Fairfax County put out an all-call for independent authors who want to submit their work to the Virginia Author Project Contest.

The statewide fiction contest allows people to compete for several prizes, according to Fairfax County.

To qualify, each submission must be independently published, either in the adult fiction or young adult fiction genre, written by a Virginia resident and available in certain file formats, the website said.

Prizes include:

• $500 each in adult and young adult categories
• Honors at the 2021 spring IAP Reception
• Opportunities to promote your book(s) at Virginia public libraries
• Inclusion in a full-page print spread in Library Journal
• Opportunities to earn royalties through the IAP Select collection

Anyone interested can submit their work online before May 31.

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Though many in-person events are canceled, organizations and businesses are setting up digital events to keep people occupied.

Year-round, the McLean Community Center offers courses for adults hoping to pick up other workplace skills. People can take courses on things including digital marketing, computer science, education and even leadership. These online courses range in price but are available online.

Tuesday (May 12)

• Virtual Happy Hour Trivia — Providence Players of Fairfax in Falls Church is hosting its first-ever virtual happy hour. This free event allows people to gather and test their knowledge from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The attendance link will be shared on Facebook closer to the event time.
• The Mather, Life Plan Community Coming to Tysons — A new retirement community is hosting an online event so people can become familiar with its offerings. People can attend this free seminar by going to the meeting web address and entering the web ID, which is 900-136-155. This event will be held from 1-2 p.m.
• Preparing for our New World: Proactively Steer Your Business During COVID 19 — The Tysons Chamber of Commerce is offering this free workshop for business owners to overcome challenges brought on by COVID-19. It will take place from noon until 1 p.m. and people can register online.
• Virtual Town Hall: Strategies for Survival in the Arts — The  McLean Project for the Arts is co-hosting a town hall about how the arts will survive from 6-7:30 p.m. “Following the event, organizers will host an ‘After Hours: Drinking About Art’ virtual social gathering and digital salon party with live audio-visuals and chat conversations,” a press release said.

Thursday (May 14)

• Limited Beer Release + Virtual Happy Hour — Caboose Brewing Company is offering a free evening of trivia while people enjoy a new beer that they can pick up and drink at home. People can find the event link on Zoom and log in using the meeting ID: 211 500 5344 and password: 2DdDa4.

Saturday (May 16)

• Fermenting Foods with Craig Ulsh — From 1:30-3:30 p.m. people can take a class from East Meets West Yoga Center, learning how to ferment their favorite foods. The class cost is donation only.

Photo courtesy Caboose Brewing 

Fairfax County recently created a map pinpointing local groups looking for donations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The map allows users to find nonprofits and organizations within a specific region of Fairfax County so they can help people within their own communities.

Users can search for charities by the proximity to an address or by clicking on one from the general geographic overview.

The charities listed on the website are accepting items including personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, baby products and paper items, the page said. Throughout the county, 22,620 households are at or below the poverty level, according to the website.

Charities collecting monetary donations can be found on the webpage as well.

People can learn more about a charity by reading an overview from Volunteer Fairfax.

County-wide:

• The Shepherd’s Center of McLean-Arlington-Falls Church
• American Red Cross in the National Capital Region
• Blood Donor Services, Inova Health System
• Britepaths

Vienna:

• McLean Bible Church
• Family Preservation and Strengthening Services (PASS)
• MK9s Service Dogs
• Second Story
• The Shepherd’s Center of Oakton-Vienna

McLean:

• Lewinsville Retirement Residence
• Share Inc.

Falls Church:

• Falls Church-McLean Childrens Center
• Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Administration
• Falls Church Community Service Council (FCS)
• New Hope Housing (NHH)
• Northern Virginia Dental Clinic, Inc.
• NOVA ScriptsCentral, Inc.
• Shelter House, Inc.
• The Arc of Northern Virginia
• Computer C.O.R.E.

Image via Fairfax County

Nightlife is zilch in Tysons at the moment due to the pandemic. After a brief hiatus, the “Tysons After Dark” series is back to highlight different online activities from local organizations and offerings from eateries that keep people busy once the sun goes down. 

Crafty souls can now join kindred spirits on project adventures thanks to a weekly event hosted by TINT.

Every Wednesday from 7:30-8:30 p.m., the “maker space” in Falls Church will host Zoom meetings where people can gather to work on their own projects while hanging out with others, according to the event page.

Though the meetings used to be in-person, Carissa Englert, the shop’s owner, began hosting them remotely to abide by social distancing measures.

“They started when I opened the shop back in the Fall of 2019 and became a quick favorite with customers who liked to come “stitch ‘n’ b*tch” with their fellow crafters (knitters, stitchers, crocheters, weavers, etc.) each week,” Englert said.  “When COVID started happening, I started getting requests to host them online instead of in person.”

This event is free and open to the public. Participants can find the link on the Facebook event page.

TINT opened in September and offers people a place to learn and practice textile and fiber arts, according to its website.

Photo via TINT/Facebook

In the coming weeks, a local nonprofit assisting community members facing food insecurity or homelessness will receive assistance from the McLean Citizens Association.

SHARE of McLean was chosen by the MCA at last night’s meeting (May 6) to be the recipient of incoming monetary donations to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is one of the most efficient charities we could possibly find,” MCA President Dale Stein said, adding that requests for food from SHARE have doubled since the COVID-19 outbreak began. 

MCA members voted to donate a minimum of $1,000, which has already been crowdsourced, to the nonprofit.

“I really do think this is good for our community and MCA,” Stein said.

Several members at the meeting asked that MCA raise the match amount.

