Photo Courtesy of Paul Kim

 Two judges from Food Network’s “Chopped” recently visited the P Street Whole Foods Market to  purchase food for the Capital Area Food Bank.  Chefs Marc Murphy and Amanda Freitag, in partnership with Share Our Strength and Whole Foods, shopped and collected food to help raise awareness of childhood hunger in America. 

My colleague, Brian Banks, and I even chipped in and helped load the Food Network truck with the donated products.  Through the initiative, the CAFB received the following items:

- 1,800 bags of rice
- 2,900 cans of tuna
- 8,600 cans of vegetables
- 11,500 cans of beans
- 1,400 jars of peanut butter
- 15,600 diapers
- 2,200 cans of soup

As part of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, the Food Network is hosting food drives in Washington, D.C., areas of Baltimore and Philadelphia and will deliver 135,000 meals to those areas.  Throughout the holiday season, Food Network trucks will stop at local Whole Foods Markets to collect customer donations.

It is because of community partners like Whole Foods, Food Network and Share Our Strength, that the Capital Area Food Bank is able to feed the thousands of families, children and seniors struggling to get enough food to eat. 

From a volunteer perspective: blog post written by Jay Landreth, Volunteer with the Capital Area Food Bank:

These Caps fans were feeling loose because of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Thousands of pounds of food walked into the  Verizon Center destined for distribution to individuals who were unemployed, under-employed, homeless, struggling to keep their homes and struggling to keep their heads above water.  Those fans brought plastic bags filled with cans on the Metro with them.  Women pulled cans of food out of purses.  Cans of yams and boxes of mac and cheese came out of jacket pockets.  Cans of tuna, jars of applesauce, peanut butter and an assortment of single-serving foods filled box after box at the entryway doors.

We were stationed by the door to take food donations.  We held orange buckets out to receive cash donations from people who forgot to bring a can, but wanted to help the Capital Area Food Bank feed people in need of assistance.

These Caps fans stepped up and donated generously.

Loose change.  Quarters, dimes, nickels and 31 pennies.  A total of $1,634.81 was collected, of which $19.81 was in coins.

I handed out brochures to alot of people saying that the food bank can turn ONE DOLLAR into THREE MEALS.  I believe that.  I’ve seen it done.  I have seen the beneficiaries of it.

Until that night, I hadn’t seen people dig to the bottom of their pocket for change.  I mean, the BOTTOM of their pocket.  That’s where the pennies get stuck.

So, those 31 pennies?  That was a meal.  Doesn’t sound like much does it?  Really?  Ever miss a meal?  Ever been in a position where you don’t know where your next meal is coming from?  I don’t mean deciding where to go eat, I mean not having a clue whether there is a meal in your future.

Caps fans believe that the Capital Area Food Bank helps feed thousands of people in the metro region every day.  They do it with food drawn from many different resources and processed by people, paid and unpaid, who care about people who face chronic hunger.  People who want to help others less fortunate than themselves.  People who dig deep, to the very bottom of their pockets, to make sure there is enough for one more meal for someone who needs it.

Thank you for supporting the Capital Area Food Bank and more importantly those struggling to get enough food to eat. 

Join the Capital Area Food Bank for one of our largest food drives of the year – Stuff-A-Truck.  We are teaming up again with Fox 5, Giant and local CBS radio stations to collect non-perishable food at  four Giant store locations across the Washington metro region.  Come out anytime between 6am and 11:30 pm on Friday, December 2nd to show your support and holiday spirit.

Locations:

• Brentwood Giant (1050 Brentwood Rd, NE Washington, DC 20018
• PG Plaza Giant (3521 East West Highway, Hyattsville, MD 20782)
• Montrose Crossing Giant (12051 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852)
• Greenbriar Giant (13043 Lee Jackson Hwy. Fairfax, VA 22033)

Click here to view our most wanted items. 

Thank you to all of our sponsors!

Giant, Fox 5, WPGC-FM, 94.7 Fresh FM, WJFK, El Zol, YRCI, USA Party Rental, A Grand Event and A&A Rental Station.

2011 CANstuction Awards:

Jurors’ Favorite: Leo A Daly

Structural Ingenuity: HDR

Best Meal: David M Schwarz Architects

Best Use of Labels: AECOM

Honorable Mention: Hartman-Cox Architects

Honorable Mention: Wiencek + Associates, Architects + Planners

People’s Choice: Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

(To view the winning CANstructions, click here.)

