The Food for Others annual 5K is set to take place this upcoming Saturday (Sept. 7).
The race will feature a fun run and prizes for participants while also benefiting local community members who cannot afford basic groceries, Alison Padget, a Food for Others spokesperson, said.
The race registration will begin at 8 a.m. at the Tysons Corner Center, just outside the L.L.Bean outlet. Tickets can be purchased online for $35 through Sept. 5 or $40 on the day of the event.
Special guests will speak at the event, including Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, Padget said.
“People think of it as being wealthy areas,” she said. “But, there is something like 50,00 people [who] are food insecure.”
As the sixth annual event, Padget added that she typically sees around 400 participants manage to raise around a $45,000 net profit for donation. For comparison, $35 will supply 15 families with eggs and milk.
According to the Food for Others website, the organization is part of Northern Virginia’s “safety net” for low-income families. They work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, local grocers and food drives to supply extra food for those in need.
Photo via Food for Others
Tysons may not have the liveliest nightlife at the moment, but that could soon change as more late-night restaurants and places to hang out open. “Tysons After Dark” will highlight a different spot every week.
Known for their signature dog-themed art and extensive specialty sandwich options, one of the local Lost Dog Cafes has a lively spot in Tysons.
Lost Dog Cafe started in Arlington’s Westover neighborhood in 1985 by two animal lovers, the cafes have grown to five locations owned and operated by former employees, according to its website. The Tysons spot at 1690A Anderson Road opened in 2011.
Located in the shopping center with the Safeway behind Mitre, Lost Dog Cafe was filled with about two dozen diners when Tysons Reporter visited around 8:30 p.m. on a Tuesday.
Jumping from the canvas onto the wall, the art gives nods to Tysons area history, including Northern Virginia’s trolley line in the early 2oth century, the amusement park at Great Falls, the opening of Tysons Corner Center in 1968 and the early stores at the intersection of Route 123 and Leesburg Pike.
The menu boasts 32 types of gourmet pizzas and 50 specialty sandwiches — all of the sandwiches are under $10, while the pizzas cost around $12 (small), $17 (medium) and $20 (large).
Diners can also chow down on salads, pasta, soups and make-your-own sandwiches. For drinks, Lost Dog Cafe offers extensive draft and bottle lists featuring local brews.
People at the Tysons spot can expect trivia from 6-8:30 p.m. every Tuesday, along with tap takeovers by local brewers and open mic nights a couple of times a month, an employee told Tysons Reporter.
For fans, the cafe sells Lost Dog-branded t-shirts, hoodies and hats in the $25-$50 range.
The Tysons location is open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sundays.
Playa Bowls is now serving up acai bowls, poke, smoothies and juice in the Mosaic District.
The health food eatery opened Saturday, Aug. 17, according to a Facebook post. Playa Bowls occupies 2910 District Avenue, Suite 168 — the former space for Capital Teas.
The menu offers a variety of bowls, including ones with acai, coconut and oatmeal bases, along with smoothies, juices and poke bowls.
Playa Bowls has more than 65 locations around the U.S., according to its Facebook page. The Mosaic District spot is the first Virginia location for the franchise.
Photo via Playa Bowls/Facebook
With school now back in session for Fairfax County, the county’s public schools have several programs to help hungry students.
Nineteen Fairfax County public schools, including Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, will take part in the Community Eligibility Provision, which provides all of the students at those schools with free breakfasts and lunches daily.
At the other FCPS schools, household size and income will determine eligibility for the free or reduced meals program — approximately 38% of FCPS students qualify, according to FCPS.
Students from households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families may also be eligible. The program also caters to foster children and students who are homeless, migrant or runaway.
Households may apply for free or reduced-price meals at any time during the school year by filling out the applications, which will be distributed via mail and are also available at the principal’s office in each school.
FCPS will follow the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines in the chart below:
Earlier this year, Jackson Middle School and Graham Road and Timber Lane elementary schools joined 39 Fairfax County public schools in participating in the At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program, a new after-school food program that provides free meals or snacks to any student.
Four Tysons-area elementary schools are joining 24 other ones in the county that have opened or plan to open a Real Food for Kids Salad Bar for the 2019-2020 school year.
