Ways to Help Your Vienna Community During COVID-19

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.

As we begin week 3 of this fight against the Coronavirus, I wanted to take a moment and express my sympathy for everyone impacted by this horrendous circumstance.

I know this hasn’t been easy in so many different ways, for so many different people, but hopefully we’ll all be able to go back to normal life soon(ish) and get everyone back on their feet. In the meantime, if you are able to, there are many ways you can support our local community. If I don’t mention your organization, PLEASE add it to the comment section below to get the word out.

Meals for Those on the Front Line (Nurses, Firefighters, EMT, Doctors): This helps support the local restaurants all while donating meals to those who deserve extra thanks right.

• Social Burger + Sandwich Shop: A partnership to drop off 900 meals to INOVA Fairfax over the next 3 weeks. Meals are $12 + tax, and will be donated to ER, respiratory, laboratory, surgical and several other departments. Order on the Social Burger site, look for “Frontline and First Responder Meals“.
• CrossFit Mill Street is joining this partnership and hosting ZOOM Fitness Sessions (check out the times on their Facebook page). For everyone who attends, they’ll donate $2 per person towards a meal through Social Burger + Sandwich Shop.
• INCA Social: Delivering 50 meals 2 days a week to the INOVA Critical Care Unit at $8 a meal. You can order on their app or website: Order Now -> Delivery -> Choose Items -> Buy a Nurse a Meal (at the bottom).
• Vienna Inn + Church Street Pizza: Providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the Vienna Fire Department and Vienna Police Department. You can sign up for a slot here.
• A Shout out to Clarity in Vienna for delivering their Focaccia Pizza to some medical workers and emergency personnel last week on their own.

Also don’t forget about the BRAWS Organization in Vienna. Not only do they support women directly, they support other organizations like Women Giving Back. Donate money, new undergarments or menstrual supplies here.

There are also multiple signs up for helping people directly impacted:

• Bear Branch Tavern GoFundMe for their employees
• Adopt a Family — provide 3 meals for a family impacted by the pandemic (can also be gift cards)

Last but not least — I know for my family, talking about where we’re going to get take out or delivery can infuse some small bit of normalcy into our day, all while supporting our local businesses to help them weather this storm. The Vienna Foodies group has put together a spreadsheet to help identify places that are open, their operating schedules, and how you can get the food.

Some things we’ve done are take my kids for a walk to get ice cream at Rita’s or Kiln & Co, grab sandwiches at Sandwich Shop, or go try a new restaurant we normally wouldn’t get a chance to. A positive note is that there’s no traffic — so it’s a quick drive to anywhere to get take out from a new place.

Last night we actually got Peter Chang’s in Arlington, we got Liberty BBQ one night in Falls Church… you can see where my savings in gas money has gone these past 2 weeks. If you’re worried about how they’re handling the food — call and ask. For example, Kiln and Co has free toppings, but nobody should be sharing a spoon… so the smart people there are packaging the toppings to go so there’s no contact.