Volunteer Spotlight:  Food for Others

Contributed by Susan Posey, Redeemer Lutheran, McLean

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few hours volunteering at the Food for Others food distribution warehouse located in Merrifield.  What an eye-opening and rewarding experience!

Here is a short history of Food for Others from their website:

For the past 28 years, Food for Others has established itself as an essential part of Northern Virginia’s safety net. In our first year of operation, we served about 105 families per month. All these years later, we’re serving roughly 3,000 families per week and 3,900 students each week via the Power Pack Program (P3).

The day I was there, I joined with other Tysons Teammates volunteers to assemble P3 (Power Pack Program) food packets.  These food packets are sent home with Fairfax County elementary school students on Fridays during the school year to supplement their food for the weekend.  It was mind blowing to learn that almost 4,000 of these packets are distributed each week.

It is also mind-blowing and heartening to know that over 40% of the work done by Food for Others is performed by volunteers. They are so grateful for any help, whether it is in the form of donations or manpower. 

To learn of the ways to get involved at Food for Others, please visit their website at:  foodforothers.org/.

PS:  I learned about this service opportunity through Tysons Teammates.  If you are interested in helping to build “the fabric of the Tysons community” you can check them out, too.

This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.