Spring For Alexandria: Working, Playing, Living, Giving

By Carla Branch and James Cullum
alexandrianews.org

Sunshine and warm temperatures provided the perfect backdrop for two days of giving through the third annual Spring For Alexandria.

Spring for Alexandria is a three-day celebration of giving and service in Alexandria, Virginia. First held in 2008, Spring for Alexandria is jointly hosted by ACT for Alexandria, the City of Alexandria and Volunteer Alexandria. Spring for Alexandria 2010 began with the Generations of Giving Gala on April 29, the Business Philanthropy Summit, Community Service Day and Celebration on Market Square on April 30, and Alexandria Gives: A Community Contributions Day and Kids Helping Kids’ Lemonaide Day on May 1.

Spring for Alexandria has brought together more than 3,000 community members, representing businesses, nonprofit organizations, the Alexandria City Public Schools and City government. During the weekend, Spring for Alexandria recognized philanthropic community leaders, provided thousands of hours of labor and skills for community improvement projects and raised funds for Alexandria charities.

ACT for Alexandria began the celebration by recognizing the Guiffre family with the third annual Legacy of Giving Award. The late night gala was followed by the Business Philanthropy Summit, a breakfast that was hosted by the First Baptist Church of Alexandria. Washington Business Tonight Anchor Rebecca Cooper was the emcee and Earl Stafford gave the keynote speech.

Growing up as one of 12 children of a Baptist minister, Earl W. Stafford learned the importance of work, service and faith. Stafford served two decades in the U.S. Air Force, built and sold a successful Northern Virginia company and established The Stafford Foundation, which works to aid the needy. Last year, his efforts earned him a place on Ebony magazine’s “Power 150” list of the nation’s most influential African Americans.

Spring For Alexandria is just the kind of volunteer service that Stafford, who recently sold his company, Unitech, to Lockheed Martin, seeks to promote through his recent collaboration with Bill Cosby. In January, the pair launched Doing Good: The People’s Project, which uses the Web to promote service by highlighting the good work done by volunteers. The effort follows The Stafford Foundation’s 2008 People’s Inaugural Project, which brought hundreds of disadvantaged people to Washington to participate in the Presidential Inauguration. Stafford says the volunteers who helped organize that event inspired him to promote volunteerism.

“We can’t just tell people to give, we must educate them about giving,” Stafford said. “I remember sitting at Alfred Street Baptist Church listening to the pastor tell me that I should tithe. He was telling me to give ten percent of my earnings to the church and live on the other 90 percent. This, when I was barely making it on 100 percent of what I made with all of the bills I had to pay.

“We must first help people learn to manage what they have and then teach them that they can give their time and not just their money. That’s what Alexandria has a history of doing – helping neighbors when they need help. I remember hearing stories from the old timers about taking a pot of something to a neighbor who needed it when there was barely enough food in your own house. That’s what giving means,” Stafford said.

Sponsored by Volunteer Alexandria, the annual summit is held to recognize and honor corporate philanthropy in Alexandria. This year’s award winners:

Business Philanthropist of the Year – Large Business - The Motley Fool – The company’s “Foolanthropy” giving program contributes $10,000 to the Carpenter’s Shelter and other local Charities in addition to hundreds of hours of employee volunteer time.

Business Philanthropist of the Year – Small Business – A Show of Hands – This small business is an active leader in countless philanthropic efforts in Del Ray, including Community Partners for Children, the Del Ray Business Association and the Salvation Army.

Nonprofit Leader of the Year – Ken Naser – Naser is the Executive Director of ALIVE! (Alexandrians InVolved Ecumenically, and his leadership has grown ALIVE’s seven direct service programs exponentially.

Nonprofit Board Leader of the Year – Lee Fifer – A lifelong resident and involved citizen in Alexandria, Fifer has served on the board of the Carpenter’s Shelter since 1998 in addition to multiple other nonprofits boards and local committees.

“This is a great example of how businesses, nonprofits and city government can work toegther to achieve some really important tasks,” said Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille. “Let’s not forget the volunteers, who really make it happen. They provide labor and skills that are tremendously valuable.

“Did you know that economists calculate that, in the state of Virginia, a typical volunteer’s time is worth nearly $21 an hour? So let’s do the math: today, we’re going to have at least 600 people out there working for more than 2400 hours. So, that’s at least $48,000 worth of labor – just today,” Euille said.

After breakfast, teams of volunteers from businesses, organizations and associations joined City employees and individual volunteers to spend the day providing hands-on service at nonprofit organizations and City agencies throughout Alexandria. The projects ranged from painting and landscaping to designing a database. After all of the hard work, volunteers came to Market Square to celebrate their success.

Finally, on Saturday, Kids Helping Kids operated Lemonaide stands throughout the city. This year’s goal was to raise $7500 for Coats For Kids and ALIVE’s Child Development Center. Last year, LemonAide Day raised more than $7000.

The Alexandria Jaycees coordinated Alexandria Gives Contributions Day. Habitat ReStore of Northern Virginia, Goodwill Industries, Capital Area Food Bank, the Alexandria Lincolnia Lions Club and ProShred of Northern Virginia assembled in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church to accept donations.