Greetings, Prince William – Does your organization have that “one in a million” volunteer or community partner who has been especially helpful to your agency during this pandemic? Here’s your chance to recognize and thank them for their service – nominations for the Virginia Governor’s Volunteerism & Community Service Awards are now open!
Please visit virginiaservice.virginia.gov/volunteering/governors-volunteerism-awards to view the categories and submit your nomination. Online nominations must be submitted by 5 pm, April 23. Winners will be honored in May. Please email [email protected] for more information.
Non-COVID-19 Opportunities:
• ACTS has a critical need for volunteers in the Hunger Prevention Center and in ACTS’ Thrift Store and Thrift Donation Center. However, ACTS’ main concern is the health and safety of volunteers, staff, and community. Please visit https://www.actspwc.org/volunteer for information on volunteering and policies in place for volunteers. Contact Shirley at [email protected] for more information.
• BEACON has an urgent need for a Tech Facilitator for their Monday morning class, 9:30 am-11 am through March 2nd. Volunteers will provide technical support via Zoom. Basic knowledge on hosting meetings and using Zoom features preferred. Training provided. Please fill out an application at https://beaconliteracy.org/get-involved/volunteer-application/. For more information, call 571.422.2242 or email [email protected].
• Delta Sigma Theta invites you to join them for a free, online Black History Month event on Saturday, Feb. 6, 11 am-12noon. Nationally acclaimed artist, Mr. René Dickerson, will present a virtual artist talk of his first retrospective exhibit, hosted at the ARTfactory (formerly Center for the Arts) in Old Town Manassas. Please click on this link to participate: https://zoom.us/j/95189862893. During this online event, René will share several pieces of his original artwork, discuss his creative process and answer questions. Please email Deborah at [email protected] for more information.
• House of Mercy says, “Help Fill Our Fridge and Stock Our Shelves!” They are kicking off their first Virtual Food Drive to stock the shelves in their Food Pantry. Visit their Virtual Food Drive page, Select the products you want to donate then View your cart, click and pay. It’s easy as 1-2-3! Please visit https://houseofmercyva.org/ to begin shopping and help food-insecure families. Please email [email protected] to learn more.
• If you missed Wreaths Across America, your help is still needed! On Saturday, January 30, NOVA Veterans Association needs volunteers to retrieve and dispose of wreaths at Quantico National Cemetery. Staging for this event will occur at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 18410 Chapel Drive, Triangle. Two shifts are set up, 10am-11am and 11:30am-12:30pm. Face masks required social distancing will be practiced. It’s a great activity for all ages, and students needing community service will get credit for their hours! Please sign up and learn more at http://bit.ly/3se83vk. Questions? Please email [email protected].
• Prevention Alliance of Greater Prince William (www.thepreventionalliance.org) is conducting a Young Adult Survey. This anonymous survey will help gather current behavioral health data to better understand behavioral health trends among young adult populations within the county and better inform prevention strategies for the upcoming year. Those between 18-25 who are residents of Prince William County, City of Manassas, or Manassas Park are eligible to participate for the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Participants should visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W67KPFN to take the survey. Please email [email protected] for more information.
• Did You Know: Prince William Food Rescue Heroes who are “55 and better” can also join the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)! Along with the benefits of volunteering to do home food deliveries, RSVP members also receive a mileage stipend and insurance coverage while on their volunteer shift. Just an hour or so of your time helps provide food to local families facing food insecurity! Please email [email protected] to learn how you can join.
• SERVE needs groups of 6-8 people who can prepare a home-cooked meal for their 60-70 shelter residents. All meals are drop-by delivered only due to the pandemic. However, this lets families and kids help out at home! You’ll feel great knowing you’re bringing the warmth and comfort of a nutritious home-cooked meal to the homeless! Please contact Julie at [email protected] for a list of open dates.
• Spanish speakers! SERVE also needs bilingual volunteers age 21+ to assist food clients in their Hunger Resource Center. Volunteers must be at least 21 years of age, able to speak fluent Spanish and English, be able to commit to at least one shift per week for at least six months. Your skills will make a big impact as you ensure Spanish-speaking families have access to nutritious food. Please email [email protected] to learn how you can make a difference.
COVID-19 Volunteer Opportunities:
Medical Reserve Corps Support your local health department and your community during a public health emergency! Volunteers are needed to support several missions, including public health education and outreach, disease investigation, vaccine clinics, and more! Medical experience is not required; they have roles for everyone! Bilingual volunteers are especially needed. Volunteers must be 18 years of age, complete minimum training, and pass a state background check to serve. Please fill out an application at vamrc.org. Questions? Please email Amy at [email protected] for more information.
