Category Archives: Community

Pay It Forward – Khloe

Community,

Earlier this year, 11-year-old Khloe from Gainsville, Va, suffering from Alopecia, was ecstatic to receive a wig from Cardi B. Alopecia is an auto-immune disease that causes hair loss. Khloe has lost all of her hair, but her mother, Teia Ferguson Maxwell, made sure to instill in her daughter that beauty comes from within and that wigs are a nice accessory and option to have.

Once we saw how happy Khloe was, we had to do more! Khloe thought it was a typical day running errands with her mother, but little did she know she was in for a huge surprise from the Easterns Automotive Group and the Pay It Forward team.

The glam squad at DanieNikole beauty bar in Greenbelt, Maryland, joined in pampering Khloe. The hairstylist Danielle Easterling created custom units with hints of pink, while Bri Price and Kayla Farrar provided makeup and nails. Khloe walked out of the beauty bar, surprised by her family, and left with a makeover that left her speechless. Joel Bassam from Easterns Automotive Group even joined in, surprising her with even more. She was able to take home two hair units, a gift card to Forever 21, and because she is a big Roblox fan, she also received an X-box gift card.

Helping Hands – Cape Ivy

Community,

A mother from Fairfax county has made it her mission to help children all over the country by providing warmth and comfort. Meg Smith began sewing ponchos for her son, Gavin when he was six years old. Due to his rare form of Common Variable?Immune Deficiency, he spent a lot of his time growing up in and out of the hospital. Meg created ponchos to keep him warm since he couldn’t wear robes because of his IV or PICC line. After her son passed, Meg and her business partner, Cindy, began to sew and donate ponchos to hospitals to keep other chronic and critically ill children warm.

They made their first delivery in 2019 to Inova Children’s Hospital, and they have now expanded across the country and recently became a non-profit called Cape Ivy. If you’d like to request a cape for your child?

Touched by Meg’s efforts to supply warmth, comfort, and support for children across our area, Joel Bassam joined with a message for Meg and a surprise of $1500 so that she can continue to expand her mission. This surprise will help Meg donate 128 capes.

Helping Hands, powered by ABC 7, is always looking to help out people or organizations in need that are worthy of assistance. If you know someone that fits this description, please click here to nominate them.

Get Up Give Back – Community Forklift

Community,


Community Forklift is a nonprofit that gathers unwanted items and restores building materials for those in need and their marketplace. The COO/CEO, Nancy Meyer, joined Allison Seymour to share some of their incredible work.

With their program, the Home Essentials, they give free home appliances and building goods to those in need. Some of their favorite projects include a laundry room they created for William Wirt Middle school and the blessing box, which is a large pantry filled with food for those in need. They also partnered with national nonprofit Uniting Us, a group of veterans who uses art for healing. A lot of the materials used to create art with Uniting Us come from community Fork Lift.

We love that Community Forklift is repurposing salvage items to give to those in need. As a part of Get Up give Back partnered with WUSA 9 We are excited to donate $1,000 to this fantastic cause. This donation will help Community Forklift reduce disposal costs, keep items out of landfills, and support others in need.

Easterns Automotive Group and WUSA 9 are always here to help. If you know someone in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area that is worthy of being helped or recognized, please contact at @ReeseWaters on social media. #GetUpDC #GetUpGiveBack

Road To A Better Community – Just 1 Inc

Community,

Covid has completely turned all of our lives upside down, and as we all continue to adjust, some of us are finding ways new ways to help others in need.

Connie Denton commits a big part of her life to help children in developing countries. Children who can’t afford things we take for granted, like being able to go to school. She founded the non-profit Just 1 Inc and set out to help just one child at a time by educating and empowering them, and she has now helped about 1000 children.

Once the pandemic started, Connie witnessed a need in her very own community, causing her to shift her focus. She changed her non-profit’s direction from “just one child” to “just one senior or homeless individual.” Connie organized a team to deliver groceries to senior citizens who can’t leave their homes. She also spends her weekends dropping off clothes and food to those without shelter.

Touched by all of her efforts to support so many individuals in the community, Joel Bassam joined to share a special message and surprise Connie with $2,000, so she can continue to do fantastic work helping and feeding others.

To learn more about Easterns Automotive Group’s partnership with WUSA 9 and how they come together to empower the DMV community, please visit www.wusa9.com/BetterCommunity

The Give: Make-A-Wish

Community,

 

Make-A-Wish is a local organization dedicated to granting wishes to children right here in our backyard. Their mission is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. For them, granting wishes goes beyond nice things or gifts. They are impactful for everyone involved, including families, sponsors, donors, medical professionals, and the communities, giving them courage and optimism.

Covid-19 has created new challenges for us all and has even forced Make-A-Wish to put a few wishes on hold. Lesli Creedon, the President and CEO of the Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic chapter, also explains that isolated children, due to the nature of their illnesses, find their support circles are growing smaller because their families are at risk. In April 2019, about 90% of their wishes – meeting a celebrity or going to Disney World – were put on hold until it is safer. Almost a year later and their wishes remain on pause.

As a part of “The Give” campaign with Easterns Automotive Group, they are currently working to send more of what they call “wish enhancements,” including goodie bags and care packages, to let the children know they are not alone.

They have also partnered with athletes like Tom Wilson from the Washington Capitals, who recently purchased a ton of wish enhancements and surprised them with a message to let them know that he is thinking of them.

