On Saturday, June 8, The Giving Circle of Alexandria sponsored a successful car seat workshop at the First Baptist Church for families participating in Alexandria playgroups for low-income families. Many people worked together to make this event happen including volunteers from the Alexandria Sheriff’s Department, Arlington Sheriff’s Department, and Prince William County Police Department and Fire and Rescue. Tarsha Rice, playgroup coordinator for the Campagna Center; Carri Stoltz, playgroup coordinator for the Center for Alexandria’s Children; and Melanie Lugo from the Alexandria office of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program were also part of the workshop. This workshop provided an opportunity for us to give new car seats and boosters to families who needed them, for eligible families to learn about WIC and for the sheriffs to teach families how to use car seats to keep their children safe.
Thank you, everyone, for your hard work in providing a service that is difficult to come by in the City of Alexandria. The playgroup families were very appreciative of the workshop. This was collaboration at its finest!
More details at The Patch.
Please join us at the home of Caren Camp to welcome our new Board of Directors and hear from Carri Stolz, Playgroup Program Director at the Center for Alexandria’s Children (CAC). Carri will give us an update on the ACPI playgroups and the $50,000 gift we made to the CAC this year. Find out how your gift money is working for children in Alexandria. And, as usual, there will be wine, friends and a lot to talk about.
Will you be able to come? RSVP Now.
Spring2Action is coming up in one week! Mark your calendar to support the Giving Circle on April 17, or schedule your donation if you think you will forget.
The Giving Circle Board approved the Gift Committee’s recommendation to award $50,000 to the Center for Alexandria’s Children to support their leadership of the Alexandria City-wide Playgroup Initiative. Specifically, this gift will fund:
- the salaries and stipends of the people implementing the playgroup assessment recommendations via ACPI, and
- support for the ACPI to continue partnerships with other non-profits who provide training and materials to the playgroups
- expansion of CAC’s playgroups to new locations serving Alexandria’s most vulnerable children.
How exciting it will be to watch playgroups grow! The ACPI, the new playgroups and the difference they make to children and families would not have been possible without your investment in the Giving Circle and its mission.
Thank you for your patience and confidence while we nurtured this idea. Thank you for your continued support!
Debra Roepke
Gift Chair, The Giving Circle of Alexandria
I am sure many of you are sorting through your children’s things to make way for the new stuff to come this month….The Giving Circle of Alexandria is doing a book drive for the DreamDog Foundation and we could really use your gently-used children’s books. The DreamDog Foundation is setting up “book stores” for children in need to “shop” for the holidays (and provides the books to the children at no charge).
Two of our members are collecting books at their homes this week. Please drop off your gently used children’s books at 23 W. Myrtle Street or 300 N. View Terrace now through Friday December 7.
This effort is for children’s books only. Thanks for your support!
Join us from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Meade Room in Christ Church to have a glass of wine, some appetizers and to hear two compelling guest speakers:
- Deborah Warren, Deputy Director for Children and Families at DHCS in Alexandria will talk about preparing Alexandria’s children for success,
- and Jane Hess Collins of Get Out and Give Back will talk with us about women in philanthropy
Let us know you’re coming!
