Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, one of the Capital Area Food Bank’s community partners, is going above and beyond the call to feed those in need by combining their regular food distributions with informative nutrition education classes.  On Wednesday, November 9^th, I attended one of these classes, which are held at the church’s social hall.  About 25 people of all ages turned out to learn from Reverend Carolyn Scales, who runs the hour-long sessions. 

Reverend Scales is a 2009 graduate of the food bank’s Nutrition Education Department’s pilot Health Ambassador Program, which helps partner organizations supplement food distribution with healthy learning.   Reverend Scales oversees a majority of the food distributions and has managed the church’s participation in the food bank’s From the Ground Up Fresh Produce Grant for the past two years.   

Reverend Scales educates class participants on key aspects of nutrition, such as limiting the consumption of fats, salts, sugars and increasing fiber intake and exercise level.  Seeing food distribution coupled with simple health education was inspiring and indicative of a step in the right direction for a healthy approach to hunger relief.  During the Thanksgiving holiday, Allen Chapel A.M.E.’s policy is that clients must attend at least three of Reverend Scales’ classes in order to receive a turkey from the food pantry.   

Classes begin with Reverend Scales asking clients if they are having a “good food week”—had they applied prior lessons to their daily eating habits.  The classes at Allen Chapel are open forum discussion and Reverend Scales serves as the moderator.  This allows community partners to share advice, support and suggestions.  Almost everyone in the class, for example, expressed struggling with removing sodas and sugary “from-concentrate” fruit juices from their diets.  Such discussions prove helpful especially to those participants that may feel defeated after a “bad food week.” 

Reverend Scales’ charisma and love for her clients made for a surprisingly emotional class! At Allen Chapel A.M.E., it’s hard not to be inspired when talking about nutrition—a subject which might otherwise not be so riveting.  One thing that really stood out for me in the class was Reverend Scales’ emphasis on the dignity of the individual when talking about eating right.  She encourages her clients to remember the old saying “you are what you eat” – reminding them that life is too precious to make food choices that could shorten it or diminish its quality. Knowledge is power and this sense of empowerment is something that truly has helped move the Allen Chapel community forward in their ministries to help those struggling with hunger.

In the Food For Kids Department, our Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag sites often invite us to attend their events and to distribute information about the services we provide across the food bank.  We distribute  fliers and handouts on Hunger Lifeline, SNAP benefits, Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag, tasty recipes, tour cards, and more.  We provide give-aways and food samples that promote healthy eating and key nutrition messages.

Meleah Boyle, MD Kids Cafe/Weekend Bag Coordinator at the recent Rock Creek Terrace Community Day

Rock Creek Terrace Apartments (part of Edgewood Management Corporation) in Rockville, MD recently held a community day event for their apartment complex and invited us to set up a booth.  Their community center participates in both Kids Cafe and Weekend Bag, serving up to 60 children a day.  We had a wonderful time talking with people – chatting about the programs that their community center has for their children, answering questions about other services, and giving out samples of a delicious black bean salsa recipe that can be made with common Weekend Bag items.

At community events, we have the unique opportunity to talk with people with every type of interest in the food bank – those needing our services, interested in volunteering, wanting to donate, or just wanting to find out who we are.  Community events bring us together with different groups, inspire interest in our mission, and keep us connected with those in need.

Thanks to a strong partnership with the Langley Park Community Center – part of the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, and the quick thinking of its Facility Director, Lourdes Sulc – the long line of clients were moved indoors to wait in the air conditioning until their numbers were called.

Seven dedicated volunteers handed out food from 10:45 AM-1:30 PM as the temperatures rose.  Four of the volunteers were students at Furman University in South Carolina.  Even their experience in the southern heat didn’t keep them from breaking a sweat!

It was all worth it to see the senior citizens and families accept the bountiful selection of produce provided by the food bank at absolutely no cost to the clients or the host site.  High-quality potatoes, onions, lettuce, watermelon and peppers filled the carts and bags of each client who entered the line.

The distribution at Langley Park is part of the food bank’s Mobile Food Pantry Program.  This program directly benefits from the funds raised in the Fresh Produce Campaign, which aims to provide the community with more than 15 million pounds of nutritious fresh produce this year.  The distribution at Langley Park clearly demonstrates the need for these programs and the value that people have for the service.

The next time you find yourself sweating at 8 AM and reaching to turn up the air conditioning, think of the people at the Mobile Food Pantries, braving the heat to feed themselves and their families with healthy food.

The Capital Area Food Bank is launching a one million dollar campaign to underwrite the cost of acquiring 15 million pounds of fresh produce and distributing it to our partner agencies.  Our goal is to reaffirm our commitment to provide wholesome fruits and vegetables to those we serve.

