23 Monday Apr 2018
Posted in Community Events, Volunteering
Tags
Calling All Friends of the Soldiers Home! Our annual Spring Fling is a few weeks away and we need your support to make it happen! If you’re interested in volunteering on May 5th at the Armed Forces Retirement Home during our Spring Fling, please register here: https://airtable.com/shrJqKFuxIjICw6W3 For more info, please reach out to Betsy Eves at betsy(at)becreativeconsulting(dot)com. We look forward to seeing you at the Spring Fling!
25 Sunday Mar 2018
04 Wednesday Oct 2017
On a perfect, sunny day at the Armed Forces Retirement Home golf course driving range, more than 1,000 people joined Friends of the Soldiers Home in a gala celebration of music, games and camaraderie at Fall Fun Fest on Oct. 1.
The bluegrass band Fretnauts and classic rock group The Loose Ends entertained visitors and Soldiers Home residents under the big tent, while scores of children roamed the green grass of the driving range and played games. An obstacle course moon bounce proved particularly possible with young ones, as many climbed through the attraction multiple times.
In the early part of the day, on the upper part of the Home’s campus, visitors and residents enjoyed an antique car show, military medical displays and military drill team demonstrations.
Friends of the Soldiers Home would like to thank the staff and residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home for making Fall Fun Fest 2017 possible. In addition, FOSH thanks all the volunteers and is grateful for the financial support from the following: Anheuser-Busch, ANC1A, Annie’s Hardware and CollEDGEucation.
Photos by Lauren Kessler
25 Monday Sep 2017
Posted in Community Events, Music and entertainment, Volunteering
Fall Fun Fest DETAILS below! Two bands, activities for kids, great food and drink. See you Sunday! Bonus: Volunteer 100 minutes while you enjoy! Sign up: http://signup.com/go/ruHnkJr
08 Friday Sep 2017
07 Friday Jul 2017
Posted in Community Events, Holidays
More than 3,000 people came to the Armed Forces Retirement Home on July 4 for a gala event that connected the community with veterans in celebrating America’s independence. The sixth annual gathering was the first one since 2014 that didn’t have significant rain — and hence, it was a record turnout. Large numbers of children loved roaming on the green expanse of the golf driving range.
Many kids played in the bounce house while others competed in the contest for most patriotic outfit. Families enjoyed fishing at the well-stocked Soldiers Home pond. Adults mingled and enjoyed food and drink while listening to the Home’s resident DJ, Billy White, spin top tunes. Best of all, a record number of residents of the Soldiers Home joined in the celebration!
Friends of the Soldiers Home is grateful to residents and staff of the Home, the Nam Knights Capital Chapter, Anheuser Busch and DCCX bike group for helping to make the event so successful.
Photos by Lou Avenilla and Isabelle Hughes.
04 Thursday May 2017
Tags
Marine Color Guard (March on the Colors)
Sponsors: Anheuser Busch, DCCX, Annie’s Hardware and Capital Park Realty
Performance Times:
12:15: St. Michael’s High School Concert Band/Chamber Choir
1:15: Marine Color Guard (March on the Colors)
1:30: Daka 2 Martial Arts Academy Karate Demonstration
2:00: Ari Jacobson
3:00: Suspicious Package
Attractions:
Old Line Garrison, 501st Legion, Darth Vader’s Army!
Games: Double Hoops, Soccer, Ring Toss, Alien Pinball
Food Trucks: Tender Rib, OooDatChicken, DC Ballers
Beer: Delightful draft choices courtesy of Anheuser Busch
St. Michael’s High School Concert Band/Chamber Choir
Weather: Breezy, cloudy, chance of scattered showers, highs in the low- to mid-60s. Event happens rain or shine, with a tent to keep you dry!
Location: Enter Armed Forces Retirement Home at Randolph Road and Rock Creek Church Road in Washington, D.C. For navigation, use 340 Rock Creek Church Road N.W., Washington, D.C.
Ari Jacobson
Cost: Free if you walk or bike in. Friends of the Soldiers Home requests a $10 donation per carload for parking
Volunteer: If you would like to volunteer for part of the event, go here: http://signup.com/go/QK3n1t
See you at the Fling!
Suspicious Package
Daka 2 Martial Arts Academy Karate Demonstration
Star Ward Storm Trooper
22 Saturday Apr 2017
Posted in Community Events, Music and entertainment
Suspicious Package
Announcing…. Suspicious Package to headline Spring Fling May 6!
