Hello!

We have received a new need for food and clothing. I have a few to tell you about so I will just list them here so it's all in one spot! :)


-We have a need for food for a mother and 2 children here in Ashburn. They are barely getting by and would appreciate any donated food. She asked for fruit and vegetables. No known allergies.

-We have a need for clothing for a family that is in a shelter right now. There are three girls on the larger and taller size. Sizes 7-8 to size 14 in spring and summer clothing is what we are looking for for this family.

-We also have a need for backpack food! We have started taking backpacks of food and dropping them off with counselors to distribute on Fridays to children that have no food over the weekend. Some children are in shelters or other situations where they eat free or reduced lunch at school and then have very little or no food at home over the weekend until they return on Monday to school.

The counselors in the schools will get the parents permission and contact us and put them on our list so we know how many to make and take. We took our first backpacks last week to 3 children. This week we need to fill 6-7 backpacks by Friday. More children were just added today. We are looking for nutritious food easily prepared by a child (just in case the parents are not around when they need to eat). Please avoid items with peanut if possible. I know that isn't always possible but we are going to try and see how it works. I have listed some items below that are needed:

-backpacks in good, clean condition ( any kind)
-instant oatmeal
-easy mac
-apples
-oranges
-apple sauce
-granola or cereal bars
-cereal
-loaves of bread
-jelly
-fig newtons or other cookies
-gold fish crackers
-crackers
-juice boxes
-parmalat or other milk boxes that do not need refrigeration
-raisins or dried fruit
-poptarts
-spaghettios
-ravioli
-soup
-dinty moore beef stew

Please feel free to donate other items that you feel are nutritious and like the ones above. These are suggestions and types of things I put in last week. We are trying to give them some nutritious items to eat. :)

We are developing this as we go so we will start with what we have and see what works the best. I am so excited about this opportunity to show kids love each week by giving them these backpacks in what is usually an unstable time in their lives. We will be packing them on Thursdays and dropping them off on Friday mornings where they are needed. I know a lot of you have offered to help and are excited about this and some of you have offered to sponsor packs each week. If you have talked to me in the past about this please email me and let me know your interest once again so I can have it in front of me when organizing help.

I appreciate you all so much! If you would like to donate any of this please email me and we will arrange drop off or pick up.

Thank you so much!

Jill