“Let’s get the $1,000 to SHARE and then set up a working committee to get more funds donated and send in a second donation later,” Sowjanya O’Neill, an MCA at-large member, said. “I know there are a lot of people out there who are in need right now.”

Ultimately, they came to a compromise to re-examine donation amounts in the future.

“We can always decide to increase that at future meetings,” Stein said, adding that the board will review the project and possibly add onto it.

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck/Unsplash

Locals will soon have the chance to join a virtual town hall and ask questions to Fairfax County representatives for the Providence District.

Dalia Palchik with the Board of Supervisors and Karl Frisch with the Fairfax County School Board announced that they will host the meeting at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday (May 9).

The meeting will be held on Facebook Live, according to the event page.

Palchik and Frisch are expected to lead a discussion surrounding topics brought up by community members in attendance.

Though there doesn’t seem to be a pre-set agenda, people can email to inquire about the meeting.

Tune in this Saturday May, 9th for a discussion with @KarlFrischFCPS and @SupvPalchik!

Email any questions with the subject line TownHall to: [email protected] pic.twitter.com/hY5uwigLDF

— Dalia Palchik (@SupvPalchik) May 5, 2020

Foot traffic in McLean will soon have a clearer path thanks to a new project updating several sidewalks.

Around 13,000 square feet of sidewalk at 250 locations around McLean will be updated, according to a press release. The updates are a part of a McLean Community Revitalization District project.

Backing the project, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said walkability is one of his priorities.

“These repairs will extend the useful life of our infrastructure and make it safer for our community to conduct business, run errands, recreate, and enjoy exploring downtown McLean,” Foust said in a press release.

The area around the intersection of Old Chain Bridge Road and Old McLean Village Drive is one of the places slated to receive a sidewalk facelift, according to the press release.

Sidewalks were chosen for the project based on criteria including excessive cracks, severe cross slopes and missing sections.

“Over the last few years, several other infrastructure improvements have been made in the area to make McLean a more walkable and bikeable community,” the press release said.

Construction was expected to begin in April and will likely be finished by the end of June, depending on the weather, according to the press release.

Photo courtesy Fairfax County

The Vienna Arts Society recently announced that it is seeking submissions for a new community-wide project.

Called “The Art of Kindness,” the project aims to gather pieces that portray a kind act within the town, according to the art group’s website.

Submissions may be in the form of poems, photographs or illustrations, the website said, but they must be sent in anonymously.

Digital submissions can be emailed to organizers. Hard copy works must not exceed 8.5 by 11 inches in diameter and can be sent to Amy-Jo Hendrix at the Town of Vienna’s Parks and Recreation Department (127 Center Street S.) or dropped off at a list of pre-arranged locations.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, and organizers are working with “Vienna schools and churches to involve as many citizens as possible,” according to the event page.

The submission deadline is Sept. 30 and event organizers plan to debut the finished project at the gallery Oct. 24-25.

Image via Vienna Arts Society

A Tysons teenager decided to use his newly found free time to assist with COVID-19 relief efforts by creating his own campaign to help health care workers and local eateries.

Arul Nigam, who is 17, founded Heroes of COVID to arrange food deliveries to hospitals in pandemic hotspots around the country and support local eateries in the process by paying them for their services.

Thanks to donors, Nigam uses funds from a GoFundMe page to purchases meals from struggling eateries to give to hospital workers.

So far, Nigam said the project has raised around $9,000 and has helped people not only around the Tysons area but in nine different states as well.

Just last Wednesday, Heroes of COVID delivered a meal to Inova in Falls Church, according to its Facebook Page.

Each meal that is delivered to a medical worker also features a personal note, Nigam said.

Along with meal deliveries, the organization also features medical professionals who work in challenging conditions and gives them a platform to voice their experiences.

“We are creating a platform for health care workers to share their message and share what it’s like working on the front lines, he said. “A lot of health care workers want to use it as a platform to educate people on the types of precautions they should take during this time to protect themselves and everyone around them.”

Anyone who works in the medical field and wants to share their experience can message the Facebook page or drop a comment on one of its recent posts.

“We hope that showcasing their stories and broadcasting their messages will help spread awareness, build confidence, and foster safety, while encouraging us all to be more cautious and cognizant,” the Facebook page said.

People can also follow the Heroes of COVID’s Instagram account if they’d like to hear about the personal narratives from healthcare workers.

This experience helped Nigam to hone his networking, logistic and coordination skills, he said. But, this isn’t his first experience with campaigning.

He previously started an organization that works with companies to host community service events that allow staff members to bond with their co-workers while helping their community. A popular project, Nigam said, is gathering members of a company during a lunch break to assemble meals to give to homeless shelters.

As a junior in high school, he added that his peers are really interested in his work.

“A lot of them have shared information about it with friends and family, which has helped elevate us on social media,” he said. “That has been really helpful.”

As of last week, Heroes of COVID has managed to help feed workers at roughly 17 different hospitals around the country.

Photo courtesy Shirali Nigam

After the COVID-19 pandemic prompted its closure, Lebanese Taverna in Tysons Galleria reopened last week for delivery and takeout.

The local chain’s Facebook page said that the eateries closed on March 18, but that owners reopened several locations, including the one in Tysons Galleria, on April 30.

The eatery serves Lebanese fare such as shawarma, falafels, rice dishes, bowls, salads and appetizers, according to its website.

Anyone interested in ordering from the Tysons location can call 703-847-5244, the eatery’s Facebook page said, adding that people can also order through services like Doordash and UberEats.

Along with reopening for customers, the eatery has also been active catering meals for medical staff and first responders, according to its Facebook page.

Photo via Lebanese Taverna/Facebook