fundraiser

Nearly $34,000 Raised in One Day for Storm Damaged Westover Stores

By Vernon Miles
1/9

(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) One day after a GoFundMe campaign launched to support Westover stores hit by Monday’s flooding, the fundraiser has passed its initial aim of $25,000 and has moved towards a new $100,000 goal.

Flash floods on Monday left stores on the north side of the 5800 block of Washington Blvd ankle-deep in water, with basements filled to the ceiling with water. Kristy Peterkin, a manager at Ayers Variety & Hardware, estimated the storm caused at least $100,000 in damages to the merchandise. Days after the storm, power still hasn’t been restored and most of the stores on the block remain closed.

As of 3:45 p.m., the GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $34,000 to help Ayers and Westover Market and Beer Garden, two stores that were particularly hard hit by the flooding.

According to the GoFundMe page:

Part of the Westover Shopping Center — Ayers Hardware, the Westover Beer Garden and other shops — was deluged. The businesses’s main levels and storage basements were inundated with water. These businesses are the heart and soul of the Westover community. I am hoping neighborhood residents and folks across Arlington County will contribute to this campaign to help the businesses cover cleanup costs, property repair costs, inventory damage costs and associated loss-of-business costs.

In the comments, donors shared their stories of shopping at Ayers or dining at Westover Market.

“The Beer Garden and Westover folks always took care of us, so let’s take care of them in their time of need,” one donor said.

The shops in Westover Village are still a long way from recovered. Power to the block was routed through the basements of Ayers and Westover Market, which means the flooding has left the entire row of businesses without power.

Ayers is half-lit by power running through a generator in the back. Lights are on at Westover Market but an employee at the store said they were still closed. The Italian Store, the spot furthest east and at the highest elevation on the block, is running on generator power.

Peterkin said nearby cafes and restaurants have been chipping in to make meals for the hardest-hit businesses. It’s been just one part of what Peterkin said was an amazing community response to their crisis.

Peterkin said Ayers was not in any way involved with creating or running the GoFundMe, and said the store would leave the distribution of the funds raised to the person who organized the campaign, noting that it was started after one of the store’s longtime customers who came in and asked permission to launch the fundraiser.

A comment on the GoFundMe said that the store would not be taking financial contributions, but Peterkin made it clear that was not the case. Others who didn’t want to support the store through GoFundMe have come by and dropped off a contribution in person.

“We’ll take all the help we can get,” Peterkin said.

People have volunteered to come and help clean, but growing risk of mold and mildew has meant anyone journeying down into the waterlogged basement needs a breathing mask in addition to a flashlight.

“An injury lawsuit would really be the last straw,” Peterkin said.

Even as they work to get the store back into working order, Peterkin said palettes of new merchandise ordered before the flood are still arriving, but with nowhere to put them with the basement out of commission.

Ayers faces at least $100,000 in losses just from damaged merchandise in the flooded basement, Peterkin said, adding that there will be additional expenses to repair the basement. The store is not protected by flood insurance.

“We didn’t think we’d need it in Arlington,” Peterkin said.

Brunch and Boxing Charity Event in Rosslyn This Weekend

By Ashley Hopko

BASH Boxing and the Hyatt hotel in Rosslyn are teaming this weekend to sponsor a brunch and boxing charity event to benefit the Aga Khan Foundation and Save the Children.

Boxing fans can enjoy a 35-minute BASH training session followed by a tapas-style brunch this Sunday (June 29), from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., at the Hyatt Centric Arlington (1325 Wilson Blvd).

Bloody marys and mimosas are available for participants over the age of 21. Event guests will be automatically entered into a raffle for a two-night stay at the Hyatt Centric Arlington. An additional raffle will offer up a two-night stay at Central Park Hotel in New York City. 

The Aga Khan Foundation and Save the Children both work to improve the lives of impoverished people by increasing access to education and healthcare. All of the proceeds will go toward the foundations. 

Tickets are $40 and are available for purchase online or at 703-908-4692.

Photo via BASH Boxing 

‘Mayor Pete’ Makes Appearance in Arlington Backyard

By ARLnow.com

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was in Arlington last night, speaking at a private fundraiser.

