Great Falls Women’s Group Seeks Members

Great Falls Friends and Neighbors is seeking members. Women living the Langley High School district or the The Estates of Lowes Island are invited to check out the group’s website.

The purpose of GFFN is to establish and foster an atmosphere in which new and current residents can develop new friendships and community contacts through social, educational and cultural activities. In addition, the club provides service, support and donations to philanthropic and civic organizations in and around the Great Falls community.

Monthly meetings take place at the Great Falls Library meeting room. For more details about the club, meeting dates and activities, email info@gffnva.org or visit www.gffnva.org.

Celebrate Great Falls

Celebrate Great Falls hosts annual events such as the Celebration of Lights Christmas tree lighting and a Fourth of July Parade, and raises funds for the three local elementary schools with a charity golf tournament. Celebrate Great Falls is currently looking for volunteers to help with general tasks, event planning and marketing. 571-293-0474, www.celebrategreatfalls.org

Great Falls Rotary Club and Foundation

Now in its fifth year, the Great Falls Rotary Club has volunteered at community parks, planned shoe drives and supported the USO. Members come from a variety of different professions, and it is not necessary to live in Great Falls to join. gf.interact@gmail.com or www.rotarygreatfalls.org/.

Friends of Colvin Run Mill

Friends of Colvin Run Mill is dedicated to assisting the Fairfax County Park Authority enhance the Colvin Run Mill Historic Site and its educational programs. The restored Colvin Run Mill, a working example of 19th century water powered grist milling technology, serves as an educational focal point for visitors, children and families. 703-759-2771 or http://friendsofcolvinrunmill.org/

Friends of the Great Falls Library

Friends of the Great Falls Library is a group that raises money to expand community events and programs for children and at the Great Falls Library, located at 9830 Georgetown Pike. 703-757-8560 or https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/friends/gf/

Great Falls Area Ministries, formerly Great Falls Ecumenical Council

The Great Falls Area Ministries has members from eight churches in Great Falls. The members share a commitment to worship, fellowship and service. The GFAM support various social and outreach programs and sponsor joint worship on Good Friday and Easter. They meet on the first Thursday of each month September through June in alternating member church buildings. Email Carol Wesley Wright at: c.wright@longandfoster.com

Great Falls Optimist Club

A group of individuals committed to programs that educate youth and help them expand their horizons and avoid pitfalls as they mature. The Optimists run a "Just Say No" program and an oratorical contest and have sponsored the Adeler Jewelers Children’s Festival. They sponsor boys and girls softball and baseball teams and Operation Smile. http://www.optimist.org/ClubDetail.cfm?club=16080

Great Falls Trailblazers

The Trailblazers support development and maintenance of multi-purpose trails in Great Falls. They have secured close to $2 million in grants to construct the Georgetown and Walker Road trails, sponsor annual stream clean-ups, and are looking for volunteers to help with trail maintenance. They monitor development to ensure compliance with the trails designated in Fairfax County’s Comprehensive Plan trails map and actively work to complete trails on Georgetown Pike and Walker Road. http://greatfallstrailblazers.org/ or greatfallstrailblazers@gmail.com

Great Falls Friends and Neighbors

The result of a 2011 merger of the Great Falls Woman’s Club and Newcomers of Great Falls, Great Falls Friends and Neighbors engages in social, civic and philanthropic activities throughout the area. GFFN has donated money to sponsor field trips to Riverbend Park, holds an annual Christmas ornament sale whose proceeds have been donated to a local domestic violence shelter and provides scholarships to local women pursuing higher education.

The purpose of GFFN is to establish and foster an atmosphere in which women residing in the Langley High School District and the Estates of Lowes Island can develop new friendships and community contacts through social, educational, and cultural activities. In addition, the club provides support to philanthropies focused on women and children in need in the Northern Virginia area.

http://www.gffnva.org/ or info@gffnva.org

Turner Farm Stakeholders

Formed in 2014, Turner Farm Stakeholders is a group of volunteers that developed from Save the Farm, a volunteer organization founded in 1996 to raise money and community awareness to preserve the Turner Farm in Great Falls as a public park. Stakeholders support The Turner Farm's equestrian jumping and dressage arena, cross country course, Observatory Park, July 4 fireworks, barn and farmhouse, resident curator program and itinerant individual pursuits like walking, jogging, observing nature and experiencing open space. https://www.facebook.com/TurnerStakeholders, turnerstakeholders@gmail.com, Betty Nalls Swartz: 703-759-2378 or Beverly Bradford Crawford: 703-406-2487

Save Marmota Farm

Save Marmota Farm (SMF), formed in July, 2015, is dedicated to preserving as a public park the 22.8 acre Marmota Farm located at 9800 Georgetown Pike in Great Falls. Marmota Farm has about 1,000 feet of road frontage on Georgetown Pike (Route 193), which was named Virginia's first official "scenic byway" in 1974.

