute class on Thursday evening. To help with this, you do NOT need to know another language. The students learn best from someone who is friendly, patient, and appreciative of the effort it takes to learn a new language. For details, please call John Clarke, 703-606-6464.

Find out more about volunteering with ACCA.

Visit our website

Annandale Christian Community for Action

[email protected]| https://accacares.org