Help Your Community, Take a Vacation and Learn Something New — All Without Leaving Your House
Posted at 12:50 p.m.
While we stay at home to limit the spread of the coronavirus, it’s easy to develop a rhythm that can quickly feel boring. Luckily, there’s lots you can do and learn without ever leaving the house, including helping your community and taking a virtual “vacation.”
Help Your Community
Donate to Community-Based Organizations – During this uncertain time, contributions to local community-based organizations require your help to support the needs of individuals and families. Use our Human Services Resource Guide to search for local groups that provide food, clothing and other necessities to our neighbors in need.
Also be sure to check out our Ways to Donate and Help webpage, which includes information on donating masks and disposable gowns, donating to nonprofits through Volunteer Fairfax, volunteer opportunities and our Neighbor-to-Neighbor program.
Make a Contribution to Feed Children in Need – Although schools are closed for the rest of the year, Fairfax County Public Schools continue to feed students in need during this crisis. They need your help to provide food, technology and school supplies to the nearly 60,000 students who live in poverty. Donate today to the Foundation for Fairfax County Public Schools.
Learn Something New (or Refresh Something You Already Know)
Take Classes Online through the Library – If you have a Fairfax County library card you have access to more than 500 courses online through Universal Class. Classes cover everything from math and science to parenting and “how to” projects. Learning Express is another library-supported resource that offers online test prep, career support and other success-oriented resources for users.
Don’t have a library card? No problem! Sign up for a card online now and have immediate access to this and all of the library’s resources. You can finalize the application process later.
Learn to Code or Experiment at Home – @FCPSSTEAM on Twitter provides dozens of online and at-home projects for families who want to work on science, technology, engineering, arts and math while school is on hiatus. Projects are even broken down by age range, making it easy for parents to provide lessons to the younger people in their lives.
Engage Your Kids in Environmental Education and Projects – The Fairfax County Office of Energy and Environment offers kid-friendly environmental activities. Learn about the power of the sun with these fun experiments. Or lean more about water science and conservation.
Take a Virtual Vacation
This is the perfect time to explore places you’ve always wanted to visit, and you can do it virtually form the comfort of your couch. Visit Fairfax offers a one-stop location to find virtual tours and vacations you can take, including Mount Vernon, Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center, Arlington Cemetery and many more sites across the D.C region.
Find Your Next Big Read
Access Books, Magazines and Audio Resources Online – Overdrive allows county library users the ability to access hundreds of books and audiobooks for free without having to step foot in a physical library. Look online to see what’s available, and to learn how to use Libby or other apps to access materials on your phone or computer. Magazines are also available to read online thanks to the Library’s partnership with RB Digital.
Join a Virtual Book Club – Join a virtual book club or discussion group through the Fairfax County Public Library. Meet authors virtually too. Participate in the national, Big Library Read where readers talk about the same book.
Prepare and Improve Your Home
Review Your Safety Plans with Family – While spending time home alone with your family, why not review your home fire escape plan? Our Fire and Rescue Department has a printable family escape plan that can help you plot out your steps, then practice your routine with your family now. You can also work together to complete a home fire safety survey to make sure your house is free of fire hazards.
If you don’t already have one, now is also a good time to work on your emergency supply kits, which include basic supplies that are tailored to every person’s need. We have tips available online about what to include and additional things you should consider if your household has children, seniors, individuals with access and functional needs, or pets.
Take Steps to Make Your Home Greener – Save some money while helping the environment! Now is a great time to work on an energy awareness plan in your home and involve your family in an energy-conservation action plan. Need more tangible results? Try starting a home compost program to convert your food, paper and yard waste into valuable, rich soil or install some low-flow aerators to save water (and money). More details can be found on these and other ways to go green on our Environment and Energy page.
Watch this Information in Korean
Stay Informed
- Call our Health Department Call Center at 703-267-3511 with Coronavirus questions; open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
- Text FFXCOVID to 888777 to receive updates from Fairfax County about COVID-19.
- Email questions or concerns to ffxcovid@fairfaxcounty.gov. This email account will be staffed Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. through 6 p.m.
- Visit a web portal for coronavirus that serves as a one-stop online resource for information.
- Learn more about COVID-19 on the Health Department Coronavirus (COVID-19) Webpage or FAQ page.
- Follow the Fairfax County Government Facebook Page and Health Department Facebook Page.
- Follow @fairfaxcounty and @fairfaxhealth on Twitter.
One response to “Help Your Community, Take a Vacation and Learn Something New — All Without Leaving Your House”
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All of these ideas are eating and sitting. I suggest garden clean-up. That is good science learning, and active, and beautifies your surroundings. Being in nature has been scientifically proven to improve health, especially mental health. Just leave your clippings out until the county gets around to it, or better yet, put them in a black plativc bag because the county will pick them up that way. Recycling is realy not that important to the county.