Kicking Off the New School Year with a Major Food Collection

On Saturday, September 11th, Food For Neighbors kicked off the 2021-2022 school year with huge food collections and sorting events in five Northern Virginia areas: Herndon, Springfield, Falls Church, Fort Hunt, and Sterling. Thanks to generous community members, the nonprofit collected over 17,000 pounds of food from over 1,100 households. This food will help to provide food security to vulnerable students in 24 schools in Fairfax County and Loudoun County. During the event, Food For Neighbors Co-founder, Karen Joseph, recognized the nonprofit’s five-year anniversary and thanked the many Sterling Area volunteers, organizations, and participating schools for their support.

With many experienced volunteers having formerly supported the Herndon Area, the Sterling Area did not let the pandemic stop them from rolling out its formal food collection program at a time when neighborhood schools needed more support than ever.

“Even through the pandemic, Food For Neighbors never stopped helping our students; it was never a question,” emphasized Shelby Hoover, the Social Worker at Sterling Middle School.

“We knew we had to make this happen,” shared Liz Campbell, who now serves as the Sterling Area Manager and oversees an enthusiastic leadership team including Jennifer Cave, Sara Farbry, and Meridith and Mike Blake. “We were fortunate to have the steadfast support of wonderful volunteers and organizations, including Riverside Presbyterian Church and the Sterling Rotary, both of which do so much in the community.”

Just one year later, the Sterling Area has grown to include twelve volunteer drivers collecting food from up to 182 nearby households. With its ongoing expansion to Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, the Sterling team is now supporting students at six Loudoun County middle schools and high schools. In addition to Stone Bridge, these include Sterling, Seneca Ridge, and River Bend middle schools as well as Park View and Potomac Falls high schools. At these schools, social workers, counselors, and/or parent liaisons connect food insecure students with the collected and sorted supplemental food as well as with grocery store gift cards. The extra support gives students a fundamental tool to help them succeed, as they are then able to focus more on their schoolwork than on their hunger.

Co-founder Karen Joseph explained that, while Food For Neighbors mobilizes thousands of community members to help their neighborhood schools, the staff in participating schools are key to the program’s success. When recognizing the staff, she furthered, “These dedicated school personnel make additional time to find food storage space, identify students in need, and connect them with this resource. They know their students best, and we are so happy that our partnership has a direct, positive impact on our most vulnerable community members. Thank you to our schools and volunteers for all that you do.”

“We have a large number of students in need at Seneca Ridge Middle School,” noted Principal Nick Cottone. “Being able to partner with Food For Neighbors is a win-win for all of us.”

Assistant Principal Elena Barham of Sterling Middle School agreed. “We are very grateful for organizations like Food For Neighbors, which helps so many of our school families.”

As the need continues to be great, Food For Neighbors welcomes additional Northern Virginia middle and high schools, volunteers, and organizations to participate in the program. School staff and PTA representatives interested in bringing the program to their schools may send an email to contact@foodforneighbors.org. Community members may make monetary contributions, sign up to donate food, and express interest in volunteering at https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/. Businesses and organizations interested in becoming Food For Neighbors partners, may contact Renee Maxwell, renee@foodforneighbors.org.

Food For Neighbors: Hunger Is Closer Than You Think