Cornerstones Helps Families Struggling Due To Coronavirus

RESTON, VA — Cornerstones has been providing assistance to people in need for five decades, but the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Northern Virginia families and individuals like nothing else the Reston-based nonprofit has every encountered

"Before the COVID-19 crisis, more than 16,000 lower-income families and individuals, including upwards of 5,000 children, turned to Cornerstones for a pathway out of homelessness, unemployment, and poverty," said Kerrie Wilson, CEO at Cornerstones. "This health and economic scourge only further exacerbate their daily fears about affordable housing, food insecurity, learning loss, quality childcare, and lack of valuable job skills training — barriers to everyone's economic, physical, and mental stability."

In just the last three months, more than 6,100 families and individuals have reached out for assistance, according to Wilson. From April to June, 621 households received help from Cornerstones' Food Pantry, a 216 percent increase over the same period in 2019.

In addition, 4,667 individuals have benefited from the pantry as well as Cornerstones' other services, such as its youth programs, community and neighborhood resources, as well as its housing counseling programs. Cornerstones has also assisted 899 people with emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, affordable housing, and financial assistance.

"Responding to the virus has required Cornerstones to completely re-imagine our programming, redesign front-line services to engage people safely, and equip our teams with tools to recreate programs virtually — all the while dealing with shortages in staff due to health risk or exposure and contingency planning for short- and long-term changes in our revenue," Wilson said.

As an example of how Cornerstones continues to assist those in need, it will be distributing food Thursday morning to Northern Virginians who are experiencing food insecurity.

Individuals and families can pick up bags of groceries, toiletries, and gift cards, Thursday, at 11 a.m., in the parking lot at 11484 Washington Plaza West, Reston.

Those who can't make it to Thursday's distribution event can access the Assistance Services and Pantry Program, the largest food pantry in northwest Fairfax County. The pantry (11484 Washington Plaza West, Suite 120, Reston) is open Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Friday, from 8:30-1:30 p.m.; and the first Saturday of the month, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

"We know the best hope for a full social and economic recovery for everyone is to work together for change and encourage others to invest in our community's equitable resiliency and healing," Wilson said.

Those who wish to help out are encouraged to make a financial gift to Cornerstones’ COVID-19 Relief Fund. Anyone who needs assistance or knows someone who could benefit from Cornerstones' services can visit the Cornerstones website or call 571-323-9555 for more information.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.