No Child Goes Hungry (NCGH) is pleased to provide a $2000 donation to support Food For Neighbors, an organization operated and supported by local donors, volunteers, and businesses committed to helping end child hunger in the Northern Virginia area by raising awareness and community involvement. The organization will use the funds to support its critical child hunger advocacy work during the COVID-19 pandemic and restock its food inventory at a time of critical need.
The donation from No Child Goes Hungry is an invaluable resource for us right now,” said Christa Soltis, Food For Neighbors Event Manager/Marketing Director. “We no longer can safely accept food donations, and we have to purchase everything we need for weekend food bags for local teens. This past week we had almost 400 students show up at Hutchison Elementary School for food. We distributed almost 200 weekend food bags, and Floris UMC distributed another 150. We also distributed 50 family bags of groceries and gift cards. And this is just what happened in the Herndon area. Food For Neighbors has food being distributed in schools in the Springfield, Falls Church, and Fort Hunt areas, as well.”
Food For Neighbors provides a platform for schools to engage their local community to donate food and gather volunteers that help with picking up donations, sorting the food, and distributing to schools in their area. This process is achieved through the Red Bag Program, where Food For Neighbors distributes Red Bags with a list of items needed and then collects the bags bi-monthly on a Saturday from donors’ homes.
Food For Neighbors also provides support and marketing materials for schools to engage their community to receive in-kind donations from individuals, area businesses, stores, and local faith organizations. The all-volunteer program began in 2016 in Herndon, VA, where the local community quickly responded to the need for food at our middle and high schools. Now students are benefitting weekly from the consistent and reliable source of donated food. Food For Neighbors has expanded into the Springfield, VA area, the Falls Church area, neighboring schools in Loudoun County, and, most recently, the Fort Hunt, VA area where they are already supporting five schools.
Millions of children who rely on meals from their local schools are suffering as the result of COVID-19,” said NCGH founder and director Kären Rasmussen. “We are thrilled to partner with Food for Neighbors to support their efforts to fill critical gaps in their local hunger advocacy efforts. It is in no small part thanks to the relentless efforts of organizations like Food For Neighbors that food-insecure families will be able to make it through this crisis healthily and safely.”
To learn how NCGH can help support your local hunger advocacy initiative, contact us today.
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