• American Red Cross needs volunteers to be Shelter Service Associates in the event of a disaster during COVID-19. Volunteers work in person in a Red Cross shelter before, during and/or after a disaster event, completing tasks necessary for shelter operations and providing assistance for disaster clients. Duties include working in reception, registration, feeding, dormitory, information or other areas within a shelter. Please email [email protected] for more information.
• Prince William Food Rescue (PWFR) needs Food Rescue Heroes as the program is super busy delivering food to both ACTS and SERVE homebound senior citizens. Volunteers are urgently needed countywide! Home food deliveries are no contact and follow social distancing guidelines. PWFR is an app-based program enabling volunteers to pick up viable, close to expiration food from supermarkets, restaurants, food pantries, etc., and then deliver it to a program that can immediately use the food. Just an hour of your time will do much to provide relief for food-insecure families in our community! More info on PWFR may be found at https://pwfoodrescue.org/. Please contact Shirley at [email protected] or call 703.441.8606 ext. 212 for more information.
If you are looking for other opportunities, please don’t forget to call our wonderful team at Volunteer Prince William at 703.369.5292. You can also visit our website at volunteerprincewilliam.org. Thanks so much for all you do in our community.
Jessennia Marisol Cruz, 27, of Manasas, VA, passed away suddenly after a prolonged illness. Her family is heartbroken and deeply saddened by the loss of such a beautiful, vibrant and loving member of the family. Jessennia was born on March 26, 1993, to Maria Katherine Tressler and Eugenio Cruz in Manassas VA. Jessennia was an intelligent and loving individual who dedicated her life to her children. She was an advocate for children with...
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The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is proud to announce our agency has been certified in meeting the use of force standards outlined in the Executive Order on Safe Policing (E.O. 13929).
The Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission (VLEPSC) has reviewed the Sheriff’s Office’s policies on use of force and certified the policies adhere to all federal, state, and local laws as well as ban the use of chokeholds except in deadly force situations.
The certification demonstrates the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office’s commitment to professionalism and to delivering the highest quality law enforcement services. The certification also allows the Sheriff’s Office to be eligible to receive federal grant funding.
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Merritt at Austin Ridge will offer five single-story buildings ranging from 54,500 to 113,775 square feet, totaling 390,075 square feet of new flex light industrial space in Stafford County. Located at Interstate-95 Exit 140 (Courthouse Road), the new business park represents Merritt’s second “spec” investment along Stafford’s I-95 corridor.
Merritt Properties, a successful, full-service commercial real estate developer with over 17 million square feet of space throughout Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia has successfully closed and acquired 28 acres of land to develop the new business park.
“With their expanded business footprint in Stafford County, Merritt quickly adds to the available inventory for our growing light industrial, distribution, and tech manufacturing space,” stated John Holden, Director for Stafford County Economic Development and Tourism. “This inventory will allow us to capture the growing interest and demand for tech-based targeted businesses in Stafford.”
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Richard Windsor, 72 of Woodbridge passed away on Tuesday, January 19th.
Married 42 years to Hester Woods, he also leaves behind his son Ricky Windsor son Vincent Woods and his daughter Evelyn Windsor, Along with 3 grand kids Anthony Windsor, Kayla Windsor, and Kyrie Windsor.
Richard was a laid-back hardworking man who would give his shirt off his back to almost anybody always made sure his family was good, He loved to sing out loud when he would drink and read his newspaper.
Babylon Cafe shooting investigation
On January 23 at 9:25PM, officers responded to the Babylon Café located at 3081 Golansky Blvd. in Woodbridge (22192) to investigate a shots fired call.
While responding, officers located the victim, a 27-year-old man, a short distance from the
Café suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers utilized their Department-issued trauma kits
to provide first aid to the man until rescue personal arrived.
The victim was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The investigation revealed that the victim and an acquaintance, identified as the accused, were involved in a verbal altercation inside the Café.
At some point during the altercation, the parties moved outside where the altercation escalated when the accused brandished a firearm. The accused fired several rounds striking the victim before fleeing the area in a dark colored vehicle.
The victim also ran from the area until located by the police. Shell casings were located in the parking lot and collected by officers. Later that morning, officers responded to the 3100 block of Golansky Blvd. for a report of two business which sustained damage believed to be from the prior night’s shooting.
Following the investigation, officers obtained arrest warrants for the accused, identified as James Lawrence GREGORY Jr. Attempts to locate the accused have been unsuccessful.
