Food For Neighbors

Goal: $1,500.00

Specific Need

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FACT: One in four kids in Loudoun County struggles with food insecurity.

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For many kids, meals at school are the only ones they get.

Our hearts break -- and we know yours does, too -- thinking about any child going to bed hungry, night after night.

We humbly ask for your support to help us provide supplemental food to middle & high school students in Loudoun County so they can focus on their school work instead of their gnawing hunger.

Food For Neighbors currently supports over 1,800 middle & high school students attending 11 Loudoun County Public Schools at least weekly, sometimes daily, providing food, toiletries and grocery gift cards.

Your kind donation will help us continue to be a reliable source of support and be able to say "Yes!" to new Loudoun County schools that request our help.

Examples of what certain donation amounts can make possible:

$50 can supply supplemental food to 10 students for a weekend
$100 can supply supplemental food to 20 students for a weekend
$245 can help build snack packs for 70 students
$500 can help provide 10 local families with grocery store gift cards to buy fresh food
$1,500 can help start a pantry program in a local middle or high school

Mission

We tackle teen food insecurity in NoVa by raising awareness, engaging communities, and partnering with local middle & high schools to connect students in need with supplemental food, toiletries, and grocery store gift cards. Our ultimate goal is to end child hunger in NoVa.

Profile

Hunger Is Closer Than You Think. Your donation today can help give local students a greater chance for success.

Who We Are:

What began in 2016 as a handful of volunteers helping students at Herndon Middle School and Herndon High School has grown into a fully engaged and diverse team of energetic community members, schools, organizations, and businesses sharing their strengths and resources to make a difference. With over 2,800 food and toiletry donors and more than 2,900 volunteers, FFN is currently partnering with 46 middle & high schools in Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties to serve over 7,500 students students.

What We Do:

Food For Neighbors provides local middle and high schools with individual meals and snack items to distribute during times when students might otherwise go hungry, like evenings and weekends. We connect with their social workers and help the schools set up a program to distribute the food.

We accomplish this by engaging the local community to donate food and to volunteer to pick up food donations, sort the food and distribute it to schools in their area through our Red Bag Program.

FFN also provides schools with pantry shelving and storage. We offer additional resources to students such as toiletries and grocery gift cards. The grocery gift cards allow students and their families to purchase their most-needed items like fresh fruits and vegetables.

Where We Are:

Currently, Food For Neighbors is partnered in Loudoun County with:

Belmont Ridge MS
River Bend MS
Seneca Ridge MS
Sterling MS
Stone Hill MS
Dominion HS
Park View HS
Potomac Falls HS
Robey HS
Riverside HS
Stone Bridge HS

And with your help, we can continue to reach even more students in Loudoun County.

Testimonials

"My mom and dad work 2 jobs and always have and there's 3 of us kids so it's hard. Taking home those bags of the food I can pick for me and my family is the best. Plus when I bring home a gift card it helps out my parents a lot so if we're low on money they can still afford to go to the store. Once around Christmas when it was especially tight, we got two gift cards and it was real special because Food For Neighbors was nice enough to do that for our families and other ones, too. Man it's a blessing for a lot of us out here struggling." - LCPS Student

"Food for Neighbors has already made an impact in our students' daily lives; knowing that they have access to food during the day or to bring home helps our students focus and have one less worry!" - LCPS Middle School Counselor

“In particular, the food has been crucial in addressing food insecurity for our unaccompanied youth who are trying to balance school and work responsibilities. The food bags and gift cards reduced their level of anxiety over where their next meal would come from. Also, our families have experienced loss of employment due to the pandemic and having this resource in our school has allowed them to cover other essential household bills. The students are so grateful for snacks during the school day! It has improved their attention and focus while in class.” - LCPS High School Social Worker & Parent Liaison

"Especially around the holidays, food insecurity can become an even bigger worry for our families. These are times when families want to be able to enjoy company and celebrate, however without the means to be able to purchase groceries, or extra groceries, it can become a time of worry and sadness. Food For Neighbors greatly eases these stressors by providing gift cards for families to be able to create meals to share with their family and celebrate the season!" - LCPS Middle School Social Worker