Fairfax County, the second richest county in the United States, can’t have hungry citizens. Wrong!
In Fairfax County there are 89,000 residents who are struggling with hunger, including 38,000 children (Source: Capital Area Food Bank). In Northern Virginia 1 in 6 children is at risk of or experiencing hunger (Source: U.S. Census), and 1 in 5 children in public school is eligible for free or reduced price meals. Children look forward to coming to school, not to study and learn, but to eat free breakfast and lunch.
What do these children eat on weekends? Assistance League of Northern Virginia started a program in 2010, WEEEKEND FOOD FOR KIDS, that provides nutritional food for children to eat over the weekend. The program has now expanded, and thanks to a large grant from Dominion Virginia Power was able to provide 14,514 bags of food to hungry children during the 2013-2014 school year. The food is distributed to five Title I schools in Northern Virginia.
Once a month volunteers of Assistance League, along with volunteers from Dominion Virginia Power and other individual and community volunteers, gather at the Dominion offices in Herndon to pack the bags of food. There is an assembly line process that is so efficient that over 1,500 bags of food are packed in less than two hours! Each bag of food costs approximately $4. That includes cereal, canned fruit, granola bars, pudding, cheese crackers, noodles and canned meat.
We are now providing food for 80% of the children who often receive free and reduced priced meals at the selected schools. However, we can only afford to do this once a month – and there are many more schools with hungry children.
