Lisa Lombardozzi volunteered as the 2008 LINK Holiday Project Manager coordinating both the Thanksgiving events on November 22 and Christmas events on December 20.
Photo by Marinda Wong.
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LINK Loaves & Fish Feed 5,800
LINK provides groceries to over 5,800 local residents at Holiday Events
1,575 Children Receive New Toys
1,150 Used Winter Coats and Sweaters Distributed
Christ the Redeemer Catholic, Sterling United Methodist, Herndon United Methodist and Trinity Presbyterian Host Events
1,100 Walk-in Guests Receive Food and Clothes
Hundreds Volunteer in Support of Pre-Staging Activity and Distribution
Public Schools, Churches and Local Businesses Rebuild Depleted Food Reserves
By LINK Holiday Project Manager Lisa Lombardozzi
What do you do when your children grow up and leave home for college? You look for a way to fill large gaps of time and help your community. LINK, an all-volunteer Christian organization serving the Herndon, Sterling, and Ashburn communities since 1972, was the choice for me. I had volunteered for years answering the food pantry phone lines several times a year, and deciding to organize the annual Holiday Basket program seemed like a good use of my new found time.
With the economic downturn, LINK chose to increase the number of families that it would assist this year for the Holiday program by almost 20%. The biggest concern on everyone’s minds was whether we would receive enough donations of food, used coats, and toys to provide this increased level of support. As days passed, calls and emails poured in offering help. Boy Scouts donated over 35,000 pounds of food from their Scouting for Food program, Girl Scouts donated thousands of pounds from their Caroling for Food program through Good Shepherd Alliance in Ashburn, and area businesses such as Wal-Mart, Salon Nordine, and many others held food drives for LINK. GAM Printers generously donated hundreds of boxes to store the food, Harris Teeter donated over 7,000 paper grocery bags, private and public schools in Fairfax County and Loudoun County held food and coat drives, and the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Business Council sent members to act as Spanish interpreters. Lockheed Martin provided over 100 volunteers to serve as escorts, translators, and drivers and to load guest vehicles. Shoppers Food Warehouse, Bottom Dollar, Giants and Safeway loaned shopping carts for our makeshift food markets. Blue Ridge Meats from Front Royal donated over 1,200 pounds of frozen deer roast, chops, burgers, ribs and round steak.
Food Distribution at Christ the Redeemer Catholic- photo by Marinda Wong
After the Thanksgiving program, we basically ran out of food. Many schools and businesses offered to hold a second drive to refill the shelves. Church groups asked members to donate again so that we could serve another 600+ families at Christmas. Elected officials advertised LINK’s needs throughout their boundaries. One day, we had a need for a large trailer to move 85+ boxes from one donor to Christ the Redeemer and I came home to find an email from Aaron Gilman of SCS Field Services offering his vehicle and he just happened to own a 24’ trailer. Over and over, little miracles occurred to fill the many needs we had to support.
We quickly realized that we would need over 3,200 new unwrapped toys if we were going to be able to give two toys per child registered for the Christmas program. We had never needed such a large number of toys in our LINK history. Once again, those little miracles happened to provide the number we needed. Many companies and schools held toy drives to help us reach the 3,200 goal – World Vision, Federal Children’s Center, National Reconnaissance Organization, COSTCO, the Loudoun Independent, Loudoun Easterner and Herndon Observer newspapers, and many more. A company in Sterling, NEW Corporation, held a toy drive in honor of their founder’s mother, Elaine Schaufeld, and received hundreds of toys. In addition, they donated $5,000 toward the new toy program. This money enabled LINK to fill the gaps in toys received and allowed us to provide two toys per child to include every walk-in family.
Volunteers at Trinity Presbyterian - Photo by Marinda Wong
One day, I answered my phone to hear the person on the other end of the line identify himself as a Fairfax County Police Officer. It wasn’t bad news, but very good news. Each year, the Police Department conducts a Santa’s Ride to collect toys for children. The toys are distributed to various organizations. The Police Department Motorcycle unit had never donated gifts to LINK, but after several phone calls they learned of LINK’s need for toys. When they opened the trailer door, we were surprised to see 47 brand new bicycles inside in varying sizes. Leftover toys were given to a group in the area that delivers gifts to homeless families and other area organizations that contacted LINK.
Toys Galore Herndon United Methodist - Photo by Justin Letendre
When the Thanksgiving and Christmas Program were over on Saturday, December 20th, LINK had helped over 1,200 families in the local area by providing 60,000 lbs of food. Over 5,800 individuals received non-perishable food for five to seven days, 1,150 gently-used winter coats and sweaters, 3,200 new toys, and over $25,000 in gift certificates for groceries. I saw the community pull together to respond to an urgent need. Community organizations – Reston Interfaith, F.I.S.H., Holiday Coalition, Our Daily Bread, Good Shepherd Alliance, and many others worked together to help the families in our area. Area churches and LINK member churches worked hard to ensure the success of this year’s program. The 500 volunteers that worked during the pre-staging and two-day events this year gave freely of their time over and over again. The outpouring of generosity from our community spread over several counties and states with volunteers from as far away as Maryland.
Used Winter Coats at Sterling United Methodist - Photo by Marinda Wong
When I celebrate Christmas tomorrow with my family, it will be with a happy heart knowing that thousands of individuals in my community were helped by their neighbors who saw a need and promptly responded.
The faithful will abound with blessings. – Proverbs 28:20 NIV
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