The following schools plan to open the salad bars by:
- Sept. 18: Spring Hill (8201 Lewinsville Road)
- Feb. 12, 2020: Westbriar (1741 Pine Valley Drive)
- March 25, 2020: Haycock (6616 Haycock Road)
- May 20, 2020: Churchill Road (7100 Churchill Road)
FCPS wants to bring salad bars to all of its 141 elementary schools and has salad bars opening at about 30 schools per school year.
Second image via FCPS
The company behind A Taste of Urbanspace in Tysons Galleria is facing a lawsuit for allegedly stealing a retail brokerage firm’s “intellectual capital.”
District Equities filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that Urbanspace Tysons LLC, “entered into an agreement with District Equities to help find retail vendors for the food hall, utilized the brokerage firm’s proprietary market knowledge and business relationships, and then terminated the agreement,” Bisnow reported.
District Equities was started by Great Falls resident Steve Gaudio in 2015.
The two companies worked together from the fall until Urbanspace terminated District Equities’ agreement, activating the noncompete clause that said District Equities cannot work on another food hall for two years, the article said.
District Equities “says the damages would be at least $75,000, a threshold that gives it jurisdiction in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia,” according to the Bisnow article.
Urbanspace Tysons LLC opened A Taste of Urbanspace in December, replacing celebrity chef Mike Isabella’s series of restaurants known as Isabella Eatery.
Recently, A Taste of Urbanspace has seen some changes.
Danielle’s Desserts closed for good at the mall earlier this month after its owner told Tysons Reporter that she wants to focus more on her health and family.
Meanwhile, Eater reported that Ice Cream Jubilee seems to have disappeared from the Tysons spot and is no longer listing it as one of its locations.
Lady M Cake Boutique is moving from its pop-up in A Taste of Urbanspace to a permanent spot on the second level of the mall.
In Fairfax County — one of the wealthiest areas in the country — about 56,000 people experience food insecurity.
Several organizations around the Tysons area are trying to improve the county’s 4.9% “Food Insecurity Rate,” according to 2017 data compiled by Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization.
Across Northern Virginia, up to 90,000 people go hungry every day, according to Food for Others.
Food for Others obtains food through food rescue operations and food drives and provides emergency food assistance via the warehouse (2938 Prosperity Avenue) in Merrifield, food distribution at 16 sites and supplements to 16 other organizations.
The warehouse is open from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays. People who go to the neighborhood sites are asked to bring their own grocery bags and tell the volunteers how many people are in the household.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, people can go to these Falls Church sites:
- Corner of Ellison and Irving streets off West Street at 5:45 p.m.
- 2802 Hollywood Road — parking lot of Wexford Manor Apartments south of Savannah Street — at 6:15 p.m.
Several other organizations in the Tysons area offer emergency assistance to people experiencing food insecurity.
Share, Inc. is a nonprofit run by volunteers that provides emergency assistance to people in McLean and nearby areas. Share’s food and used clothing room is located in space donated by the McLean Baptist Church at 1367 Chain Bridge Road.
In addition to the year-round food pantry, Share offers family emergency financial assistance, recycled furniture, back-to-school supplies and refurbished laptop computers.
The Committee for Helping Others (CHO)
CHO is a Vienna-based nonprofit that has an emergency food pantry in facilities provided by the Vienna Presbyterian Church at Vienna Court Condos, 133 Park Street NE.
Staffed by volunteers, CHO serves people in the Vienna, Oakton, Dunn Loring, and Merrifield areas. People interested in picking up food must make an appointment by calling 703-679-8966 or email [email protected].
Falls Church Community Service Council
The council offers several programs from clothing to financial to food assistance. The food pantry at the Knox Presbyterian Church (7416 Arlington Blvd) provides non-perishable and fresh food from donations and local food drives. The council also buys extra food when it has adequate funding.
“Church volunteers bag and deliver a week’s supply of food to clients,” according to its website. Volunteers also deliver meals three days per week to people at home who can’t make meals for themselves.
For students, Fairfax County Public Schools has several programs to keep kids fed during the summer and during the school year.
