Newsletter

During the snow storms in February, I was able to reflect more deeply on my experience at ACTS.  One of the tasks, and one that I relish, is spending time with the various staff members and volunteers that work at ACTS.  What I have found is an organization filled with people that have inspiration, initiative, enthusiasm, confidence and joy in the work they are doing.  They don’t see the world as a problem to be solved, but a world that allows them to see the best in one another.  They are connected in their vision not to create a new world, but a better world.  My hope is that ACTS provides the point that those that need help and those that want to make a difference come together to transform our community for the greater good of all.
To that end, I am proud to inform you that through the partnership of several nonprofits in the Prince William area to include the Benedictine Counseling Services, Good Shepherd Housing, BARN Transitional Housing, SERVE (a program of Northern Virginia Family Services), and Catholic Charities, we were awarded a grant to provide rental assistance to prevent homelessness and end homelessness for low income families.  This is a two year grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.  At the rate of need we are experiencing, it could end up being a one year grant.  In any event, many families that would have been homeless were able to remain in their homes, which is a direct link to part of ACTS’ mission to alleviate homelessness.

Our fundraising plans continue as we bring people together who believe in the mission of ACTS or who want to learn more about its mission and meet others in the process.   To this end, we are hosting the ACTS biennial Art Auction on Saturday, April 17.   We cordially invite you to attend and bring your friends.  You may not think you need art, but inspiration comes in the most unlikely places and we all need beauty.  We look forward to seeing you.  We may very well serve “snow cones” to help defray the significant cost for this year’s historic snow removal at our five ACTS sites, which includes our three shelters.  We weathered the storm and staff and volunteers continued to serve the homeless in our shelters.
In addition, on Sunday, April 25, First Mt. Zion Baptist Church will host the annual Choir Concert.  This event brings together several of the wonderful church choirs at our local congregations to provide inspirational music and remind us of the roots of ACTS - our faith communities.  Details on both the Art Auction and the Choir Concert are in this newsletter.

We thank our many donors who have so generously contributed to ACTS in the past few months.  The Williams Pipeline/United Way Match grant was a great success and our Thanksgiving and Christmas appeals provided increased energy during the holiday season. 
Our new initiative is the ACTS 101Tour.  We will be hosting this one hour “tour” of ACTS and its mission once every month.  I promise this will be only one hour and we are not asking for money.  We invite you to come and to experience the reason ACTS exists.  Read the rest of the newsletter for more details on the dates and times of this new event. 

Sincerely,
Frances Harris
ACTS Executive Director

Full length Newsletter