Falls Church Community Responds to Call for Help

10,000 pounds of food were delivered to Beaumont, Texas, for Hurricane Harvey relief.

For Immediate Release

September 11, 2017

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Monday morning, September 11, 2017, a Penske Moving truck loaded with 10,000 pounds of food departed to Beaumont Texas at 7 a.m.  The food was collected over a 9-day period from parishioners and the community of Falls Church at large. A parishioner volunteered to drive the truck to Texas.

The extraordinary amount of people stopping by to donate food was overwhelming, but not surprising, to the parish’s pastor, Fr. Patrick Posey. “Whether the crisis is near or far, at home or half way across the world, our community bands together. I am grateful to everyone in our parish and the greater Falls Church community.”

Fr. Posey learned about the food bank’s needs from a friend who runs the Southeast Texas Food Bank located in Beaumont. “He told me after Hurricane Harvey that the food bank was in dire need of food,” said Fr. Posey. 

Between September 2 and September 11, the parish had collected snack items like granola bars, peanut butter crackers, protein bars; pop-top ready-to-eat items such as applesauce and fruit cups; and shelf stable pantry items like peanut butter, jelly, tuna, chili and soup.

In addition to parish announcements, emails and social outreach efforts, Fr. Posey reached out to Marybeth Connelly, Vice Mayor of the Falls Church City Council, to invite participation from the entire local community, including the high schools. He’s also invited parishioners and neighbors to bring one can of food to the parish’s annual picnic on Sunday, September 10. “Now more than ever we must live out our call to active and intentional discipleship and do the small things that make a difference, following the example of Mother Teresa, who said ‘If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one,’” said Fr. Posey.