In August, 40 NOVEC employees, including NOVEC HELPS members, spent a day assisting the House of Mercy Thrift Store and Food Pantry in Manassas and the Western Fairfax Christian Ministries food pantry in Chantilly. At both locations, NOVEC employees assisted with a wide range of tasks.
One of the more involved tasks NOVEC volunteers took on at the House of Mercy was making a composting bin. “We had been talking about building a composting bin for a couple of months,” explained Sophia Crooks, House of Mercy program manager. “The NOVEC HELPS volunteers helped us a lot by building one. Volunteers are of the utmost importance to our ability to live out our mission.” NOVEC employees also replaced lightbulbs, removed old wiring, and sorted food and clothing donations.
NOVEC employees sort food at WFCM’s food pantry on NOVEC’s Day of Caring. (Photo By: Emily Ready)
At Western Fairfax Christian Ministries, volunteers filled 300 bags of food for distribution and organized the nonprofit’s warehouse after cleaning shelves and stocking food in their pantry. Kristine Hurt, Western Fairfax Christian Ministries’ pantry manager, said NOVEC workers “accomplished in one day tasks that might have taken us a couple of months to do. We appreciated NOVEC’s help.”
The annual Day of Caring event gives NOVEC employees the opportunity to volunteer in the community as a team. “I love that we had a chance to give back in a way that can help hundreds of families,” says Ashley Arnold, NOVEC HELPS executive director. “Community organizations can always benefit when people help and work together.”
—Report by Ashley Arnold, Community Relations Representative, NOVEC, and Priscilla Knight, Senior Communications Specialist, NOVEC.
Above photo: NOVEC employees build a compost bin for the House of Mercy on the Co-op’s Day of Caring. (Photo By: Emily Ready)