Help Food For Neighbors Serve Schools in the Vienna Area

More and more Northern Virginia schools are reaching out to Food For Neighbors to address prevalent food insecurity among teenagers. This month, the nonprofit has begun serving Kilmer Middle School in Vienna and Falls Church High School in Falls Church. In support of this expansion, Food For Neighbors asks community members sign up to donate approximately $25 of food five times per year at https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/.

Volunteering is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

• Step #1: Request a "Red Bag" at https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/request-a-bag/. Food For Neighbors will deliver it to your doorstep.
• Step #2: On your next shopping trip, fill the bag with grocery items noted on the tag attached to the bag.
• Step #3: On the dates listed on the tag, set the bag on your doorstep by 8:30 am. Food For Neighbors will pick up your donations and leave you a new bag for the next collection day. Food For Neighbors gathers donations approximately five times per year and sends out reminders beforehand. The next scheduled collection is March 6th!

Food For Neighbors has rapidly grown from serving students at its two original schools, Herndon Middle and Herndon High, to helping students at 22 schools in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Over 1,500 households donating food have made this possible, and more food donors will help meet the needs of Kilmer Middle School and Falls Church High School, which brings the total schools served to 24.

Donating food makes a direct, positive impact on students. School counselors and social workers, who are at the heart of the program at the school level, continue to note the important role that Food For Neighbors is fulfilling. As one school social worker noted,

“Immense is an understatement when it comes to the amount of gratitude felt towards the community partnership Food For Neighbors provides…. Hunger in students can lead to increased academic and behavioral inconsistency and with the food supplied by Food For Neighbors, we can be proactive in addressing an issue like this before it begins. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, there was an overwhelming sense of confusion and worry, however, Food For Neighbors held steadfast. We worked as a team to prepare and put in place a new plan to make sure families would continue to receive food so no one would go hungry. Especially in uncharted territory such as this, the ingenuity and unrelenting devotion they have shown to families has been nothing less than incredible.”

Food For Neighbors thanks the over 1,500 households that currently donate food and looks forward to adding more volunteers in key expansion areas. Questions about donating food, volunteering in other ways, and/or bringing services to a school may be directed to contact@foodforneighbors.org.