Food For Neighbors tackles food insecurity among local teens
“Kids don’t learn when they are hungry,” says Raven Jones, principal of Luther Jackson Middle School, where students, community members, and partnering organizations came together with Food For Neighbors to tackle teen food insecurity.
More than 100 volunteers sorted approximately 5,000 pounds of food and toiletries donated by more than 370 households at a Red Bag event at the school on March 9.
The food will be distributed to students at Falls Church, Justice, and Annandale high schools and the Cedar Lane School in Vienna, as well as Luther Jackson.
Food For Neighbors’ Red Bag Program mobilizes individuals to shop for shelf-stable food and toiletry items, place them in reusable red bags, and set the bags on their doorstep for collection.
Volunteer drivers pick up the red bags and bring them to one of several collection sites, where additional volunteers sort and and pack the food and deliver it to schools. At the schools, social workers and other staff distribute the food to students in need.
“Every bin our community filled today equates to a kid with food insecurity who is going to have a full stomach,” says Fairfax County School Board Chair Karl Frisch (Providence), who spent the day at Jackson Middle School sorting and packing food.
“Food For Neighbors plays a vital role in addressing food insecurity throughout Fairfax County, Frisch says. “They go above and beyond to serve our communities and make a positive impact in the lives of many students and their families.”
“Food For Neighbors has been instrumental in removing barriers to food access,” says Principal Jones. The Red Bag Program “helps us provide quick, easy, nutritious meals that students can prepare themselves.”
Kate Lauderdale, an ESOL teacher and coordinator of the school’s pantry, says, “I can make sure our kids have a meal before a test, a snack to take on field trips, and food to bring home – so they can focus on their work, not hunger.”
At the March 9 Red Bag event, Sherry Hwang, co-founder of Pyramid Systems, presented a $2,500 check to Food For Neighbors and brought a crew of volunteers.
The 5,000 pounds of food sorted at Jackson Middle School was just a portion of the 26,500 pounds that 2,000 households collected for Food For Neighbors to be distributed to students in Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudoun counties.