In advance of Thanksgiving, the Sheriff’s Office teamed up with our community partners to deliver full meals to those in need. First on November 21, in place of the traditional Friendsgiving at Charles Houston Recreation Center, ASO worked with members of the Police, Fire and Recreation departments and Firefighters & Friends to the Rescue, to purchase, organize and deliver turkeys and Thanksgiving baskets to dozens of families. Captain Sean Casey, Investigator Victor Ignacio and Deputy Ashley Battle delivered the meals and several ASO staff members contributed money to help purchase the food.

On November 24, Sheriff Dana Lawhorne, Captain Casey, Deputy Gerald Wooden, Fiscal Officer Cicely Woodrow and Director David Nye joined other volunteers to help ALIVE! distribute complete Thanksgiving meals of turkeys, trimmings and pies to more than 130 families across Alexandria. Then two days later, when Casa Chirilagua received a generous donation from local business people, Investigator Ignacio and Accreditation Manager Gayle Reuter helped coordinate pickups of more than 2,000 Thanksgiving meals there.

Beyond helping get food to those in need, the Sheriff’s Office has encouraged the holiday spirit through Operation Elf to benefit the children of inmates and in Del Ray, Deputy Todd Stubblefield even painted holiday scenes on the windows of an office along Mount Vernon Avenue for the annual festivities there.