Our mission has remained the same for the last 58 years. We work to serve those in need.
Food insecurity rates for the most severely impacted parts of ACCA’s service areas are between 40% and 55% and child poverty rates are at 27% in Fairfax County. ACCA’s human services work helps to relieve hunger and related needs with three major programs: food delivery, financial assistance, and furniture delivery. Since 2020, ACCA has assisted more than 27,000 individuals in 10,000 households.
The ACCA Child Development Center (CDC) program in FY2025 served more than 296 infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-agers, and their families by meeting or surpassing NAEYC standards and consistently providing healthy learning environments and high-quality early childhood programming.
The CDC also provided special needs services and referrals. Hearing, vision, and developmental screenings are provided to all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
The CDC staff continues to strive to provide high-quality care to the children and has completed many hours of professional development this year. Many of our teachers have their Child Development Associate credentials, as well as associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees.
The Family Emergency Assistance Program (FEAP) ministry assists low-income individuals and families facing financial crises, including some of the most vulnerable among us: families with young children, the elderly on fixed incomes, victims of domestic violence, individuals with permanent physical and mental challenges, and veterans of military service.
In FY2025, 327 local families received emergency funds for rent, security deposits, utilities, medical bills, and other essentials. Since 2020, the family emergency assistance program has served 2180 local families.
A disabled client fell $1,060 behind on rent after paying medical bills while uninsured. Now covered again, she can manage rent going forward. ACCA paid her back rent, stabilizing her housing.
The Food and Nutrition program provides nutritious food and other essentials to families and individuals in need in our community. ACCA works with Fairfax County social workers to provide nutritious food and other essentials to families and individuals in need. Pantry volunteers deliver a 7 – 10 day supply of food and hygiene products. Our volunteers and community partners work tirelessly to stock our pantry with produce, dairy products, bread, meats, soaps, baby supplies, and a variety of canned and packaged foods. 1250 households received emergency grocery supplies in FY2025 and since 2020, the pantry has served 7703 local families. View a video about the pantry and its wonderful volunteers.
On her 93rd birthday, a local woman reached out for food assistance, and her request came to ACCA. Our volunteers quickly gathered a week’s supply of groceries, but one packer wanted to make the day extra special. She picked up a cake and a balloon to add to the delivery, and the driver shared both food and birthday cheer at her door. She and her family were delighted, and she later called to say she felt truly blessed by the kindness shown on her special day.
The Furniture Program team collected and delivered furniture to 70 families this year. They received beds, sofas, tables, chairs, lamps, and other essentials to make their homes more livable in FY2025. Since 2020, the furniture teams have delivered to 430 homes. View a video about the ACCA furniture program.
When a fire displaced 14 families off Heritage Drive, ACCA volunteers acted immediately. We received a call on Tuesday, drivers and team members stepped up, and by Thursday morning, the family received a full furniture delivery. By noon Thursday, the apartment was completely furnished—proof that ACCA truly goes the extra mile.
The Housing Program worked with Rebuilding Together on repairing and upgrading two homes on the annual workday in April of 2025. With the help of 7 churches and 29 volunteers, we repaired and upgraded two homes Since 1990, ACCA volunteers have donated over 4300 hours and rehabilitated 134 houses and group homes in our community.
The Annandale CROP Hunger Walk in October 2024 raised a total of $16,752.36 for Church World Service (CWS) to provide hunger, disaster, and refugee relief. CWS returned $4188.09 to ACCA for our local efforts to fight hunger and poverty.
Ruffing Scholarships – provided $4,000 per year for college education to four local students with disabilities.
More Outreach
- The combined Shepherd’s Center of Annandale Springfield/ACCA Transportation provided 509 round-trip rides.
- Neighbor to Neighbor – Through financial and volunteer support, ACCA assisted refugee children with schoolwork and helped parents with English skills.
Volunteers
Our work was made possible by about 200 repeat volunteers and many one-time volunteers in addition to the staff of the Child Development Center. We celebrated our many volunteers at a picnic at the Child Development Center in May. Mary Lee Dispirito, one of the pillars of ACCA, was named the Outstanding Senior Volunteer at the Executive Mansion in Richmond. This honor was presented by the Governor’s Volunteerism & Community Service Award Committee
Partners
We received generous support from the community, including numerous individuals, businesses, churches, and community organizations. We appreciate the help from the Boy Scouts, Rotary, Knights of Columbus, Stuff the Bus, Whole Foods, Fairfax County Police Department, BRAWS, Fairfax Diaper Bank, Food Rescue DC, and National Active and Retired Federal Employees. We also are grateful for the support of our many partners.
Initiatives
Behind the scenes at ACCA, we are automating our processes to serve our community more efficiently. With the technical skills of many new volunteers, we are working to improve our processes through the use of new technologies. We have also been fortunate to partner with several local sources for diapers and feminine hygiene products to provide these essential items to families. We are working to improve our on-site vegetable garden and working with a local food rescue group to help provide fresh food to clients while reducing waste in our community.
Finances
For complete information on ACCA’s finances, including audits and IRS forms, visit this page.
