Do Good – Serve!

Gather your flock and volunteer at the Annual Turkey Trot! There’s plenty of opportunities for people of all ages to serve at this amazing event that supports multiple non-profits and organizations doing good work in Arlington County. The trot happens on Thanksgiving Day - Thursday, November 28.

The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney is hosting their second Expungement Clinic of 2024, at Arlington Presbyterian. One main obstacle with this process is that people need to get from the church to the Courthouse to get fingerprinted, and many don’t have a way to commute – that’s where WE come in! Grace has 2 15-passenger vans that can be used to help our neighbors in this journey. If you’d like to drive our shuttles, signup at the link below and help us be famous for love by giving our neighbors a second chance in life!

With an increase of families struggling with food insecurity in our community, our partners at Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) need some extra hands! This opportunity is very different from our regular produce bagging because we will be bagging raw chicken, so it’s not for everyone. The minimum age for volunteers is 12yo with a parent or guardian present.

Every 1st Sunday of the month a team from Grace meets at Carpenter’s Shelter to cook and serve breakfast to their residents. This is an amazing opportunity to feed our neighbors, meet other Grace attendees and build a better community through acts of service! The minimum age for volunteers is 12yo with a parent or guardian present.

The NoVA Doughnation Ministry is an incredible group of volunteers that pick up left-over food from Panera Bread before they close in the evening and donate those leftovers to food banks and homeless shelters in our community. This is a quick effort and a light lift that makes a huge difference. You can pick up once in a blue moon, once a month, once a week… whatever works best for you.

AHC partners with local food banks to provide free, healthy groceries to low-income residents in affordable house units weekly. Volunteers using their own vehicles can help deliver the groceries to home-bound residents one time or weekly. This opportunity is open for volunteers ages 14 and up.

You can help feed our neighbors struggling with homelessness in Arlington County. Gather your friends, family or small group and pack 50 bagged meals to be served to our unsheltered neighbors on the streets. You or your group will purchase the supplies, assemble the sandwiches, and then drop them off at PathForward on your reserved drop-off date. This activity is a remote serve opportunity so all ages are welcome to join!

You can help make this holiday season a cheerful time for teens and senior citizens living at AHC's affordable housing properties! This is a DIY serve opportunity, where you will purchase the items and decorate & assemble the bags at your own location and schedule.

Every day, PathForward sees hundreds of people in their Homeless Services Center, and one of the ways they assist neighbors in homelessness is serving meals! Serving meals includes assisting the staff with hot meal service options, interacting with clients, and helping to clean-up the meal service area as needed. A typical meal served at the Center includes a protein-based main course with vegetable side dish and salad. For this opportunity, volunteers ages 13-18 are allowed with a parent or guardian present.

Affordable Homes & Communities (AHC) is starting a new Afterschool Program for elementary school students at the Shelton, an affordable housing apartment building in the Green Valley neighborhood of Arlington. Volunteers will work one on one or with a small group of students (K-5th grade) on homework, reading, and math along with social-emotional learning activities. Weekly volunteers preferred but one-time volunteers accepted. This opportunity is open for volunteers ages 14 and up.

Volunteer at Habitat ReStores! There are three ReStores in our local area, located in Alexandria, Chantilly, and Herndon. These are second-hand stores where they sell home goods, furniture, and construction materials. All the money raised helps them build more homes. Volunteers help with various tasks, including accepting donations, sorting and organizing items, and providing customer support. They are open Monday-Saturday and can host a group of 8-10 people per shift.

The Leadership Center of Arlington aims to connect, develop, and inspire leaders for personal growth, civic engagement, and community impact. To make your volunteer experience as easy as possible, they have gathered tons of opportunities in our county for you to explore and find the best fit for your passions and schedules. Check out all the opportunities they have listed!

Join Comunidad in the mission of equipping our community leaders! You can volunteer with the teen mentorship program (Champions), the elementary literacy program (Strong Readers Strong Leaders), the Adult Computer Literacy classes, or with their monthly Food Distribution. Opportunities are open for weekly or periodic volunteering.

Volunteering or mentoring through Little Lights is a beautiful way to invest in our community and to genuinely connect and uplift the lives of your neighbors. They have several opportunities for adults and teen volunteers (age 16+) to get involved in afterschool programs.

Casa Chirilagua is committed to developing relationships with families to see the Chirilagua neighborhood in Alexandria transformed by Christ – and YOU can be a part of it! Their volunteer opportunities depend on the season, so check out the opportunities for fall and be a part of the incredible work they do.