Chapter Activities
Anna Maria Fitzhugh Chapter is a busy chapter located in southern Fairfax County. The members are engaged in a variety of activities which support members of our armed forces, veterans, and Boy and Girl Scouts in a variety of ways, in addition to being engaged in the work of our National Society.
Annually, chapter members have given support to veterans by donating gifts to residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. Members also support Wreaths Across America and Memorial Day Flowers. This year a number of members supported the DAR Project Patriot Committee by sending bedding to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for veterans returning home from the theaters of operation, sending comfort items to deployed women, and sending additional comfort items to Camp Atterbury Training Center, Indiana. In the past, members enjoyed fellowship serving the deployed, while filling USO care packages at Fort Belvoir.
The chapter assists the DAR supported schools by collecting Campbell's Labels for Education, General Mills’ Box Tops for Education, and by sending used ink cartridges for recycling. Additionally, the chapter has given direct support to a teacher at Kate Duncan Smith DAR School. Members recently enjoyed making Fascinator hats, which were sent to girls in the senior class at one of the DAR schools for their prom. Locally, we sponsor the DAR Good Citizens Award and ROTC Merit Award at Lake Braddock Secondary School, and we present DAR Youth Citizenship Awards to children at 11 elementary schools.
We annually create a Constitution Week display at a local library. Recently displays were exhibited for the month of September at King's Park Library in Burke. We also support literacy and conservation programs. Last year, our members were able to fulfill a request of a teacher who asked for 30 new copies of a novel for her students. The membership donated the books which were sent to the school. Members have enjoyed volunteering at the Annual Needlework exhibition at Woodlawn Plantation. Our current chapter project is to place a DAR historical marker at Oak Hill, which is the last remaining mansion on what was originally the Ravensworth Tract owned by the Fitzhugh family.
The chapter also co-sponsors the local society of Children of the American Revolution (N.S.C.A.R.).