Kids & Family

Elderly Residents Hope for Support In Outage

With power out at Lake Anne Fellowship House, aging and disabled are hungry, hot and angry.

Residents at Reston's have been in the dark since Friday night.

While that puts them in the same situation as hundreds of thousands of the lack of power in the building for low-income and disabled seniors could have dire consequences.

"It's 90 degrees on the seventh floor!" said 87-year-old resident Henrietta Witt. "I am afraid someone will die here."

Find out what's happening in Restonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sunday afternoon, a group of residents sat in the sweltering lobby, fanning themselves in the heat and drinking from the dwindling supply of bottled water that volunteers delivered.

Several residents complained that Fellowship Square, which manages the building, has been little help during the power outage. 

Find out what's happening in Restonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Fellowship House stopped serving group meals several years ago. With no power, residents have had food spoil and cannot cook. Most do not drive and have trouble getting to a store for supplies without assistance, which was not available this weekend.

One elevator in the building is working and the residents said there is no hot water.

"We have new floors, but no electrical backup," said one resident.

Said another: "I have had one cheeseburger and a few grapes since Friday. This neighbor of mine is blind. I had to guide her to a chair. No one from management has been here."

Representatives from Fellowship Square could not be reached.

managed by the same organization, did not lose power. Security guards there said Lake Anne residents were welcome to come to Hunters Woods and use their public rooms as a cooling center. Guards said one Lake Anne resident took a cab over, but as far as they knew shuttle service was not being provided.

The Lake Anne residents say they would welcome donations of water, cooked food, juice, coffee, ice and Diet Coke. Lake Anne Fellowship House is located at 11450 North Shore Dr.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here