Easterns Blog

These days, it seems like COVID-19 is a never-ending battle.? Each week unemployment numbers continue to rise and people?s funds continue to decrease.? At the end of May, ABC 7 ran a story about United Community which is a local food pantry in Alexandria, VA.? The increase in demand has made it extremely hard for them to feed residents of the community.? After the taping aired, they did receive a good amount of donations that inspired them to launch mobile distribution pick-up sites.

A volunteer at United Community named Yolonda Earl-Thompson took it upon herself to set up a mobile distribution pick-up site right in front of her home.? Each week volunteers from United Community push carts of food to Ms. Yolonda?s house.? She sits outside and encourages people of the community that are walking by come get free snack packs of food.? As a woman of the community, she knows first-hand how the coronavirus pandemic affected her people.? She is all about encouraging others and uplifting the community.

Alison DeCourcey, Executive Director at United Community speaks very highly of Earl-Thomas and her many contributions as a volunteer.? People of the community not only love what Ms. Yolanda is doing but also are doing their part to contribute.? She has received numerous donations and various child and family products.? It also caught the attention of Joel Bassam, Director of Marketing at Easterns Automotive Group.? Easterns has a partnership with ABC7 called Helping Hands where they choose to help people in need that are making strides in the community.? On behalf of Easterns Automotive Group, Bassam donated $2,500 to United Community to continue its mission.? This money will feed thousands of people in the greater Alexandria area.? We cannot thank the entire United Community team enough for their incredible work.? If you would like to learn more about United Community or find ways that you can help, please visit www.unitedcommunity.org

Watch the video to see how everything unfolded.

Helping Hands, powered by ABC 7 is always looking to help out people or organizations in need that are worthy of assistance.? If you know someone that fits this description, please click here to nominate them.

YouTube Link ? https://youtu.be/z15jW8COZ7Q