FOOD FOR NEIGHBORS

Food For Neighbors is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to end child hunger in Northern Virginia. Focusing on the otherwise underserved teen population, we raise awareness, mobilize communities, and partner with local middle and high schools to connect vital resources with vulnerable, food insecure students.

Our 2023-2024 School Year Goals

More and more Northern Virginia schools are reaching out for support. In response, we're focusing on six main goals for the 2023-2024 school year. We're planning to and, in some cases, already begun to:

- Roll out services to at least five new Northern Virginia schools;

- Expand our Red Bag food and toiletry donor and volunteer base to address the need in currently partnering schools and the interest from new schools requesting partnership, with a goal of providing over 100,000 pounds of food and toiletries in 2024;

- Continue complementing services, including the provision of school pantry shelving/storage units and grocery gift cards, with the goal of providing approximately $160,000 in gift cards in 2024;

- Launch a ninth management area in South County, further develop volunteer leadership for the new area, and continue to strengthen school and neighborhood-level connections there and in the remaining eight management areas;

- Pay additional staff, many of whom have been donating their professional services for years, to support continued operation and expansion; and

- Raise awareness and inspire more financial support throughout Northern Virginia through social media, newsletters, press, briefings, potential partner discussions, and grant applications.

The heart of Food For Neighbors (FFN) is the Red Bag Program, which mobilizes individuals to shop for nonperishable food and toiletries and to set them on their doorsteps. Volunteers, organized by neighborhoods, collect the donations and bring them to one of several locations for sorting and then delivery to nearby partnering schools, which totaled 41 at the close of the 2022-2023 school year. At the schools, social workers, counselors, and/or parent liaisons identify students in need and connect them with the resources. Across Fairfax, Loudoun, and Arlington counties, we have registered 2,600 households to donate food and toiletries and over 2,500 volunteers to provide hands-on support, and each of our five annual, high-energy Red Bag Events is currently inspiring over 700 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to collect and sort approximately 20,000 pounds of donations.

In addition to providing food and toiletries, we also help schools establish in-house pantries by supplying shelving and/or storage cabinets, and, for the most vulnerable students, we also offer interested schools grocery gift cards throughout the school year, with larger numbers provided before Thanksgiving and Winter Break. Complementing the shelf-stable food from the Red Bag Program, the gift cards enable students and their families to shop for their most-needed food, like fresh fruits and vegetables. As populations differ greatly from school to school, the gift cards also respect the need for families to select food that meets their cultural, religious, and situational needs.

At FFN, we believe that:

- Access to nutritious, reliable food sources is a human right;

- Well-nourished children do better in school and become productive community members;

- Schools can best identify students needing food assistance and other support;

- Diverse and inclusive teams of local volunteers, businesses, and other organizations
make excellent school partners; and

- Mobilizing communities can make a direct, positive impact on schools and their students.

By distributing food through schools, we provides easy access to a reliable, nutritious food source. Removing the obstacle of hunger adds immensely to the quality of life of students, who then have the opportunity to focus on their education and relationships. With less pressure to work long hours to provide for themselves and/or their families, students can remain in school. While there, they are also better able to stay focused, as hunger is not interfering with higher thinking. We empower children to live healthy lives, where they may thrive and succeed in school. Longer term, being better students helps them become successful members of the community, which lifts up everyone.

Food For Neighbors (FFN) continues to meet or exceed the goals we set each year. During the 2022-2023 school year, we launched our innovative Red Bag food and toiletry collection events for 14 new schools, well exceeding the goal of five new schools and bringing the total participating schools to 41! Additional schools are already requesting assistance, and, to help address the growing need, we have expanded our food and toiletry donor base to 2,600 households and our registered hands-on volunteers to over 2,500 enthusiastic community members. In 2023 alone, we're on track to provide schools with approximately 100,000 pounds of food and toiletries and $140,000-$160,000 in grocery gift cards, and we anticipate offering similar levels of service and resources in 2024.

School feedback confirms that we are meeting our goals and making a significant difference in the lives of students. Feedback from a survey of our 2022 partnering schools attributed multiple positive outcomes to the supplemental nutrition. For example, over 90% of respondents believed that, of the participating students, approximately:
- 98% were positively impacted in some way by one or more resources,
- 91% were better able to focus on their schoolwork,
- 88% attended school more regularly, and
- 83% earned better grades.

School testimonials give us the best insight into our impact.

- 2023 Testimonial Example: From a Loudoun County Public Schools Student via the School Social Worker
"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."

- 2023 Testimonial Example: From an Arlington Public Schools Social Worker
“FFN has been able to provide food to students who have multiple jobs and are full time students in high school and they are able to rely on the quick meals and snacks to sustain their buy [sic] lives.”

- 2023 Testimonial Example: From a Fairfax County Public Schools Social Worker
“With our ever-changing needs and shifts in demographics, FFN has allowed us to provide non-perishables to ensure students have access to snacks to help make it through the [long] school day. The food bags have been a wonderful supplement for students and families, especially on weekends and school breaks. The donations and support from this amazing organization, give us as school staff, peace of mind knowing our kiddos won't have to go without! A million thanks, FFN!”

Food For Neighbors (FFN) has had—and continues to have—a significant impact on Northern Virginia students, their families, and their schools.

Given the tremendous interest from area schools, we have rapidly expanded from serving over 100 students at Herndon Middle School and Herndon High School to serving over 5,800 unduplicated students, many of whom received support on a weekly basis, in 41 schools by the close of the 2023-2023 school year. This is significant growth given that we're just completing our seventh year of service, and the increase is a testament to the our effectiveness in meeting the need. Also a testament is our formal recognition as a Fairfax County Public Schools Ignite partner and official commendation from the Virginia General Assembly.

We have met and continue to meet or exceed our yearly goals of reaching more students through new school partnerships. During the 2022-2023 school year, we launched our innovative Red Bag food and toiletry collection events for 14 new schools, well exceeding our goal of five new schools and bringing total participating schools to 41! Among other things, this involved providing schools with any needed pantry shelving/storage units, conducting extensive liaison with schools, expanding our donor and volunteer base, and/or training new volunteers. Additionally, we have already agreed to bring on a new school partner in September 2023 and anticipate serving even more schools as the school year unfolds.

We have increased the amount of food we provide via Red Bag Events as well as in growing the number of volunteers we inspire. In November 2016, we collected nearly 550 pounds of food from 60 households donating food via the Red Bag Program. In April 2023, we collected over 20,000 pounds of food and toiletries from 1,604 households. As of the April 2023 event, we have provided over 379,000 pounds of food and toiletries to schools, and we anticipate the 2023 total alone to reach 100,000 pounds.

We have mobilized more donors and volunteers to address the need. Having begun with 126 food donors and 32 volunteers in 2016, we now have 2,600 households registered to donate food and toiletries and over 2,500 volunteers signed up to collect, sort, deliver, and distribute them. We also have received key grant awards and established partnerships with several businesses that donate time, food/toiletries, and/or financial gifts.

We have also increased the amount of overall grocery gift card support we provide to requesting schools for their most vulnerable students. We provided $5,600 in grocery store gift cards in 2019. This increased to $140,000 in 2020, $142,000 in 2021, and $155,000 in 2022. Expecting this amount to continue to increase, we've budgeted $160,000 for grocery gift cards in 2023 and in 2024.