Huge crowd turns up for free food at Falls Church HS

People started lining up at 8 a.m. for a food giveaway event at Falls Church High School May 28 that started at 1 p.m.

The event, aimed at aiding families struggling financially during the coronavirus pandemic, was sponsored by Comunidad and Supervisor Rodney Lusk of the Lee District, with support from DeLune Corp, and CityLight Church.

Unlike most food distribution events that focus on non-perishable items, this one offered boxes of dairy products, including dried milk, yogurt, butter, and cream cheese plus four half-gallon containers of fresh milk. There was enough to serve 1,000 families. 

The event featured no-contact drive-through and walk-up service. Volunteers from the Fairfax County Public Schools’ parent liaison association, the county’s Community Emergency Response Team program, and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department kept the lines running smoothly.

DeLune Corp., based in Springfield, received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide meals to families in need and worked with the Fairfax County government to organize the event, Lusk said. Four similar food distribution evens are planned, all of them in the Lee District. 

Falls Church High School was selected as a distribution point because the community has a large number of Hispanics, and that population has been hard-hit by COVID-19, Lusk said. Many Hispanics have lost their jobs and can’t work, while undocumented individuals don’t qualify for any public assistance. 

Noting that the numbers of COVID cases and hospitalizations are declining, Lusk said, “I feel comfortable moving to Phase 1” of the plan for reopening businesses and other facilities. “We recognize the need for the Health Department to build the capacity for testing and contact tracing.”

“When we reopen, we’ll see additional cases,” he said. “We’ll just have to be able to control it.” Phase 1 starts May 29.