'Stuff the Bus' Effort Comes to Oakton Saturday

Fairfax County has partnered again this year with the MV Transportation company and local area grocery stores and non-profits to provide food donations for its "Stuff the Bus: Feeding Fairfax Families" campaign.

The campaign comes to Oakton from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, in front of the Oakton Giant, 2932 Chain Bridge Road.

The campaign, which is in its third year, officially kicked off Monday and will run through Feb. 18.

Last year, volunteers collected more than 25,000 pounds of food.

"Stuff the Bus is an important component in restocking pantries after the holidays," noted Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova in a news release. "The need for healthy food is ever growing and the interest for Fairfax County residents to help is there, so we are happily providing the bridge to bring them together."  

The goal of the campaign is "to combat a drop of food donations after the holidays and to address the rise in food security issues across the county," the release states.

Residents who are able to can drop off donations at one of the 10 official locations where a Fastran bus will be parked within the county. All donations benefit local non-profits and food pantries.

The Saturday dropoff in Oakton will benefit Committee for Helping Others (CHO), a group that serves Oakton, Vienna, Dunn Loring and Merrifield.

Can't make it Saturday? Here are some of the other locations close to Oakton.

Donations will be accepted from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the following locations:

• Feb. 2: Fairfax Walmart, 11181 Lee Hwy., Fairfax (Benefiting Our Daily Bread).
• Feb. 9: Giant, 7235 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church (Benefiting Falls Church Community Service Councill) and Shoppers in Fair City Mall, 9622 Main St., Fairfax (Benefiting Food for Others)
• Feb. 16: Giant, 1454 Chain Bridge Rd., McLean (Benefiting Share, Inc.) 

"Food pantries address a critical need which is especially acute after the holidays, the Stuff the Bus campaign helps us help our community. Its importance to helping stock the shelves can't be overstated," Roxanne Rice, executive director of Food for Others, said in the release.

For more information and additional dropoff locations, read the full news release here.