Kicking Off 2024 with New Partners and A Record Food Collection

On Saturday, January 13th, over 800 Northern Virginia residents braved the cold to collect, sort, and deliver a record-breaking 25,000+ pounds of food and toiletries to 45 schools partnering with Food For Neighbors to tackle teen food insecurity. Spirits were high as car after car arrived with donations from 1,956 households and food drives from a number of organizations. Such generosity and community spirit has enabled Food For Neighbors to expand its programming every year, with January’s Red Bag food and toiletry collection including three new partnering schools—Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, Cedar Lane School in Vienna, and Riverside High School in Leesburg.

“We’re thrilled to add these three new school partners to our Food For Neighbors family,” shared Anne O’Flaherty, Food For Neighbors’ Director of Operations. “We thank our Red Bag donors and volunteers for making it possible to provide supplemental nutrition to more students in need.”

Also rallying to address teen food insecurity are Food For Neighbors’ volunteer area leadership teams. These team members maintain close contact with partnering schools located near them and lead area volunteers in receiving, sorting, and delivering to the schools food and toiletry donations for students in need.

"We are excited by the expansion of Arlington Food For Neighbors to now include Washington-Liberty High School, our sixth partner school," shared Christy McIntyre, the Arlington Area Manager for Food For Neighbors. "Just one year into operations in Arlington, we have improved efficiency and increased our Red Bag donors by more than 50%. This month's Red Bag Event yielded 2,032 pounds of donations which we want to continuously grow to the benefit of students in Arlington County. We are always looking for volunteers to help us have an even greater impact and hope more of our community engages with us!"

Food For Neighbors greatly values its area leadership teams, donors, volunteers, and partners. With their help, the nonprofit will be rolling out services to even more Northern Virginia schools as the spring approaches. To learn how you can make a difference in the lives of nearby students, visit the Food For Neighbors website or send an email to getinvolved@foodforneighbors.org.