We are in the midst of a hunger crisis here in the Washington area and across the nation.  The food bank’s transportation and food costs have increased by 30 percent in the last three months.  Hunger in our region has increased by more than 25 percent since 2006 and  people who are at risk of hunger exceeds 640,000 here in the metropolitan area.  That includes one out of every two children in Washington, DC, the  nation’s capital.  This economy is impacting not only the poor, but the middle class. 

People are losing homes, are working two and three jobs to make ends meet, and many are unable to find work.  In the past ten years, 50,000  manufacturing plants have closed throughout this country and 8 million jobs have disappeared and with these troubling realities, Congress is proposing $800 million in cuts to nutrition programs and cuts to many of the programs that have helped to create a vibrant economy and a strong, robust and healthy nation.

We find ourselves in the perfect storm.  If the food bank is not able to find additional funding, we deeply regret that we will be forced – for the first time in our 31-year history –  to pass along to our partner agencies a shared maintenance fee of 10 cents a pound for fresh produce.  While this fee is a fraction of the value of fresh produce,  it is an enormous new financial burden for our agencies, especially the smaller and more vulnerable ones.

 The Capital Area Food Bank is looking to you, our community, to ensure that this incredibly important fresh produce program will continue as it has in the past. Your trust and support will lift a burden and will ensure that we and our agencies can continue to help feed the 480,000 people that we serve annually though our network of  programs

 Your support is urgently needed.  Please make your donation on-line and designate that you want your contribution to support our fresh produce campaign.

The Capital Area Food Bank, along with many other organizations, is spreading the word about free summer meals.  Last Friday, the food bank partnered with Latin America Youth Center to canvass neighborhoods in Capitol Heights and Seat Pleasant, Maryland.  Part of the group also handed out resources at a Mobile Food Pantry distribution.  The teens from LAYC distributed over 1,500 door hangers and fliers, sharing information about how to find summer meals as well as information about SNAP benefits.

Help us make sure that this summer is fun for everyone.  Join us in getting the word out about where kids can eat for free this summer!  Distribute fliers in your community to anyone who has children or works with children who may be at risk of hunger.  Contact Kendra Rowe Salas at rowesalask@capitalareafoodbank.org for additional outreach materials that you can use this summer.  With 200,000 children and teens at risk of hunger in the D.C. metro area, this information is essential!

Today, I had the pleasure of conducting a site visit at the Fort Washington Food Pantry, located at and administered by Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, MD.  The Fort Washington Food Pantry has been in existence for more than 20 years.  I have been an Outreach Coordinator at the food bank for three years and have conducted over 180 site visits, yet I continue to be impressed by the generosity of the wonderful volunteers who often coordinate these feeding programs.

But today was different.  While I was touched by the generosity, love and care they put into the pantry; this wasn’t the most impressive quality I found at the pantry.  Nor was it the fact that they feed 7,155 people a year providing 12 pounds of food during each visit, are a client choice pantry, are in the process of moving into a new space in the building to accommodate more shelving, and will potentially open one more day a week. What impressed me the most is that they knew the value of one dollar.

Currently, to feed the 7,155 people a year they serve, the pantry spends $5,451 annually.  If you break that down it takes them roughly $0.76 to feed one person or $3.80 to feed a family of four a year!  Some of us spend more than $3.80 on our favorite smoothie or coffee drink.  As a partner agency of the food bank, they are able to stretch their dollars to serve over 7,000 people each year!  This renewed my hope that if all of us in the Washington metro region give just a little bit more, we can feed the more than 600,000 people in this region that are affected by hunger!

Please click here to learn more about the Fort Washington Food Pantry.

“What can I do with this?” a young mom asks holding up a head of cabbage. 

This is a frequently asked question at a food pantry distribution; and one the Nutrition Education Department at the Capital Area Food Bank is tackling head on. Each year, the CAFB distributes nearly 30 million pounds of food – half of which is fresh produce. But without the knowledge of how to prepare the produce at home, the fear of the unknown may prove too great and residents choose to forego the fresh produce – most notably the vegetables.

To help combat this problem the Nutrition Education Department brought on Chef Mitch Greene, with grant funding, to launch a recipe database that will be accessible by all partner agencies on the “Partner Zone” online portal.  The goal of the recipe database is to feature ingredients and create demand for healthy ingredients at CAFB. The recipe database is in the development stage, but partner agencies can look forward to its launch and brainstorm ways to incorporate the recipes into their organizations.

The recipes will follow guidelines set forth by the Nutrition Education Department, with oversight by the department director, Jodi Balis RD.  Among other guidelines recipes will include at least 3 out of the 5 food groups (grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and meat/beans) and cost no more than $1.50 per serving.  Most importantly, they will be tasty. Recipes will include information about what can be substituted, allowing for flexibility and creativity. Currently, most of the recipes are simple one-pot meals that require little preparation or preparation time. As the project continues to evolve, the recipe database will offer as many types, styles, and variety of recipes as possible.

