The Britepaths team joined Fairfax County's Stuff the Bus drive at the Walmart in Fairfax, and our community came through in a big way. Together with volunteers, county staff, and our generous neighbors, we collected 1,050 pounds of food, valued at more than $2,000, to stock our SNAP Gap Pantry. This pantry serves as a lifeline for families in our area, filling the gap when SNAP benefits fall short. Thanks to this drive, we can now provide food not only for families but also for their pets, helping to keep both fed together. It was inspiring to see volunteers greeting donors, sorting bags, and celebrating each new drop off. We were reminded of what's possible when our community comes together.

A heartfelt thank you to Fairfax County, our incredible volunteers, and every supporter who helped make this event a success.

Britepaths Food Security Program has grown in a brand-new way: pet food is now on the shelves of our SNAP Gap Pantry! Families in our community facing financial crisis won't have to choose between feeding themselves and their companion animals. Our Stuff the Bus drive helped stock our very first supply of pet food, and our Yappy Hour fundraiser brought the community together to raise additional support for our food security program. On September 30, we celebrated the ribbon-cutting alongside Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read, our Board President, Karen Wheeler, and our Executive Director, Abra Kurt. A special thank you to The Groomery in Alexandria, VA, for sponsoring this critical step forward.

The Pet Food Pantry is open to the community; no referral is needed. Neighbors experiencing financial hardship can stop by and pick up the pet food they need, right alongside the personal hygiene and household essentials we already provide for families.

Thanks to SixDegrees.org, 600 essential resource kits are now at our Britepaths office and will soon be distributed to the neighbors we serve. Each kit includes practical items and heartfelt notes of encouragement, packed by volunteers who came together on Sunday, September 28 for their Fairfax, VA Building Kits by Kevin Bacon (BKxKB) event. Our team will share these kits in three meaningful ways. Some will go to families we support each month through our Emergency Assistance program, while others will be available through our SNAP Gap Pantry. And this December, families attending our Winter Wonderland event will receive kits while also enjoying festive seasonal activities.

These kits are more than supplies; they're reminders that our community cares. We're grateful to SixDegrees and their volunteers for making this possible.

In mid-September, our Financial Empowerment Center hosted a full day of financial literacy workshops for nearly 100 Fairfax County youth and young adults. The participants are part of Fairfax County's Neighborhood and Community Services Re-Engagement Centers for Teens and Young Adults, which provide critical support for young people looking to reconnect with school, work, and their community. We split the day into two age groups to make the conversations more meaningful: 52 teens, aged 14–15, worked with Malee and Andrew from Reframe Wealth, while 41 young adults, aged 16–24, learned alongside Hever Castro from SEIA and longtime FEC volunteer David Sears. The sessions were interactive and practical. Participants built realistic spending plans, sorted needs from wants, debunked myths about credit, learned how to read a pay stub and a credit card statement, and discussed dos and don'ts for protecting their online identity.