Wanted: [Photo from October 2016]
James Lawrence GREGORY Jr., 34, of the 3100 block of Chesapeake Dr. in Dumfries
Described as a black male, 6’4”, 300lbs., with long black dread locks and brown eyes
Wanted for aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, discharging a firearm in public, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and destruction of property
El Establo Bar and Grill shooting investigation
Aggravated Malicious Wounding – On January 24 at 10:50PM, officers responded to the El Establo Bar and Grill located at 7911 Centreville Rd. in Manassas (20111) to investigate a shooting.
The investigation revealed that the victim, identified as a 25-year-old man, and two unknown men were involved in a verbal altercation outside of the restaurant when one of the suspects retrieved a firearm and shot the victim. The victim was driven to the hospital by an acquaintance where the police were contacted. The victim sustained non-life threatening injuries. No additional injuries or property damage were reported. The investigation continues.
Suspect Descriptions:
A black male wearing a black jacket with a black hooded sweatshirt underneath, dark colored jeans with holes, red/white Air One Jordan shoes and carrying a firearm
A black male with shoulder length braids wearing a black sweatshirt
County residents can now schedule appointments for fingerprinting services through the Prince William County Police Department’s website. Appointments are available now for February 2021. The Fingerprinting Services web page will be updated to reflect additional dates.
Fingerprinting is performed at the Prince William County Police Department’s Licensing Section located at 8406 Kao Circle in Manassas (Euclid Business Center). Fingerprinting services are available ONLY to Prince William County residents or those seeking employment in Prince William County.
Hours for basic fingerprinting services are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment only. To schedule a fingerprinting appointment, follow the appropriate link on the web page for the date range you wish to be fingerprinted. Once on the page, select the appointment you wish to schedule, click “submit” and sign up at the bottom of the page and follow the prompts.
You must have proper identification to be fingerprinted. Follow this link to the Virginia State Police ID Validation Guide for more information on what constitutes proper identification.
The cost for fingerprinting services is $5 cash or credit/debit card (American Express, MasterCard and Visa only) for the first two (2) fingerprinting cards. Additional fingerprinting cards are an additional $5 each.
Fingerprinting through the Police Department is not available for immigration purposes. If you need that service, please click on this link to locate the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services location nearest you.
For more information visit the Police Department’s Fingerprinting Services web page, or call the Licensing Section at 703-792-4183.
Ann Gurtler, 77, beloved mother, sister and friend, passed away peacefully on December 27, 2020, of natural causes in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Ann Gurtler was born in Portland, Oregon in 1943. The family moved to Sacramento, California after the war, and that’s where Ann grew up. She went to UC Berkeley and got a degree in history; she was at Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement, which had an important effect on her life.  She worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and at Stanford Research International, both in Palo Alto, as a research assistant. In the late 60s she lived in Stockholm, Sweden, for a year, working for SRI, and then spent the next year traveling all over Europe. After she returned, she completed a Master’s Degree in Education, and her Master’s thesis was on the guru as teacher.
She returned to Silicon Valley to work, met her husband Bob Gurtler at a Zero Population Growth hike, and they moved to Virginia after their marriage. Their daughter Katherine was born in Manassas. Ann worked for IBM for several years.
Diagnosed with late onset schizophrenia, Ann struggled with her mental health issues for years.  When her symptoms became more manageable, Ann looked in the community for more support.  She could not find support, so she created it.
Ann sought out and received training from Johns Hopkins Hospital in how to begin and facilitate a peer support group for people with mental health challenges.  She immediately began a group in Manassas and led it for 20+ years.  Her commitment to her own mental health recovery and commitment to support others continued to grow.   In 2007, a grant initiative became available in Northern Virginia for businesses which were ran by and for people living with mental illness.  Ann recruited two of her friends and they started what is now known as Trillium Center, Inc.
Trillium Center is an award winning non-profit that offers Peer Support Services for people living with mental illness.  Ann helped create Trillium for the Prince William Community to continue to give the kind of support that she had been providing for years, but on a much larger scale.  Ann was most interested in providing support to people who were in a psychiatric crisis, offering social support, hosting a philosophical group once a week at Trillium, and playing cards with people.  In recent years Ann worked one night a week, committed to holding a Music Group for all who love music and a Support Group for women who attended Trillium.  She would also host the wildly popular Tea with Ms. Ann every few months.
Her daughter, Katherine Gurtler and three siblings survive Ann: John Greenwood of Ivins, Utah; Charles Greenwood of Cave Junction, Oregon; and Margaret Greenwood of San Francisco, California.
Remembrances in lieu of flowers should be sent to Trillium Center, Inc., 13184 Centerpointe Way, Woodbridge, VA  22193 to support their Music Program.  A Zoom Celebration of Life will be held on February 21, 2021.  More details will be forthcoming and will be posted on www.TrilliumCenterInc.org as they are available.