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana fielded questions from donors in the backyard of a supporter’s home in the Waverly Hills neighborhood, near the Lee Heights Shopping Center.

We’re told Buttigieg confidently answered questions ranging from labor relations to how he would campaign against President Trump to “whether the American Dream was still alive.” Former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was also in attendance, we’re told.

An average of recent national polls places Buttigieg fourth among current Democratic contenders.

Photo courtesy Bill Colton

Annual 5K Race Through Fairlington Returns Saturday to Support Girl with Rare Disease

By Vernon Miles

An annual 5K race through Fairlington is scheduled for Saturday (April 27) to support Ellie McGinn — a local fifth-grader with a rare degenerative brain and spinal cord disease.

The race raises money for A Cure for Ellie, a foundation supporting research at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore that aims to cure McGinn’s disease: leukodystrophy. The race is now in its sixth year and researchers are now in the process of testing new therapies.

There are fewer than 100 known cases of the disease, but over the last year a girl in another local family was diagnosed with the same disease, said race organizer Beth McGinn.

The run also raises money for Abingdon Elementary’s physical education and literacy programs, which helps sponsor P.E. events and book clubs at the school.

The non-competitive and family-friendly event is hosted by Abington Elementary — where McGinn attends — and the Fairlington Citizens Association. As of yesterday, McGinn said 550 people had registered.

Registration in the 5K is $35 for adults or $20 for children, which includes a t-shirt for participating in the race. A one-mile fun-run is $15 for adults or $12 for children. The race website says that dogs and strollers are welcome. Race packets can be picked up tomorrow (Friday) from 3-6 p.m. at 3035 S. Abingdon Street.

Several streets in Fairlington will be closed from 7-9:30 a.m. on the day of the race, according to Arlington County Police:

  • Abingdon Street between 29th and 36th streets
  • 36th Street between 34th Street S. up to and including Stafford Street
  • Wakefield loop off 34th Street S.
  • Utah Street between 32nd and 34th street

Photo via A Cure for Ellie. Route map via Arlington County Police Department.

Pop-Up Book Festival Coming to Rosslyn on Thursday

By Vernon Miles

Over 25,000 used books, DVDs and CDs are set to be offered for sale at a sprawling book festival in Rosslyn on Thursday (April 25).

The Rosslyn Reads Book Festival is an annual fundraiser for Turning the Page, a non-profit that helps students receive educational resources. The festival is planned to be held in Rosslyn’s Central Place Plaza at 1800 N. Lynn Street.

Book prices range from $1 to $8. Attendees are also invited to bring their own used books to donate as well.

A series of events are also planned throughout the day, with children’s activities through most of the day and adult-focused activities in the evening.

  • 10 a.m. — Tunes & Dales, a family story time organized by the Arlington Public Library
  • 4 p.m. — Magic of Zain, a magic show for children
  • 4 p.m. — The bar opens
  • 5:30 p.m. — Discussion with Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
  • 6:30 p.m. — Weiss book signing
  • 7-10 p.m. — Live music by UltraFaux

File photo

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Red Flag Warning Today — Updated at 8:45 a.m. — The D.C. region is under a Red Flag Warning this afternoon for strong winds and low humidity, which can lead to wildfires. In Arlington, fire weather like this typically results in small brush and mulch fires that are quickly extinguished. [Weather.gov]

Report on Old Dominion Site Coming Soon — “With a task force prepping its final report on uses for the government parcel at 26th Street North and Old Dominion Drive, what will happen next to the recommendations? For both procedural and financial reasons, don’t expect the county government to jump into development of the 7.6-acre site immediately.” [InsideNova]

Arlington Eateries Among Harper’s Favorite D.C. Memories — Former Rosslyn resident Bryce Harper shouted out Silver Diner and The Italian Store in his farewell to D.C. [Twitter]

Presidential Race May Post Logistical Challenge — “As Arlington’s elections office begins mulling how to handle the 2020 presidential vote, it could be space, rather than money, that proves the biggest challenge.” [InsideNova]

