The Spitfire Club Opens Official Headquarters with Volunteer Alexandria in Del Ray
ALEXANDRIA, VA–On Thursday, Sep. 29, The Spitfire Club officially unveiled its new headquarters at Volunteer Alexandria’s Del Ray headquarters (2202 Mt. Vernon Ave).
“We have moved twice in 8 months and we moved in officially in July after our arts and crafts fair,” states details Marion Brunken, Executive Director of Volunteer Alexandria. “This is our headquarters, so we still connect people with any opportunities and people can walk in and talk about what they want to do. We help them. This is where creativity and programming take place.”
Sharing the second floor of 2202 Mt. Vernon Ave, the two nonprofit organizations are the perfect pair to occupy the space. While Volunteer Alexandria has been in this space since July, The Spitfire Club has only been in the space for less than a month and has never had an official headquarters before.
“We moved into the space Sunday [Sep. 25], and this is the second time Marion has tried to get us to move in,” shares The Spitfire Club Executive Directory Amanda Parker Hazelwood.
“I’m glad she was persistent because this is the perfect space for us.” The Spitfire Club was previously occupying space at ALX Community on the waterfront, as the co-working space’s giveaway winner. “We agreed to move in with Volunteer Alexandria about a month ago, the skies opened up and a number of things aligned, so we fast tracked it and finished unpacking at 3pm today before ribbon cutting.”
Begun by Hazelwood in 2018, The Spitfire Club was run out of love and out of her home. Today, it boasts a reading room, office space, and a full library of books for local readers.
“Marion is a power house,” continues Hazelwood. “She and I thrive on similar energy. I have just loved people coming and going all day long, making lots of fun connections. I appreciate Marion is an outside the box thinker; she is very resourceful. Del Ray itself is a very thriving community; our community loves community, so to be with Volunteer Alexandria in Del Ray is about the most Del Ray thing ever, so I am really glad to be here.”
To celebrate the grand opening of this new space, Volunteer Alexandria hosted a block party for their new partner, complete with live music, locally catered food, book giveaways, and more, all along the Avenue in the evening sunlight.
A ribbon cutting formally christened the space. The ribbon was cut by Mayor Wilson, Vice Mayor Jackson, members of City Council and the ACPS School Board, as well as representatives from Volunteer Alexandria and The Spitfire Club.
“I am excited because it is nonprofits sharing resources, talking about issues;” details Marion Brunken. “If one of the printers doesn’t work, if they need a screwdriver, or volunteers, what have you, we can help! We have different missions but we can support each other.”
Volunteer Alexandria and The Spitfire Club are open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. For more information, contact Marion Brunken at [email protected].
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