On March 17, 2024, The Spitfire Club hosted Spitfire Social – an annual event to unite all eight Spitfire Club cohorts and the broader community. Since its founding in 2018, The Spitfire Club has served over 450 of Alexandria’s girls, who have collectively read over 51,000 books.
“It is so fun to bring everyone together to celebrate these spunky, wonderful girls that make our program what it is,” shared Spitfire Club Chair Dr. Saunji Fyffe
(photos by Carter Lytle)
Spitfire hosted 135 people at ALX Community’s Waterfront Conference Center to celebrate with ice cream and activities curated and made possible by event sponsors Ting Alexandria, the Jen Walker Team, and Windmill Hill Design Build. In attendance were current and previous Spitfires and their caregivers, partner schools and organizations, community leaders, and longtime supporters of the organization.
With initial support from crowdfunding, The Spitfire Club began as a partnership with Alexandria City’s Recreation Division and has now grown to partner with schools, libraries, and community organizations across Alexandria to offer its girls’ empowerment reading programming. The Spitfire Club has received funding from leading institutions such as ACT for Alexandria, Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Junior League of Washington, and both Alexandria’s Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs.
“The Spitfire Club creates an inclusive environment where our students feel empowered to practice their reading skills, build new friendships and be their true self. I have seen girls who didn’t consider themselves ‘good readers’ before the Spitfire Club confidently raise their hand to read out loud in class and excitedly tell me all about the book they are reading. Even families have commented that they’ve never seen their daughters love reading this much!” shared John Adams Elementary School Principal Dr. Alicia Kingcade.