Local Non-Profit Hosts 9th Annual Red Sunday Food Distribution Event

By Angelique T. Gayle

LifeJacket, a local non-profit is hosting its 9th annual Red Sunday event on Sunday, December 18th. The event is set to reach the community’s most vulnerable citizens: the hungry, the hurting and the often overlooked.

LifeJacket is the 501 ©3 arm of The Temple of Healing Waters located in Sterling. The non-profit is dedicated to eradicating poverty in Loudoun County and the surrounding areas. With Executive Director Gloria Yates and Executive Pastor Darice Carlton of The Temple of Healing Waters at the helm, the non-profit’s programs are meeting the needs of the community.

“We are excited to feed hundreds who are in need this Christmas. It has been a true blessing to see this event evolve over the past nine years. Our end goal is to host monthly feedings just like our annual Red Sunday event in the very near future,” said Carlton.

Red Sunday is one of ten initiatives of LifeJacket. Fighting hunger and abating homelessness is the utmost focus of the non-profit. “We are continuing to fight hunger in Loudoun County. That’s why we are here. We want to demonstrate to the community that LifeJacket cares and we are here to serve them,” said Yates.

This year, in an effort to be more effective, Yates and her team restructured the event. Instead of being in one location, Red Sunday is “Going Mobile” and will be held at two locations: WalMart shopping center parking lot in Leesburg, VA and the Big Lots shopping center parking lot in Sterling, VA.

Volunteers will also be deployed to Volunteers of America in Leesburg and Embry Rucker Shelter in Reston as part of the Red Sunday Activities. “One thing about our vision is that we are always analyzing how to evolve by penetrating the areas of need. We are intentional and we always want to be effective,” said Yates. “This year, we are going to the people instead of having them come to us. The locations we chose gives us a presence to serve more needs and more people in the Loudoun community.”

In the past, Red Sunday had a different location each year—Dulles one year, Fairfax the next and then Herndon. The intent was to cover as much ground as possible and to share the commute between the populations that needed the resources. However, still some residents had difficulty attending. “We were in the community but the locations were not accessible enough for the people to get to us. This year we took more on by strategically identifying where the needs are,” said Yates.

Though Red Sunday is an event for the community to receive, the people who participate also benefit. Since its start, Red Sunday has been a place where volunteers come together to serve the community. There has been an excitement in the air that ignites the enthusiasm of the community. “It really is my pleasure to serve,” said volunteer Beverly Bowman, who has volunteered for the past three Red Sundays. “It’s something about seeing the smiling faces and gratitude as you serve someone their food, or a give them a hug. It’s one thing to donate, but it gives you a different sense of pride when you can see the person you’re giving to and experience their reaction.”

The goal of Red Sunday is to feed 500 people. This year over 100 volunteers will be deployed to selected locations. Participants will receive nutritious meals, healthy eating tips, and gift cards. LifeJacket is also partnering with MobileHope as they share the same care and concern for the community. The Outreach Team of MobileHope will be on-site to give coats, toys and blankets to those in need.

LifeJacket received donations from community businesses. Red Sunday will be hosted in conjunction with Trader Joe’s, Harvest Breads, Guapos, Wegmans (Ashburn), and Giant Food Corporate Foundation, a grant from Freddie Mac through Your Cause, LLC, and the congregation of The Temple of Healing Waters. There were also in-kind donations by Joe’s Café, Fuddruckers, Ihop and Bertuccis.

For additional information and/or to be a sponsor, contact our Communications Department at (703) 953-2817 or Gloria Yates at 703-625-0094.

Locations:

Walmart Shopping Center – 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. 950 Edwards Ferry Road/Leesburg, VA 20176

Big Lots Center Parking Lot- 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. 300 Enterprise Street/ Sterling, VA 20164