A $94 million park bond referendum that will go before Fairfax County voters on Nov. 8, 2016 could provide funding for acquiring part of it. SMF is constructively working with the landowner's agents and the Fairfax County Park Authority to preserve this beautiful property as "natural open space for public benefit."

Please visit Save Marmota Farm on Facebook or email organizer Andrew Roesell at andrew.roesell@gmail.com

Traveling Players Ensemble

Traveling Players Ensemble is a not-for-profit professional theatre company based in Great Falls dedicated to bringing great theatre into the great outdoors through a thriving summer camp and year-round acting classes and workshops. Volunteer opportunities include working in the office, assisting with costume and set construction and helping with special events. 703-987-1712 or www.travelingplayers.org/.

Great Falls Senior Center

The Great Falls Senior Center hosts monthly events for local seniors at churches and public buildings. See their website for more details on events and membership. 703-324-4386 or www.gfseniors.org/.

More Area Nonprofits

The League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area

The League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area [LWVFA] is a volunteer organization composed of passionate men and women who are dedicated to making democracy work. It encourages active participation by citizens, but it does not support or endorse candidates. It conducts studies of important community issues, has monthly meetings during which members discuss these issues, and uses education and advocacy to influence public policy, at the local level, in the interest of the public. It conducts candidate forums so that citizens can ask the candidates questions, candidates can answer those questions and also interact directly with the public. LWVFA also registers voters and provides them with unbiased information about the voting process, issues of interest, and elections. To learn more about this organization or to join please go to its website, www.lwv-fairfax.org.

Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC)

AHC Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, operates throughout northern Virginia and the Baltimore area to provide quality homes for families and individuals making between 30 and 60 percent of the middle income for their area. AHC also offers services for residents and homeownership opportunities. 703-486-0626 or www.ahcinc.org/index.html.

Committee for Helping Others (CHO)

CHO is an organization committed to providing “simple, loving charity” to those in need in Vienna, Dunn Loring, and Merrifield. CHO is currently seeking volunteer drivers for their furniture and transportation programs. 703-281-7614 or www.cho-va.com.

Family PASS

Family PASS strives to step in before families lose their housing and to help homeless families regain housing and become self-sufficient by providing rental subsidies assistance, extensive case management and other aid including access to education, job training, child care, food, transportation, health care, help with children’s issues and counseling. Volunteer opportunities include positions as drivers, food drive organizers and tutors. 703-242-6474 or http://familypassfairfax.org/.

So Others Might Eat

SOME is a 46-year-old organization based in the Washington D.C. area with church partnerships throughout Northern Virginia. SOME works to meet the immediate daily needs of needy adults and children with food, clothing and health care, with the goal of breaking the cycle of homelessness by offering services such as affordable housing, job training, addiction treatment and counseling to the poor, the elderly and individuals with mental illness. 202.797.8806 or www.some.org/‎.

AFCEA Educational Foundation

AFCEA provides educational scholarships and continuing education and training programs for people in the hard sciences disciplines related to the defense, homeland security and intelligence communities. 703-631-6100 or www.afcea.org/education/scholarships/.

Friends of Guest House

Friends of Guest House offers structure, supervision, support and assistance to female ex-offenders who sincerely want to improve their lives and break the cycle of incarceration. Friends of Guest House offers the only program for women of its kind in Northern Virginia. Volunteers provide services including computer training, planning field trips for clients, assisting with writing resumes, grocery shopping, leading exercise classes, legal assistance, GED tutoring, office work, yard work and researching and coordinating external resources like job and housing opportunities. info@friendsofguesthouse.org, http://friendsofguesthouse.org/ or 703-549-8072.

Pathway Homes

Established in 1980, Pathway Homes focuses on providing housing and support services to individuals with serious mental illnesses, aiming to help these individuals reach their full potential and lead stable lives. They offer both in-home programs, semi-independent houses and assisted living facilities. Volunteer opportunities include one on one interaction, group work and more. info@pathwayhomes.org, 703-876-0390, www.pathwayhomes.org.

Volunteers of America-Chesapeake

One of the nation's largest and most comprehensive human services organizations with a history covering more than a century, VOAC assists thousands of individuals in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. by providing medical care, counseling, education and training programs. Volunteer opportunities vary by location; more information can be found on the website. 301-459-2020, info@VOAches.org, www.voaches.org.