And what a year it was! The 19 participating teams braved Hurricane Irene on August 27th to construct the remarkable and creative structures made entirely from canned goods. This annual design competition gives a new meaning to playing with your food!

For the first time, CANstruction was held at the National Building Museum. The public was invited to watch as the teams worked together to create the structures they had envisioned, can by can.  Did you miss it? Click here to watch the build out in less than three minutes!

Over the course of a week, the public was able to vote for their favorite CAN-structure by placing a nonperishable food donation into one of the 19 Capital Area Food Bank collection boxes, placed in front of each structure. This year, the public was also able to vote online by making a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank.  

After the official judging was complete, the teams dismantled their designs. All canned goods were donated to the Capital Area Food Bank. In total, we received over 47,000 pounds of food and just over $4,000 in online donations. This incredible donation will allow us to provide nearly 49,000 meals to children, seniors and families at risk of hunger in our community.

Thank you to all 19 firms that participated in the much anticipated CANstruction.

URS Corporation

SmithGroupJJR

Robert Silman Associates

EYP Architecture and Engineering

CLARK NEXSEN

HOK

Rippeteau Architects, PC

HARTMAN-COX ARCHITECTS

Wiencek + Associates

RTKL

GENSLER

GPI/ Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

Cannon Design

AECOM

MV + A Architects

Stantec Architecture Inc.

LEO A DALY

HDR Architecture

David M. Schwarz Architects

We are so thankful for your support!

Read more here!

Now through July 24^th, Safeway is providing a quick and easy way to make a difference in your community.  While visiting your local Safeway store, pick up a pre-filled bag of groceries at the Help Us End Hunger display, purchase the bag full of food for $10 and place it in the Capital Area Food Bank collection box at the front of the store. The bags will be donated to the CAFB and distributed to those in need.

Each bag contains: Spaghetti, Canned Tomatoes, Canned Vegetables, Toasted Oats Cereal, Macaroni and Cheese, Creamy Peanut Butter, Instant Mashed Potatoes, Chunk Light Tuna.

Stop by one of the five Safeway locations below this Saturday, July 16th between 11am and 3pm to see our CAFB volunteers in action!

1. 5200 Randolph Road Rockville, MD 20852
2.  6500 Piney Branch Road, NW Washington DC
3.  1100 4^th St SW, Washington DC
4.  3526 King St, Alexandria, VA
5.  6244 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA

You can make a difference by donating a much needed bag of food now through July 24^th at your local Safeway store!

Want to learn more about volunteering at the Capital Area Food Bank? Click here.

Donations and volunteers have always been a crucial part of the work completed at the Capital Area Food Bank.  Luckily, one volunteer took her efforts to the next level by organizing a canned food drive in order to support the Food For Kids department!  Deb Roeber and her son Dalton are involved with the West Springfield Little League and organized a competition between little league teams to see who could provide the most items.

Food for Kids staff in NOVA worked with Deb, who secures other donations such as tickets from the Nationals, for WSLL events.   When asked about where she developed her desire to assist the community and the CAFB Deb said that:

“My son Dalton inspired me to give back as he volunteered at your Kids Cafe in March to earn hours for the national junior honor society. Dalton needed some more hours so we both thought of the idea to join his favorite sport and give back. Here we thought why not have his fellow teammates and friends he plays ball with give back as well. The community always support us so we wanted to help others. We hope to continue to give back to the food bank in the years to come!”

People like Deb, and all volunteers enhance the quality of work we are able to complete here at the food bank.  I enjoy the opportunity to get to work with people like her and other CAFB staff who are dedicated to addressing hunger problems in the Washington metro area!

Truck full of donations from Little League teams

DelCor started the .org Community Food Drive nine years ago because we wanted to increase our community impact.  That first year, we collected a ton of food.

Last year, our 8^th, we decided to give our participants another way to support the Capital Area Food Bank.  Many of our association partners work downtown and aren’t comfortable lugging food on the Metro.  So, we accepted monetary donations to the food bank – and increased our collection to nearly 14 tons.

Heading into this year, our 9^th, we were looking for additional ways to give, and our timing was incredibly fortuitous.  With the tireless help of Food Resources Coordinator Molly McGlinchy, we launched our first “virtual” food drive – in fact, the food bank’s first – to complement our existing food and monetary donations.

The results were absolutely astounding.