With:
Ari Jacobson
DAKA 2 Martial Arts Academy
St. Michael CHS Concert Band and Chamber Choir
About Suspicious Package:
Long-rumored in existence but kept tightly shrouded in the secrecy of Tom Toles’ basement, Suspicious Package finally exploded onto the Washington, D.C. music scene in May 2008 with their sell-out premiere performance at the Red and the Black in DC’s Atlas District. They’ve since performed at the Rock and Roll Hotel, the National Press Club, the Hard Rock Café, the Embassies of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, Andrews Air Force Base, Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium, the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York City harbor, and other venues. The band plays frequently for charity benefits. In 2010 they performed for over a thousand people at Arena Beniamino Gigli in Porto Recanati, Italy, and appeared on national television. In 2015 Suspicious Package had the honor of performing for Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden. Suspicious Package has been mentioned in SPIN magazine and Rolling Stone (Italian edition) magazine. They are a three-time winner of the Journopalooza battle of the media bands for the title of DC’s best media band, and may also be Washington’s only band containing three Pulitzer prizes. In 2017, the Washington Post dubbed “Suspicious Package… practically the house band of Official Washington.”
Suspicious Package plays a mix of rock, blues, punk, funk, pop, alternative and originals. Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post political cartoonist Toles drives the rhythm of Suspicious Package on drums and vocals, VICE contributor and former TIME Magazine reporter Tim Burger plays bass, with POLITICO senior investigative reporter and two-time team Pulitzer prize-winning Josh Meyer on lead guitar and vocals. Senior government officials Bryan Greene and Christina Sevilla also sing and play rhythm guitar and keyboard, respectively. Suspiciously, none of the members had ever played in a rock band prior to their 2008 debut. www.facebook.com/SusPackage
27 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in Community Events, Sports & Recreation, Volunteering
Tags
(Cadets from the Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy, who volunteered through Friends at the DCCX bike race, courtesy of In The Crosshairs and Bruce Buckley Photography.)
Friends of the Soldiers Home will mark its 200th volunteer event on Tuesday, Nov. 1 with a performance by the Georgetown Phantoms vocal group, along with pizza, beer and cake, at Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington. The milestone follows a busy October in which Friends held five volunteer activities, ending with participation in the Halloween Happy Hour at the Home on Oct. 25.
The month also included a Friends Hospitality Tent for Soldiers Home residents at the DCCX bike race Oct. 23, bowling night with residents Oct. 18, Jingo Night Oct. 13 and Saloon Night With Friends Oct. 4. The Nov. 1 event will come nine days before Friends celebrates the fifth anniversary of its founding. Along with the re-occurring monthly events, the 200 volunteer activities have included 12 community festivals such as July 4 and Fall Fun Fest, five bus trips for residents to off-campus events, and two special concert performances on campus. (See full list of 200 after the jump below.)
Friends is grateful to residents and AFRH-W staff for extending a warm welcome for all these events; to festival sponsors, including Anheuser-Busch, Annie’s Hardware and Crossfit Petworth; and to community partners including Nam Knights Capital Chapter, Points of Light, President Lincoln’s Cottage and Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Above all, Friends thanks the hundreds of volunteers, many who return again and again, for making this success story possible! You are all the best and none of this would have been possible without you!
Note: Photo of cadets from the Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy, who volunteered through Friends at the DCCX bike race, is courtesy of In The Crosshairs and Bruce Buckley Photography. All other photos of October events are by Reyn Anderson and John Hughes.
Full list of the 200 events after the jump Continue reading
03 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in Community Events, Music and entertainment
Friends of the Soldiers Home is thrilled that Fall Fun Fest was such a grand time on Sunday, with about 1,200 people enjoying delicious food, wonderful music and the beautiful green expanse of the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington. The sunshine marked the first nice day after several with rain and gloom — and people loved it.
We are so happy that many Soldiers Home residents participated in the activities. With a bounce house, inflatable soccer goal, carnival games, storybook readings by Glenna Orr and an activity table by Asian Community Service Center, children had plenty to do as well! Creative Minds Charter School had a pumpkin patch. Alte Kameraden played German music that got everyone in the Oktoberfest mood, and the Accordian Queen of Washington, D.C. roamed through the crowd and delighted everyone. Earlier in the day, activities on the upper campus included an antique car show, drill team demonstration and bourbon-tasting booth.
Thank you to the sponsors who made this event possible — Budweiser, DCCX, Annie’s Hardware and Crossfit Petworth. We couldn’t have done it without you! Nam Knights Capital Chapter were once again invaluable partners — thank you Knights! Thanks also to Petworth News. Above all, we are grateful to the residents and staff of the Armed Forces Retirement Home for opening the campus to this wonderful day of activities.
