Every holiday season for the past decade, the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) has hosted a Christmas event at their community center. This event historically features holiday decorations complete with “Santa’s workshop”. The main objective of the event is to hold a gift giveaway, where children from different age groups have the opportunity to select an item to take with them. This year, in consideration of the current public health circumstances, ARHA hosted an outdoor version of the event so that children could still receive gifts, especially as this year has brought on challenges that have made gift giving even more difficult for many families.
According to patch.com, “To assist in the curation of this year’s event, ARHA teamed up with nonprofit organizations and private entities to sponsor portions of the event. The P.U.S.O Foundation provided volunteers and Health Services Provider AETNA provided sponsorship resources. Additionally, Arlington-based non-profit Hearts of Empowerment pledged $4,000.00 for the procurement of food, toys, and supplies while meal service provider, Mighty Meals, donated 60 healthy meals for all volunteers.”
As per patch.com, “The event convened around 500 families over the course of a scheduled 3 day-long event. 1000 children submitted requests for gifts. All of these requests were fulfilled. Volunteers for the event consisted of members of the Alexandria Police Department, as well as members of the P.U.S.O foundation and Hearts of Empowerment.”
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