Health & Fitness
LINK Needs Your Help! Thousands Registered to Receive Food and Toys at Local Churches
LINK Churches are ready to open their doors to support local families in need on Saturday December 17 from 8 AM to 3 PM.
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever" (2 Corinthians 9:9)
LINK Churches are praying for more community support
Find out what's happening in Herndonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
LINK to receive 2,300 registered children at Herndon United Methodist Church
The LINK Goal is to collect 4,600 toys to meet our 2 toys for each child objective
Find out what's happening in Herndonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
LINK has volunteers on standby ready to shop for additional toys through Saturday 12/17
See LINK Video and how you can help, visit www.linkagainsthunger.org.
Lisa Fagan (Toy Coordinator) says LINK is in need of baby dolls and toys for small children. The following is a list of recommended gifts that are in need for older children: sporting equipment such as soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs, trendy costume jewelry or handbags, personal hygiene sets for both sexes, hats, scarves and glove sets, backpacks, sleeping bags, board games, chess set, and DVDs of newly released movies. When making donations, one nice toy ($10 to $20 in value) is preferable over many small, inexpensive items. We live in a very affluent community and the needy children that receive toys from LINK usually attend school with children that enjoy bountiful Christmas experiences. LINK will also accept cash donations.
Herndon United Methodist Church (HUMC) will be receiving new, unwrapped toy donations December 12-16 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and all day Saturday, December 17. The LINK toy program allows local residents, businesses and organizations to provide Christmas gifts to needy children in their neighborhoods. HUMC is located at 701 Bennett Street.
Sometimes people can get overwhelmed with the great need in their community and feel they are too small to do anything about a need so great. LINK provides everyone an opportunity to do something to touch the life of a single family with the simplest and purest of all acts. LINK donates any leftover toys to various homeless shelters, churches, social service programs. For 39 years LINK has routinely assisted local families in desperate need but LINK can also provide support to families that just need a little temporary help at the Holidays. These are families where both parents often work, but just can't quite make ends meet. Sometimes this is because of medical bills, or maybe one parent is unemployed, or the family has just moved into our area, but is not yet financially prepared to cope with the cost of living in Northern Virginia. If the only toys these children will receive for Christmas are those from LINK, then we would like for them to be very special gifts.
Food Distribution at Christ the Redeemer Catholic and Trinity Presbyterian. Bob Ashdown (Food Pantry Manager ) says LINK plans to distribute on average, about 60 lbs. of groceries per family to almost 900 families (54,000 lbs.). We need to collect another 25,000 lbs. this coming week. Currently the food pantry is short on a number of items: cereal - very low, canned fruit - very low, canned tuna/chicken – low, ketchup, mustard, mayo – none, boxed meals – none, jelly - very low, pasta sauce - very low, canned pasta products – low and baking products – none.
Anything that can be done to raise the quantities of food and toys for Christmas will be critical to the success of the LINK distribution. Thank you and God bless all of you for your efforts.
LINK Holiday Basket Information
December 17, 2011
Food Distribution, 8 am – 3 pm
Locations: Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church (46833 Harry Byrd Hwy., Sterling, VA 20164) and Trinity Presbyterian (651 Dranesville Road, Herndon, VA 20170)
Toy Distribution, 8 am – 3 pm
Location: Herndon United Methodist Church (701 Bennett Street, Herndon VA 20170) Families will receive a ticket from the food pick-up location to be used to pick up toys.
Donations Needed
Food – Donations of non-perishable food can be dropped off during the sorting hours listed below at either Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church or Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Toys – Donations of new toys can be dropped off at Herndon United Methodist Church from Dec. 12th – 17th, 9 am – 3 pm.
Monetary Donations – Donations can be sent to: LINK, PO Box 443, Sterling, VA 20167-0443. If you want the donation dedicated to a certain purpose, please include that in the memo line.
Translators Needed – We need volunteers who are bilingual and speak Spanish (teenagers are also welcomed) to volunteer the day of the Basket Programs (December 17).
Volunteer Dates & Hours
December –
- Monday, Dec. 12 – Sorting from 9 am – 12 pm; 7 pm – 9 pm at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church and Trinity Presbyterian Church
- Tuesday, Dec. 13 – closed
- Wednesday, Dec. 14 – closed
- Thursday, Dec. 15 - Sorting from 9 am – 12 pm; 7 pm – 9 pm at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church and Trinity Presbyterian Church
- Friday, Dec. 16 – Sorting from 9 am until finished at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church and Trinity Presbyterian Church
- Saturday, Dec. 17 –
- Volunteers to help re-stock food, assist families, act as translators, and clean-up, 7:30 am – 4 pm at Christ the Redeemer Church and Trinity Presbyterian Church
- Drivers to help deliver food to people who are home-bound, 9 am – 12 pm at Trinity Presbyterian Church
Contact Information
Holiday Basket Program Coordinator
Lisa Lombardozzi
LINK Member Churches include:
Christ the Redeemer Catholic, Sterling
Community Lutheran, Sterling
Dranesville Church of the Brethren, Herndon
Herndon United Methodist, Herndon
Oak Grove Baptist, Sterling
St. Joseph's Catholic, Herndon
St. Matthew's Episcopal, Sterling
St. Timothy's Episcopal, Herndon
Sterling Park Baptist, Sterling
Sterling Park Christian, Sterling
Sterling United Methodist, Sterling
Trinity Presbyterian, Herndon
Friends of LINK Affiliated Churches include:
Guilford Fellowship, Sterling
Holy Cross Lutheran, Herndon
Potomac Baptist, Potomac Falls
Riverside Presbyterian, Sterling
St. Veronica’s Catholic, Chantilly
