Sheriff’s Office Donates Food, Delivers Thanksgiving Meals

Employees of the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office are helping make a brighter Thanksgiving for those in need.

On Monday, deputy Valarie Wright delivered several boxes of nonperishable canned and dry goods to ALIVE!’s food program as part of an annual Alexandria Sheriff’s Office tradition. ALIVE! (ALexandrians InVolved Ecumenically) is a nonprofit of volunteers from more than 40 religious institutions and the community working to help those in need in Alexandria.

Wright led a month-long drive among staff members, who donated food such as canned tuna and meat, peanut butter, pancake mix and breakfast cereals, as well as cash, which was used to purchase more food. Wright delivered several boxes of food to Beth Campbell, a volunteer with ALIVE!’s food program, which assists nearly 1,000 families who are referred by local social service agencies and member congregations.

Monday afternoon, Wright and deputy George Burnham assisted in Project Thanksgiving, an area-wide effort to provide families in need with complete Thanksgiving dinners. Wright and Burnham went to IBM in Gaithersburg to pick up 35 Thanksgiving dinners, with turkeys and all the fixings, and then delivered them to Hopkins House, an Alexandria charity, which will share them with families in need. On Tuesday Chief Deputy Tony DiCesare picked up eight additional dinners at Lockheed Martin in Manassas and delivered them to Hopkins House. 

Both IBM and Lockheed Martin provide the funds to purchase the dinners, and their employees arrange for the food purchases and meal coordination.