Welcome to Caring Community Updates 2024 news and articles about our volunteers in action!
A Towel-rific Holiday
(posted December 2024)
We’re excited to share that we’ve had a successful 2024 Holiday Project, and the bags have been received with deep appreciation by the Department of Family Services clients. A huge “thank you” to all the generous donors who contributed 250 towels and numerous other supplies, bringing much-needed cheer to our community members!
Volunteer Solutions also extends our heartfelt gratitude to our volunteers, who’ve been delivering these bags, and to those whose ribbon-tying and packing help was invaluable. Thank you to those who wrote handmade cards, and to the Northern VA Handcrafters Guild for their donation of handmade tissue holders and to Fairfax Pets on Wheels for being instrumental in providing pet items for clients with dogs and cats.
Each of you has played an integral role in spreading joy and serving as a warm reminder that our community truly cares for one another!
We are grateful for the many ways in which VS volunteers help increase social connectivity for older adults in our community, who are clients of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services. Our volunteers positively impact feelings of social isolation by engaging in weekly visits as social visitors, by driving others on errands and appointments, or by assisting with special short-term delivery or home improvement projects, and helping others be better connected via technology. 
Did you know September is National Senior Center month? There are 13 Fairfax County senior center locations where older adults go to learn a new skill, pursue creative interests, stay active, and meet others. Volunteer Solutions staff and volunteers visited Hollin Hall, Little River Glen and Lincolnia senior centers during our September Connection Corner meetings. Senior Centers are a wonderful place to share your talents. We have volunteers who lead line-dancing and fitness classes, troubleshoot computer problems, instruct others on how to make art, play the piano, speak other languages, and much more. If you’re interested in getting a tour of your local senior center, stop in and ask for one. 
Older adults experience challenges and frustrations that can be difficult to understand, even if you work with older people, or are a caregiver, family member, neighbor, or friend. A new training series is being offered and facilitated by ElderLink, a partnership program between the Fairfax Area Agency on Aging and Inova. This “Exploring the Dimensions of Aging through Virtual Reality” initiative allows participants to “see through the eyes” of older adults to better understand what it is like for them to encounter various challenges in daily life. 
Did you know that 66% of US households own a pet? Volunteer Solutions (VS) is not only thankful for how Laura Pageon serves our community as a VS volunteer, but for the time she took to give an informative presentation on pets at our virtual Connection Corner (CC) on Thursday, August 15, 2024. Laura is a board-certified veterinarian who serves as a veterinary pathologist and used to practice as a clinical vet, too. She studies and diagnoses diseases in animals and has taught vet students as well. During the CC gathering, Laura highlighted the ways in which pets can enhance the well-being of their owners, and vice versa, and important factors to consider while exploring the possibility of adopting a pet.
Volunteer spotlights are wonderful opportunities to learn more about who our volunteers are, what they feel passionate about and how their life’s journey led them to Volunteer Solutions (VS). We learned that accomplished artist and longtime VS volunteer, George Bishop, has a colorful background, literally and figuratively. 
On Monday, June 10, 2024, Community Ambassadors (CA) and other active VS volunteers had a unique opportunity to attend the quarterly CA meeting at the Fairfax County Emergency Operations center. Moriah Kitaeff of the 
The annual Fairfax Pets on Wheels (FPOW) picnic was held on Sunday, June 2, 2024, at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, VA. Many volunteers attended with their ever-adorable canine companions. Nadia Hoonan, Volunteer Solutions’ Partnership Coordinator, also participated in the festivities. A professional photographer was there creating photos, which are used for the Pet Pals trading cards that are given to long-term care residents during visits.
Every May, in honor of Older Americans month, our Helping Hands volunteers, partners, and VS staff take on various projects to help older adults in our community. Services range from indoor decluttering, organizing, donating items, to trimming bushes and yard work to improve accessibility, and more. Groups range in size depending on the scope of work needed. Helping Hands recipients are Fairfax County Department of Family Services clients who meet functional and income requirements and receive case management services. 
A hearty “thank you” to our volunteer drivers and the Yacht Haven Garden Club (YHGC)! The YHGC members created many beautiful flower arrangements for the Department of Family Services' Adult & Aging clients in the Falls Church and Annandale region. Trader Joe's donated most of the flowers and YHGC covered the rest, including materials.
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Volunteer Solutions selected the Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads as our 2024 Star Partner Awardee. This philanthropic group has contributed their time, efforts, and financial contributions to the annual Fairfax County Department of Family Services Adult & Aging division’s holiday project since its inception in 2011. They’ve been instrumental in helping us bring holiday cheer during a season that can be lonely for many, especially those who are socially isolated. Holiday gifts, including donated gift cards, various hygiene items, crafts, emergency kits, winter home goods, and more, have been met with gratitude from the recipients. 
In the past year alone, Trinh Nguyen has served in 11 different Volunteer Solutions opportunities! She's been active in one-time tasks and ongoing roles. During our holiday blanket drive, she brought 30+ blankets she had collected with the help of her family and community. Her sister, Bach, has also been helpful in supporting the community, as well as Trinh's son. Trinh and her sister teamed up to help declutter an elderly woman's home, and Trinh has continued to remove and take items for donation nearly every week. 
Scott McDaniel is passionate about his craft and has been teaching pottery and ceramics classes at James Lee Senior Center during the past two years. He patiently guides students through the steps, providing support and encouraging them to participate fully in the process from molding, to glazing, to firing in the kilns at the center. Scott improves quality of life for older adults by providing opportunities for them to express their creativity in new ways.
Older adult clients of the Dept. of Family Services were feeling the love in February! Hundreds of cards were created by volunteers of all ages, including those in Volunteer Solutions, Troops 54084 and 1345G, and RSVP-NOVA volunteers who participated in the Volunteer Fairfax Give Together event. 
The Adult and Aging Services program - in the Department of Family Services- receives requests throughout the year to attend various types of community events and share helpful information with the public. Volunteer Solutions (VS) staff and volunteers are often at these local fairs, sharing resource pamphlets and flyers with those who stop by the tables. Pictured here are Adult and Aging staff, Jeannine Purdy (VS Regional Volunteer Coordinator, in the cream shirt) and Becky Mitchell, with outreach volunteers- Peter Cacioppo and Kay Croll, at Mount Vernon’s annual town meeting in February 2024. 
To kick off 2024 in the best way possible, we welcomed Karen Hannigan, the supervisor of the Department of Family Services’ Aging Disability Caregiver Resources Unit (ADCR) as our speaker for the January Connection Corner meeting. ADCR can be accessed