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Food For Neighbors Welcomes 23rd School and Sets New Food Record!

Falls Church community members come together to battle teen food insecurity.

Food For Neighbors celebrates receiving over 20,000 pounds of food during its March 6th Red Bag Program food collection. This is a record amount of food for the nonprofit, and the accomplishment highlights communities in Northern Virginia who step up to support students who struggle with food security. Among these communities are the neighborhoods surrounding Falls Church High School, which is the newest of 23 schools partnering with Food For Neighbors.

“We’re so happy to be working with Falls Church High School,” shared Karen Joseph, co-founder of the five-year-old nonprofit that began in Herndon. “Falls Church High School Principal Benjamin Nowak was very encouraging of bringing our services to his school, which really helped with mobilizing a successful food assistance program quickly.”

Joseph also praised the hard work of the Falls Church volunteers, including Paula Prettyman, who manages Food For Neighbors programs in the area. Explained Joseph, “When rolling out support to a new school, Food For Neighbors seeks out local volunteers to commit to being Red Bag Program food donors, who provide approximately $25 of food five times per year. This allows much of the food to stay in the communities where it’s donated. Paula set a goal of acquiring 100 new donors, and she met and exceeded that goal.”

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In addition to Prettyman, Saturday’s volunteers included Luther Jackson Middle School Principal Michael Magliola. Luther Jackson serves as the Falls Church area food collection site, and Principal Magliola was very grateful to see all of the food donated from the community via the Food For Neighbors Red Bag Program.

The Red Bag Program 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 school staff and/or designated volunteers distribute the packages to students on a weekly basis.

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Although, due to the pandemic, area students began learning virtually in Spring 2020, Food For Neighbors continued its mission. The nonprofit purchased additional food when previously collected supplies depleted, and it established partnerships with area churches to help store, pack, and distribute the food, which the nonprofit continued, where able, through the summer for the first time in response to great need. With schools now opening for in-person instruction, Food For Neighbors is in the process of moving food back into multiple school food pantries so that school staff and volunteers may best manage distribution to students once again. Food For Neighbors also provides participating schools with grocery gift cards, which social workers, counselors, and/or parent liaisons provide to students they identify as struggling the most.

Participation in Food For Neighbors is free and open to all middle and high schools in Northern Virginia.

  • Fairfax County Public Schools currently 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, Mount Vernon, and Falls Church 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 currently served include Sterling Middle School, Park View High School, River Bend Middle School, and Potomac Falls High School.

Food For Neighbors thanks the 1,227 households that donated food as well as the many volunteers who collected and sorted it, all of whom helped to make a direct, meaningful difference in the lives of middle and high school students in Northern Virginia. Food For Neighbors welcomes additional schools and volunteers to participate in the program. School staff and PTA representatives interested in bringing the program to their schools may send an email to contact@foodforneighbors.org. Volunteers may sign up to donate food, collect and sort food, etc. at https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/.

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