Amazon Donates $600K, Delivery Services To DC, NoVA Food Banks

WASHINGTON, DC/VIRGINIA — Amazon has partnered with local food pantries in the Washington, D.C., area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing financial donations and delivery of food to residents in the region.

Bread for the City received a $250,000 donation last August from Amazon to support the food bank’s hunger relief programs in the District of Columbia, along with the development of the food pantry’s new Southeast Center. Amazon donated an additional $100,000 to help support Bread for the City’s Holiday Helpings meal campaign in November.

Last November, Amazon also donated $250,000 to the Capital Area Food Bank to help support its Arlington monthly mobile markets program. The company is in the process of building its HQ2 project in Arlington County, which is expected to employ about 25,000 workers.

In D.C., Amazon has provided free delivery of groceries to Bread for the City’s clients since last May and plans to continue the partnership to get food to people in need through 2021. To date, Amazon has donated services to help deliver more than 865,000 meals on behalf of Bread for the City to families in the Washington, D.C., area.

“The pandemic has intensified food insecurity and disproportionately impacted vulnerable groups. Through our community partnership with Bread for the City, Amazon is committed to supporting children and families to help meet their basic needs,” Andrea Muscadin, Amazon’s Head of Partnerships, Right Now Needs, said Tuesday in a statement. “We will continue to leverage Amazon’s scale for good by donating our services and resources to build community programs and help the Washington, D.C. region thrive.”

Bread for the City said Tuesday that Amazon's donation of delivery services has given the nonprofit the time it needs to develop a strategic plan for the organization that envisions a "future for food pantry delivery that takes equity and progress into account."

Bread for the City was created in 1976 by a coalition of downtown churches to feed and clothe the poor. Today, the group operate two centers in the District of Columbia and provide direct services to low-income residents of Washington, D.C.

The Capital Area Food Bank, through its Mobile Markets, offers monthly distribution of free fruits, vegetables and other groceries to residents in Arlington County and across the D.C. area.