Knowing how to prepare food bank ingredients in healthy and economical ways may seem challenging to both food bank member partners and clients alike.  But these recipes, coupled with cooking demonstrations will provide the food bank network with new experiences and expose them to new ways to use common ingredients in healthy, tasty ways.

—A look at a recipe for Southwest Turkey Soup

Serves 8                 

1        teaspoon olive oil, or canola
1        pound ground turkey
¼     teaspoon salt, or less to taste
black pepper, to taste
2        medium onions, chopped
1        large green bell pepper, chopped
1        tablespoon chili powder
          cayenne pepper, to taste
2        garlic cloves, crushed
8    cups water, or chicken stock, low/no sodium, fat free
1        15 oz. can  whole kernel corn, no salt added
1        15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1        15 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
13  ounces spinach, frozen, thawed

Directions:

In a large sauce pan or stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. While the pan is heating up, season the turkey with the salt and pepper.  When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the turkey onions and peppers.  Cook until the turkey is browned completely, stir occasionally (stirring too often will increase the cooking time!).

 Just before the turkey is done to your liking, add the chili powder, cayenne pepper and garlic cloves.  Stir to distribute evenly and cook less than one minute.  Be careful NOT to brown the garlic (brown garlic is very bitter and unpleasant).

Add the water (or stock) all at once.  Stir to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan (called ‘fond’–like foundation–in French kitchens).  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered 15 minutes.

 Add the corn, drained and rinsed beans and the spinach.  Return to a simmer (adjust the heat if necessary) and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until thoroughly hot.

Written by Adrienne Griggs in Nutrition Education Department

This past weekend, many celebrated and paid tribute to their mothers, but for thousands of mothers in the National Capital Region, there wasn’t much to celebrate.

Since 2006, hunger in the Washington metro area has increased 25 percent and over 641,000 residents are struggling to get enough food to eat.  After rent, transportation and medical costs, far too many working mothers and families have little left over for groceries and other items such as diapers and hygiene products.

The Capital Area Food Bank, the largest nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the region, works to ensure that all may sit down to three quality meals a day by distributing nearly 30 million pounds of food – half of which is fresh produce – to over 478,100 residents in need.

Distributing food is just one part of the food bank’s comprehensive approach to addressing the issues of hunger.  We also offer nutrition education; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach, formerly known as the food stamp program; and help our network of over 700 nonprofit partners become more effective in dealing with issues of hunger.  We recently launched our Produce for People initiative in an effort to distribute 15 million pounds of fresh produce to those with limited access to nutritious food. 

We have also partnered with the DC Diaper Bank to meet an overwhelming need for young mothers who not only struggle daily to feed their children, but are unable, in many instances, to afford diapers for their young babies.   Diapers are not covered by assistance programs and represent a significant expense for struggling families.

Although Mother’s Day has passed, let’s remember those mothers who are struggling to feed their families.  For over 30 years, the food bank has worked to nourish our neighbors in need.  But we cannot do it alone.  We must work together as a community to ensure that all have access to the most basic human right – food.

I can still remember rushing home from elementary school, eager for the programming on TV, running around with neighborhood friends, and enjoying the all important after-school snack.  Snack time was always at 3 pm.  Midway between lunch and dinner, it was the perfect time to recharge and keep my brain sharp through the evening for homework and practicing my violin.

Millions of kids – 1 in 5 in the Washington metropolitan area alone- not only don’t get a snack after school, but they have to skip dinner too.  These kids might feel sluggish after a full day of school, making running around with friends a daunting activity.  As hunger sets in, they might find it difficult to focus on their school work, get frustrated, and skip homework once or repeatedly.  They miss out on the chance to sit down with their families to share a meal and they go to bed with stomach aches and anxiety about their discomfort.

With help from the Meals for Minds grant from the Target Corporation, the School Food Pantry is the latest addition to the food bank’s programs.  The idea is to enhance family involvement in school activities and provide much-needed food resources to the families.  The current pantries are at Charles Carroll Middle School in New Carrollton, MD; and Bruce Monroe Elementary in D.C.  Another site in D.C. will be added later this year.   

Parent volunteers distribute produce at Bruce Monroe Elementary School in Northwest D.C.

At each school, 85-95 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunches, a reliable indicator of food insecurity.  School food pantries help ease that stress for the students and their families.  Once per month the food bank delivers fresh produce and non-perishable staple items to the schools for families to take home.  The shares of food can weigh up to 40 pounds and provide a supplement to other forms of food assistance.

Lilian Hernandez, parent liaison at Bruce Monroe Elementary, was thrilled with the result of the first distribution.  “The families were very pleased with the variety of the food provided, especially the fresh produce.”

Families and kids at both schools were all smiles at the distributions.   I am excited to see what is in store for the coming months, when more families take advantage of this great resource and more kids have the food they need to succeed in school and beyond.