For the second year in a row, we experienced a 68 percent increase in donations.  The online contributions alone netted nearly 12 tons – nearly half of our 23-ton haul this year!  In nine years, we’ve collected nearly 60 tons of food to help feed our neighbors throughout the region.

More than half of the 38 organizations participating in our 9^th Annual .org Community Food Drive used the online donation tool to increase their collections.  One contributor summed it up nicely:

“The online system made it easy.  I had no idea each dollar could provide so many meals!  I guess it makes sense though.  I just gave money since the people who know how to make it stretch further are the experts and they can feed far more than my bag of groceries ever could.”

It really is true.  A pound of food equals one meal. But a dollar – whether given in person or online – equals three meals.  In the two years we’ve accepted monetary donations to the food bank through our food drive, we’ve nearly tripled our impact.  That’s due largely to the ability to give online.

Still, we recognize that the act of selecting, purchasing, and even lugging food donations is very important to some.  The physical act of giving can be especially meaningful.  It’s important for us to include and appreciate everyone who gives, however they give, because it’s only all together that we are able to make so much difference to the food bank and the hundreds of thousands of people they serve.  We are humbled to contribute each year through our drive.

There are so many ways to support the food bank, and we embrace them all.  We are glad to continue our support, and to extend it through the new online tools (especially since we’re a technology company).  If you’re thinking about running your own food drive, give it a try and increase your impact, too!

Are you interested in coordinating a food drive, but don’t have the time? Try a virtual food drive! This fast, easy, fun (and environmentally friendly) alternative to traditional food drives is now available!  If you are interested, please click here for more information!

Mark your calendar! The 19th Annual National Association Of Letter Carriers’ Food Drive is this Saturday,  May 14th.  You can help nourish those struggling with hunger  in three easy steps:

1. Collect a bag full of non-perishable foods.
2. Leave the bag at your mailbox on Saturday, May 14^th - your local letter carrier will pick up the donations and deliver them to the Capital Area Food Bank.
3. Spread the Word – Remind everyone you know to leave a bag of non-perishable food by their mail boxes. Use Facebook and Twitter to encourage others to help too!  Click here for more information.

Most Need Items:

• peanut butter
• canned meat and fish
• canned fruit and vegetables
• cereal

Last year, the Capital Area Food Bank distributed over 27 million pounds of food, including 10.8 million pounds of fresh produce.  We need your support to feed our neighbors in need, so don’t forget to leave your canned goods by your mail box this Saturday!

Remind your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers to do the same.

On Friday, March 18^th Adam Lowy and Jason Taetsch from Move For Hunger visited the Capital Area Food Bank!  Founded by the Lowy Family, Move For Hunger – a nonprofit organization that links local moving companies with food banks – encourages clients to donate unopened food during the moving process and offers to deliver their donations directly to local food banks.  Learn more about this growing organization here.

These two ambitious young men were awarded a $10,000 grant from Ford Motor Company to take their show on the road as part of the Focus Global Test Drive: Start More Than A Car Campaign!  Adam and Jason are using their 2012 Ford Focus to take a 28-day tour across the United States to tell the story of hunger.  Not only are they visiting food banks and partner moving companies, but they are also blogging, tweeting and uploading videos along the way.

During their visit, Adam and Jason had a chance to chat with our Chief Operations Officer Mark McCaffrey and Director of Individual Giving Claudia Morris.  Click here to watch the brief and informative interviews.

Because of Adam and Jason’s work, our Northern Virginia branch is lucky enough to receive donations from four local moving companies: Eureka Van & Storage Co., Inc., Olympia Moving and Storage Company, Executive Moving Systems, Inc. and Bayshore Moving & Storage.  These generous companies collect food from clients and deliver donations to our Lorton, VA location on a regular basis.

Check out Adam and Jason’s blog as they make their way across the country!

Any plans for this weekend? Why don’t you join Noodles and Company in supporting the Capital Area Food Bank!  On Sunday, March 27th and Monday, March 28th Noodles and Company is offering a free bowl of their signature Mac and Cheese or one of their new special flavors in exchange for a donation of three boxes of macaroni and cheese!

So run on over to your local grocery store, pick up three boxes of your favorite macaroni and cheese, and visit a participating Noodles and Company store!  What a delicious way to support your community!

Participating locations:
- Arlington (Pentagon Row, Crystal City, Ballston Commons)
- Fairfax
- Vienna
- Alexandria (Alexandria, Kingstowne and Mt. Vernon)
- Manassas
- Falls Church (Merrifield)