Remember Area Students on Giving Tuesday

This Giving Tuesday, please make a tax-deductible gift to Food For Neighbors and help the many area students who struggle with food insecurity: https://www.foodforneighbors.org/donate/. Schools are reaching out— at an unprecedented level — to Food For Neighbors to address prevalent food insecurity among students who lack a reliable source of nutrition. Your donation will make a direct impact on a nearby child.

Nine years ago when serving as the PTA President for Herndon Middle School, Karen Joseph learned that one in four children in Fairfax County go hungry every day, and she found this particularly troubling, given that Fairfax County is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. She understood that this means that the children next door, around the corner, or down the street could be struggling with basic nutrition. It also means that her children’s school peers could be struggling to learn, pay attention, or stay focused as a result of being hungry.

Many of these children rely greatly on free or reduced price breakfasts and lunches provided Mondays-Fridays by the schools. Realizing that this leaves students vulnerable to hunger over the weekends, several elementary schools had initiated some type of weekend food program, but the various organizations supporting these could not take on the larger middle and high school populations. In 2016, Karen and Mark Joseph founded Food For Neighbors to fill this weekend food gap for the older students.

The main way in which Food For Neighbors addresses this gap is via its Red Bag Program, which allows individuals to shop for nonperishable items at their convenience and to set them on their doorsteps for collection approximately five times per year. Volunteers organized by neighborhoods then collect the food and bring it to one of five central locations, where it is sorted and then delivered to participating schools. At the schools, volunteers package the food, and social workers/counselors/parent liaisons distribute the packages to students on a weekly basis. Although, due to the pandemic, area students began learning virtually in Spring 2020, Food For Neighbors continued its mission by purchasing additional food when previously collected supplies depleted and by establishing partnerships with area churches to help store, pack, and distribute the food, which the nonprofit continued through the summer for the first time in response to great need. Food For Neighbors also addresses food insecurity by offering grocery gift cards throughout the year as well as special food boxes and/or grocery gift cards during the holiday season. School social workers/counselors provide these to students they identify as struggling the most.

To date, Food For Neighbors has collected over 129,204 pounds of food, and it has over 1,200 households providing food via the Red Bag Program and over 650 additional drivers and sorters supporting food collections. The nonprofit currently serves 1,200 students in 22 schools located in Fairfax and Loudoun counties or their associated towns/cities.

• Fairfax County Public Schools served include Herndon, Irving, Key, Jackson, Whitman, Sandburg, and Twain middle schools as well as Herndon, West Springfield, Lewis, Edison, Bryant, Quander Road, Mountain View, West Potomac and Mount Vernon high schools.

• Food For Neighbors also provides supplemental food to the Langston Hughes Middle School and the South Lakes High School food pantry.

• Loudoun County Public Schools served include Sterling Middle School, Park View High School, River Bend Middle School, and Potomac Falls High School.

Food For Neighbors thanks all of its community partners, drivers, sorters, and food contributors, who leave donations on their doorsteps in the well-known Red Bags for collection just a few times per year. To learn more and get involved, visit https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/.