W-L Hockey Player Raising Money for Diabetes Research — “Ethan Rostker, a freshman defenseman for the Washington-Lee hockey team, doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 20 months old. He wears an insulin pump while playing and completes a 100-mile bike trip yearly to raise money for diabetes research.” [WJLA]

Nearby: Bailey’s Crossroads Fire Update — “1,000 people are still displaced after two transformers burst into flames Monday morning– cutting off power to their Fairfax County apartments.” [WJLA]

Photo courtesy Jessica Hahn

Local Faith Leaders To Host Benefit Concert for Victims of Gun Violence

By Airey

Local congregations are hosting a benefit concert in May to raise funds for families affected by gun violence.

The concert will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington at (4444 Arlington Blvd) on Saturday, May 4 from 7-8:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now for $10 per person or $25 for families.

The concert will begin with a performance from the children’s choir from Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church.

Choirs from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, All Souls Church in D.C. by Columbia Heights, and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax are scheduled to then perform Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem” together.

Local faith leaders have raised awareness of gun violence before. The Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ displayed 155 T-shirts outside the church three years ago in remembrance of the people who were killed with guns in the Greater Washington area that year.

Photo courtesy of UUCA

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Amazon Talking to Unions — “Amazon.com Inc., JBG Smith Properties Inc. and union representatives in the D.C. region have met a few times in the last six weeks to discuss benefits and wages for the workers who will build HQ2 in Pentagon City.” [Washington Business Journal]

Changes Coming to Arlandria? — “For decades, developers have eyed Arlandria, the working-class neighborhood near Reagan National Airport where a transplanted Hispanic culture flourishes amid Northern Virginia’s upscale condominiums… Now, crime is down, the economy is humming, and Amazon is moving in virtually next door, with plans to hire thousands of well-paid workers, who’ll be in search of easy commutes.” [Washington Post]

Local Strategist Sued by U.S. Rep Raising Funds — Political strategist and Arlington resident Liz Mair is being sued by Rep. Devin Nunes, in a bizarre defamation suit that also names Twitter and two parody Twitter accounts as defendants. Mair is raising money for her legal defense. [Donorbox, Twitter]

Op-Ed: Nix Arlington Arts Cuts — “If the 2020 budget that Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz submitted to the County Board is implemented, it will prove to be devastating to the Arlington arts community.” [Washington Post]

Arlingtonians Help Save Bird — A pair of Arlington residents, including former Arlington Outdoor Lab executive director Neil Heinekamp, “came to the rescue of a distressed bird” found on a nature trail in The Villages, Florida.  [InsideNova]

Kitchen Fire in N. Arlington High Rise — “Units called to 4300 blk of Lorcom Lane for oven fire on 6th floor of a residential high rise. Fire is out with minor extension to surrounding cabinets. Crews working to ventilate smoke and scaling back response.” [Twitter]

Nearby: Halal Butchery Controversy Continues — “Letter-writer compares proposed halal butchery in Alexandria to *slave auctions*: this is the same brutality…’ Even by the standards of Alexandria micro-controversies, the rhetoric around this thing is remarkable.” [Alexandria Times, Twitter]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

GW Parkway Closure — Updated at 9:15 a.m. — “All lanes of the GW Parkway are now closed during Friday morning’s rush hour due to a large sinkhole that was discovered overnight.” [Tysons Reporter]

HQ2 Impact to Be Bigger Than Expected? — JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and George Mason University’s Stephen S. Fuller both think many are underestimating HQ2’s impact on job creation in the region. [Washington Business Journal, Washington Business Journal]

Arlington Gets High Marks for Dog Parks — Arlington is No. 10 on the Trust for Public Land’s ranking of cities with the most dog parks per capita. Arlington has eight dog parks, or 3.5 for every 100,000 residents. D.C. ranked No. 22 on the list. [Trust for Public Land]

Wilson Blvd to Close Again in Ballston — “That stretch of Wilson Boulevard at @BallstonQuarter that’s now closed eastbound on school nights 8pm-6am for 8 weeks? It’ll also be closed both ways this weekend, Friday 8pm to Sunday 6pm. Lots of pedestrian bridge to do.” [Twitter]

