Alexandria, VA – Alexandria Transit Company (DASH) is this year’s recipient of the Virginia Transit Association (VTA) Outstanding Community Program Award. Alexandria’s DASH system was presented with the award during an awards ceremony held on Wednesday, May 23, in conjunction with VTA’s annual statewide transit conference in Richmond, Virginia. DASH was selected by the Association for its “Stuff the Bus” marketing campaign and outreach efforts.
The Stuff the Bus program was created to provide a means in which the Alexandria community could donate non-perishable food items and/or new or gently used clothing to the community via DASH. For the holiday season, DASH was on-site at various community locations in the DASH Celebration Bus collecting items. The DASH Celebration Bus is a retired DASH bus that is primed white and painted by the community every October at the annual Del Ray Art on the Avenue event where thousands of citizens are invited to participate by leaving their handprints on the Celebration Bus. Stuff the Bus drew in hundreds of donations from the community that were donated to the Carpenters Shelter – Alexandria’s homeless shelter and to Volunteer Alexandria; an organization that provides donations to families affected by natural and catastrophic disasters. DASH was also a featured segment on News NBC-4’s Community Program hosted by reporter, Molette Green.
“After the natural disaster devastation that occurred prior to the program, we wanted to create a way for our community to help one another,” said Allyson Teevan, ATC’s Marketing and Communications Manager. “When we conceptualized the idea for Stuff the Bus, we never could have imagined that it would grow into helping more than 100 families as well as hundreds of others in our community. It was a very humbling experience.”
A selection committee made up of transit professionals from around the Commonwealth chose “Stuff the Bus” based on a program that was considered exceptional and innovative, and improved public transportation, the services and processes of the transit system.
