Blog

On the first Saturday of each month on L Street NW between New Jersey Avenue and First Street you’ll find the food bank’s DC Community Marketplace, where we provide fresh, seasonal produce and other grocery items at no cost to all residents in need of food assistance. Read an inside look at a morning at the marketplace.

The food first bank’s first Hunger Report, released in July of 2020, sounded the alarm on a growing hunger crisis in our region as COVID-19 sent shockwaves through our economy and some areas saw food insecurity rates increase by 50% or more. Almost one year later, the food bank has issued a second report, this time diving more deeply into the faces behind those staggering numbers.

As a 35-year hospitality professional who grew up in food and beverage, Elaine Richard already had great respect for the work of food bank. When she was asked to join the board of directors, she jumped at the opportunity. At the time, she didn’t realize that her purpose in supporting the food bank would change in a matter of weeks as the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges.

Shonnie Jones’s passion is helping people. She believes that empowering families through food access and security is central to improving the lives of families in her community and furthering equity in the D.C. area. As a member of our Client Leadership Council, Shonnie hopes to become a more effective advocate for her family and community.

For Audrey Walker, the Director of Youth Services at Jubilee Housing, summer isn’t just for vacation – it’s for community. Her summer is packed full of cohorts of kids and their families. Jubilee’s youth programs provide kids with experiential learning like field trips, practice in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM), and opportunities for community service and civic engagement. But even more importantly, it provides hot meals and snacks to keep kids healthy and energized throughout the summer and beyond.

Planned giving is visionary thinking. It means that, as a donor, you can help the food bank meet future needs that may not occur during your lifetime. A planned gift can also save money spent on taxes, increase your spendable income, preserve your assets, allow you to continue to use your assets during your lifetime. Two of the food bank's visionary donors, Jayne and Warren Lux, recently shared why they planned for the future with the food bank in mind.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of amazing and dedicated individuals have stepped up selflessly to ensure that their neighbors don’t go hungry amidst rising rates of unemployment and food insecurity. We spoke with Jan Augustine, a long-time CAFB donor who recently began to volunteer with us, to learn what motivates her to lend a helping hand for her neighbors in need.

Twice weekly, the Capital Christian Fellowship (CCF) opens its doors to feed their Maryland community. In addition to the variety of services the church provides, the CCF partners with the food bank to stock their in-house food pantry with fresh produce and staple ingredients. The food bank spoke to Executive Pastor Akeia Rossiter about how the Fellowship adapted to the challenges of the pandemic, kept its doors open, and served more families than ever before.

For many residents of DC’s Ward 8, limited stores and numerous transportation hurdles make healthy and affordable groceries hard to access. Our Curbside Groceries truck has set out to help change that by providing a full market basket of goods year-round on a store that’s mobile. DeJuan Mason, manager of the food bank’s new Curbside Groceries initiative and a 5-year resident of Ward 8, recently took time to share details about how she and her team are bringing new grocery options to her community, and what she loves about the job.