Road Closures in N. Arlington — “The Nottingham/Discovery Elementary Schools 5K race will take place on Saturday, March 23, 2019. The Arlington County Police Department will close several roads from approximately 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM to accommodate the event.” [Arlington County]

Basketball Fundraiser Tonight — “New Directions High School students will play Arlington County’s heroes — including some of the police department, fire department, probation and prosecutor’s office” tonight at Hoffman-Boston Elementary School to raise money for New Directions. [Twitter]

No Hyperloop for Va. for Now — “Virginia transit officials flew to California to check out Elon Musk’s Boring Co. tunnel. They say they’re gonna stick with traditional roads and railways for now. ‘It’s a car in a very small tunnel.'” [Virginia Mercury, Twitter]

Breast Cancer Fundraiser to Celebrate Nonprofit’s 20 Years in Arlington

By Airey

A charity fund raising money for local cancer patients’ medical needs is hosting its 20th annual fundraising night in Arlington next month.

The Sharon McGowan Breast Health Fund is throwing their 20th annual benefit in Ballston on Sunday, April 7 from 5-7 p.m., at the Mercedes-Benz dealership on 585 N. Glebe Road. The event is is being hosted together with the Arlington County Medical Society Foundation.

The benefit will serve drinks and hors d’oeuvres and will feature music and door prizes. Attendees are encouraged to wear business casual — and show up wearing the color pink.

General Admission tickets for April’s charity night cost $85, with a $35 discount for people younger than 40. Those interested in attending can RSVP online.

Proceeds will go towards covering the cost of preventative breast cancer screening for uninsured Arlingtonians.

Event co-organizers include the Virginia Hospital Center, the Arlington Department of Human Services and Arlington Free Clinic.

The Sharon McGowan fund was created by the family of Sharon McGown, an Arlington mother of seven who died in 1997 of breast cancer. The fund organizes activities year-round from T-shirt sales to networking happy hours raising money for breast cancer prevention and treatments, including mammograms, sonograms, biopsies, medical devices and medications for people without insurance.

The donations have provided “1,500 mammograms, 200 comprehensive sonograms, and over 140 biopsies” over the last decade, per the fund’s website.

Photo via Flickr user Faye Mozingo

W-L Students Participate in National Fundraiser to Combat Blood Cancer in Memory of Friend

By Alex Koma

A group of Arlington high school seniors are now working to raise $50,000 to support blood cancer patients, in a bid to honor a friend who died from a rare form of leukemia a few years ago.

In all, nine students at the newly renamed Washington-Liberty High School are participating in the “Students of the Year” fundraising campaign run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The girls are competing with other students across the region to see who can raise the most money to support the nonprofit’s mission, and the program includes leadership and professional development opportunities as well.

The students named their team after Juliana Clarkson, a 14-year-old student at Swanson Middle School who passed away due to complications from mixed-phenotype acute leukemia. Two of her best friends, Julia Elman and Grace Barnes, say they were inspired to start a “Cancer Education and Action Club” at W-L as freshmen in her memory, and they’re now leading the “Students of the Year” effort as well.

“This spring, Julia and Grace will be graduating… a momentous milestone that would have included Juliana,” the students wrote as part of their fundraising efforts. “Team Juliana fights to give child cancer patients the possibility to grow up and follow their dreams, something Juliana will never get to do.”

Elman and Barnes also helped organize fundraisers through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Light the Night Walks,” raising “tens of thousands of dollars for LLS while providing an avenue for friends and family to come together and honor Juliana each year,” they wrote.

Elman added that she’s also working to honor her grandmother, who passed away from chronic lymphocytic leukemia years ago. Elman’s mother, Janet, says her daughter is planning to attend Princeton University this fall — she added that Julia was also recently diagnosed with primary lymphedema, a disease affecting the lymphatic system which is treatable, but has no known cure.

The students have until March 2 to raise money for the cause. The Shirlington restaurant Palette 22 is holding a fundraiser to support the group on Monday (Jan. 28), and full details about how to contribute are available online.

Photo courtesy of Julia Elman and Grace Barnes courtesy of Janet Elman

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