It is a pleasure to be apart of “The Give” campaign to help make sure the Mid-Atlantic chapter of Make-A-Wish can continue to make dreams a reality for these children.

Helping Hands – Frontline Healthcare Workers at Inova Fairfax

Community,

Hospitals are still working diligently to care for COVID-19 patients. Even though it may seem as if the world is returning to some form of normalcy, hospital workers are the true heroes that face the real effects of COVID-19 every day. We wanted to step up and show our frontline healthcare workers that we appreciate them.

We surprised 150 healthcare workers at Inova Fairfax with lunch from Ciao Osteria in Centreville! Joel Bassam joined virtually to share how Easterns Automotive Group wanted to highlight the true heroes who keep everyone safe during this crisis. It is necessary to show them that we cherish their endless hard work and care for our loved ones during this trying time.

The Inova Fairfax Covid response team appreciated the community working together to thank them for their commitment. Ciao Osteria’s owner expressed how important it is that we take care of each other, and we couldn’t agree more!

Helping Hands, powered by ABC 7, is always looking to help out people or organizations in need worthy of assistance. If you know someone that fits this description, please?click here?to nominate them

Road to A Better Community – Cool and Dope

Community,

Cavanaugh Bell is an eight-year-old boy from Gaithersburg, MD, who decided to turn his pain from being bullied into a mission to help others.?

After being bullied brought him to a dark place, he was determined to help others never feel the way he did. In response, Cavanaugh and his mother, Lacey, created the non-profit Cool and Dope. It is a tribe of positive creators that has a mission to stop bullying worldwide by 2030.

Even though it started as an anti-bullying campaign during the pandemic, Cavanaugh saw another way to help his community. They created a food pantry, which developed into care packages for families directly impacted by the Coronavirus, and now into mobile pantries. Cavanaugh and his mother drive around to keep the pantries stocked full of free necessities for others whenever they need them. They currently have 8, but their goal is to have ten pantries by the summer.

Cavanaugh’s kindness inspired us at Easterns Automotive Group, so we wanted to help him reach his goal! We were able to surprise him with $1,500! Enough to complete three mobile pantries! Cavanaugh was completely speechless and later expressed how he felt beautiful inside.?

To learn more about Easterns Automotive Group’s partnership with WUSA 9 and how they come together to empower the DMV community, please visit?www.wusa9.com/BetterCommunity

Pay It Forward – Frontline Workers at White Oak Medical Center

Community, Uncategorized,

So many men and women have put themselves in harm’s way to work the frontline. They have spent the past year dedicated to helping those who have contracted COVID-19 while trying to remain safe themselves.?

From the Fox 5 team, Erin Como visited the White Oak Medical Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, to speak with those saving lives on the frontline. Continue reading Pay It Forward – Frontline Workers at White Oak Medical Center →

Helping Hands – Tawana Baylor

Community,

Southwest DC is an area that has been hit hard by the pandemic. In a ward full of residents facing food insecurity, people in the community have stepped up to make sure their neighbors do not go without, like Tawana Baylor. Ms. Tawana works as a violence interrupter in her neighborhood, but she is so much more to the children in her community. Many even said they see her as a second mother.

Tawana feeds the children in her southwest DC neighborhood and has done so for years. She manages a makeshift toy outlet, library, and grocery store all out of her small apartment while creating a safe space for families and children whenever they may need help. She funds her operation by pinching pennies and support from various family, friends, and non-profit agencies.

In this episode of Helping Hands, Ms. Tawana, as everyone calls her, brought balloons to one of her volunteers, Ben, in the community for his birthday, not knowing she was the one actually in for a surprise.

After Ben blew out his candles, Ms. Tawana was surprised with a check for $1,500 from Easterns Automotive Group to help her continue to feed the children in her community. Blown away by her selfless actions, Joel Bassam shared how amazed we are by her work in her community. She was initially in shock and brought to tears. She did not have the words to express her gratitude.

When Ms. Tawana finally found the words to say, she shared how happy she was that she no longer has to pinch pennies to make sure everyone in her community is cared for.

Helping Hands, powered by ABC 7, is always looking to help out people or organizations in need worthy of assistance. If you know someone that fits this description, please?click here?to nominate them.

Pay It Forward – Helping Neighbors in Need

Community, Uncategorized,

 

COVID-19 has turned everyone’s lives upside down, and, amazingly, there are so many people doing extraordinary things to help others during these trying times. A new mom in Maryland named Caroline Dennin wanted to find a way to impact those less fortunate and thought an app connecting neighbors was the perfect way to reach out.?

Caroline decided the Next Door app was the best platform to let others in the community know that she was there to help if needed. It was never her intention to receive so much support. However, by creating so many connections through the app, twenty-five people made donations. With help from others in the community, she provided families with things like groceries and toiletries. Receiving so many contributions, she was able to deliver to 12 local families.?

Inspired by Caroline’s effort to help her neighbors in need, Joel Bassam joined virtually to share some good news! Easterns Automotive wanted help by donating twenty-one $100 gift cards.

The holiday giving didn’t stop there as Mike Thomas from the Fox 5 team continued to give back! As people passed by, Mike asked, “What are you thankful for?” With the past year we have had, it is no surprise that most replied that they are grateful for life and health. He next surprised them with a $100 gift card from Easterns Automotive.?

If you know someone in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area that goes above and beyond the call and is worthy of being recognized,?Click here?to nominate them.