St. Anne's Episcopal Blood Drive!

As 2021 presses on, there are so many people who are in need! It can be overwhelming to decide where to start, and sometimes it is hard to tell if you’re really making a difference. (Although here at Common Ground, we really believe that all good deeds ripple out, no matter how small).

Donating blood costs no money and very little time, but it is a constant, essential need! Every 2 seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. 1 donation can potentially save up to 3 lives.

St. Anne’s Episcopal Church is hosting a blood drive on March 5th!

WHEN: Friday, March 5th, from 12PM-6PM
WHERE: St. Anne’s Episcopal Church! There will be an INOVA Bloodmobile
HOW: Register below, show up for your time slot, it’s that simple!
WHY: To save lives. Our hospitals are strained and people need help more than ever. This is something small we can do to really make a difference!


REGISTER HERE: https://www.inovabloodsaves.org/index.cfm?group=op&expand=27318&zc=20190

PLEASE SHARE THE FLYER! THE MORE DONATIONS THEY GET, THE MORE LIVES THEY SAVE.

FLYER

Let’s all get together as a community and let our goodness shine!!

-Your CG Fam

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Giving Tuesday is December 1st

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Give Funds. Give Time.


Sometimes we only have one. Sometimes we have both, but only a little. In a world wracked by a pandemic, sometimes it feels like we only have enough money and time to stand still.


Giving is a muscle we have to work.

The more we all give, the better we become at it, and the better we feel when do.
Most importantly? That kindness gets paid forward. Suddenly other people around us in our community have the bandwidth to grow and prosper. They, in turn, give to someone else, and so on.

#GivingTuesday is December 1st this year, and here at Common Ground we’ve started early.
We are looking for community partners to help us with our mission, please contact us if you are interested in participating in our Giving Tuesday Drive.

We hope to gather funds for our Teaching Scholarship Fund so that we can give our educators an opportunity to grow. With that boost, our dedicated teachers can give time to further their own education. This will lead to them providing more quality time to their students to help them thrive in a loving environment. Imagine all of the ripples that would come from each student.

This is not just a fundraiser.

We also hope to inspire you, the members of our wonderful community, to give. We will be posting several giving initiatives in the coming weeks:


- Giving time to your children with no phones, no tvs, no distractions
- Giving money or food to your local Food Bank to make sure no family goes hungry, especially on Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude.
- Giving time to your neighborhood environment by picking up litter.
- Giving money and business to your favorite local business that has been struggling under the COVID-19 pandemic
- Giving time to draw loving, heartfelt chalk pictures and messages around your community so people know that, on the darkest days, they are not alone.

Watch on Facebook to see how we are giving in our community through the next couple of weeks. We encourage you to be a part of it, as well as our BIG GIVING TUESDAY EVENT which promises to be heartwarming, fun, and just the right amount of silly.

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In the Community: Thanksgiving Box Drive

No one should go hungry on Thanksgiving

Time and time again I am impressed by the loving charity of our community.

Due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, there are so many families in our community who would be going without a Thanksgiving Dinner on our table if Cornerstones did not run their annual drive.
Our support of Cornerstones’ annual Thanksgiving Food Drive will help make a fulfilling holiday possible for nearly 1,000 families this holiday season.

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FOR THE FRIENDS OF COMMON GROUND AND OUR FAR AWAY FAMILIES:
The North Virginia community can support the drive by purchasing a $50 Thanksgiving Food Box at the North Point Village Center Giant Food location in Reston, now through November 14.

FOR OUR ACTIVE FAMILIES:
THIS YEAR we have promised one box for each class, so we will work with your teachers on building a sign up so that each family can bring a part of their classroom’s box.

The kiddos will make art and letters to place in there along with the food so that we can give the family receiving the box a heartfelt hello on the holiday of gratitude.

This sounds complicated with our social distancing policy, but I promise you we will make this as easy as possible! Here is the link to the SIGNUP. You can click on as many or few as you like, including the BONUS box at the end.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FILLING YOUR OWN BOX — Let LJ Donnell know and she will give you your own box to fill with a list of what needs to go inside available. They can always use more boxes.

We will begin to collect items in the classrooms starting on Thursday. Please bring your items for the boxes either at pick up or drop off (place it into your child’s backpack.)

Because we have to limit our exposure with the drop off, we will only be doing one! Please have all of your ingredients and or boxes back by MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH COB.

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