COVID-19
& Emergency Response
Since the onset of the pandemic, Belong! has remained committed to supporting our neighbors in distinct ways.
Vaccination Work
Belong! stepped up its efforts to reach underserved minorities in Vienna to help them get vaccinated. We have assisted numerous members of our community get vaccination appointments at First Baptist Church of Vienna, local government vaccination facilities and private pharmacies.
Belong! is proud to leverage its strengths to support equitable vaccination among underrepresented communities and ensure that more individuals are vaccinated against COVID-19 in our neighborhood.
“Bags of Love” Food Distribution
Belong! partners with local churches and the community to continue to support food-insecure struggling families. On the third Saturday of each month, Vienna Presbyterian Church (VPC), in partnership with Food for Others, gives out boxes of staples, produce, meat, eggs and milk to 160 of our most needy neighbors.
Having identified additional needs, Belong! is working with VPC, Vienna Baptist and the Vienna community to provide an additional 160-200 vulnerable families with monthly “Bags of Love” (bags filled with non-perishables), eggs and when available milk and produce, to be distributed at Vienna Baptist Church and Idylwood apartments.
Belong! invites you to get involved in our ongoing efforts. We encourage you to sign up to donate and/or volunteer to distribute Bags of Love.
Thank you for helping us fight hunger in these unprecedented times.
The Belong! Covid-19 Assistance Fund (BCAF)
In October of 2020, to address the increasingly negative economic impact of COVID-19, Belong! created the Belong! COVID-19 Assistance Fund (BCAF) to provide financial assistance to employees of small businesses and residents from Vienna who were heavily impacted by the pandemic. Funds were made available in the form of a one-time gift of $500, paid directly to landlords for rent and gas or electric companies for those who lost significant income due to work interruptions. The primary purpose of this program was to support eligible residents, workers and small business in Vienna and address workforce impacts and business interruptions caused by the health crisis.
The BCAF has now officially ended. Between October 2020 and March 2021, the BCAF provided over $60,000 in financial aid to 121 families affected by COVID-19. We are grateful to everyone who has supported the BCAF during this difficult and dynamic time.
The Vienna Student Food Initiative
The Vienna Student Food Initiative (VSFI) came to end on September 2020 but not without having made a big impact on those most vulnerable families in Vienna affected by the COVID-19 crisis. When schools shut down, Belong!, Christ Church Vienna, Vienna Presbyterian and other local churches (including First Baptist, Vienna Baptist and Church for All Nations), school staff and the community (including community member Jordan Rice and her family business) responded by creating the VSFI to provide critical food support for already struggling families of school-aged children.
With your on-going donations, we were able to not only help families weekly with $25 food cards, but we expanded the number of families aided from 180 in March to over 330 families at the time of completion. You helped us provide 4,857 food cards (that’s over $121,000!) to families of our community and ensure that our neighbors in need had somewhere to turn for help.