Washington Commanders Return to Alexandria to Pack 500 Weekend Food Bags
Washington Commanders guests joined fourth- and fifth-graders at Mount Vernon Community School Tuesday as Blessings in a Backpack prepared food for students to take home.
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Maeve came ready for the Washington Commanders — head to toe in team gear, right down to logoed sunglasses that were, in her words, “a little designer.”
The Mount Vernon Community School fifth-grader, who says reading is her favorite subject, was having a very good Tuesday afternoon. “I’m feeling great and really excited for the Commanders,” she told The Zebra Press before joining classmates for an assembly and food-packing event with the team and Blessings in a Backpack.
Washington Commanders wide receiver Jaylin Lane, cornerback Rasul Douglas and team mascot Major Tuddy returned to the Del Ray school Tuesday, Sept. 22, for an assembly and packing event with Blessings in a Backpack. Fourth- and fifth-graders took part in the interactive program before helping assemble about 500 bags of food intended to support hunger-free weekends for students in the Mount Vernon Community School community.
The return visit follows a similar event at the school last year, when Blessings in a Backpack staff and Commanders players packed 500 bags. This time, the message was again simple enough for a room full of elementary school students to put into practice: showing up for your neighbors can be as direct as filling a bag with food.
Mount Vernon Community School Principal Jennifer Hamilton welcomed the students and guests. ACPS Acting Superintendent Dr. Grace Taylor and Angela Abrishami, Blessings in a Backpack’s vice president for the Northeast region, were also scheduled to speak.
A School-Day Lesson With a Weekend Purpose
Angela Abrishami, Blessings in a Backpack’s vice president for the Northeast region, told The Zebra Press that the organization provides kid-friendly, ready-to-eat food to children each Friday so they have something to take home for the weekend. Powered by volunteers and supported by donors and partners, the goal is to help children return to school Monday ready to thrive, she said.
Abrishami said Blessings in a Backpack serves children in 41 states and expects to provide more than 2.7 million hunger-free weekends during the 2025–26 school year. Since 2009, the organization has provided more than 30 million hunger-free weekends through more than 1,100 community-led programs nationwide. The need can be easy to miss: the organization says food insecurity affects every U.S. ZIP code and that one in five children experienced food insecurity in 2024.
It costs $175 to provide one child with weekend food for an entire school year, Abrishami told The Zebra Press.
At Mount Vernon, the scope was visible in the stack of bags waiting to be packed and then distributed to students. The volunteers for the day included the people the work is designed to support — a fitting detail, and a reminder that a community project does not have to be grown-up business conducted somewhere behind a closed door.
The Washington Commanders’ participation is part of a continuing partnership with Blessings in a Backpack at the school. For students, the afternoon paired the novelty of visitors connected to the hometown NFL team with a more enduring takeaway: practical help can be assembled one bag at a time.
More Than a One-Day Event
The bags packed Tuesday are expected to help students and families across the Mount Vernon Community School community. That practical mission is why the partnership has returned for a second year — and why the 500-bag number matters beyond a photo opportunity.
For Maeve Mullarkey, the day’s impact was perhaps more immediate: a chance to see a team she follows arrive at her school, meet the students and lend a hand. And, naturally, a reason to wear the special sunglasses.
As the final bags were filled, Tuesday’s event left Mount Vernon students with a lesson that is easy to carry home: a little teamwork can make a real difference by Friday afternoon.
