Family Market has a big family scattered all across the Washington metro area, and we share a lot of food. I mean, a lot of food.
Hundreds of our friends and neighbors join us every month to partake in an Oprah Winfrey-style grocery giveaway.
Recently, we added a new member to the Family Market clan: Bren Mar Park Elementary School located in Alexandria, VA., where the faces are as diverse and unique as the food they’ll be distributing.
Bren Mar used to participate in our Weekend Bag program, a program that serves hundreds of little scholars by giving them pounds of food take home over the weekend.
How it works
Staff at Bren Mar showed excitement and some anxiety when presented with the opportunity to participate in the Family Market program – and that was understandable. After all, how were they going to take on the task of distributing this huge amount food for the first time?
Our Family Market program serves the families of students in our underserved service area by offering fresh produce and non-perishable items at no cost.
After an initial site visit, our team calculates the amount of food it would take to help each of the families in need based on our experience in food distribution.
At 2:15 pm, in the cafeteria earlier filled with famished children, a few thousand pounds of food products sit, waiting to be sorted.
Anxious yet motivated volunteers rolled up their sleeves and began to unpack every pallet of food, from the Raisin Bran cereal to delicious, crispy green apples.
“Why is all this food in here?” asked one student. “To feed the families that need it,” responded a volunteer. “Oh.” he said as the light bulb illuminated in his little head.
The CAFB’s work is not about giving food to the “needy” or the “poor” as our society labels it, but we let our actions echo the timeless saying “service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” I hope that is what the child experienced that evening.
I know there are many exciting days peeping around the corner for this special site and with open arms we jubilantly cry out, “Welcome to the family, Bren Mar!”