Food For Neighbors Partners With Amazon To Deliver Food To Students

ARLINGTON, VA — Amazon teamed up with Food for Neighbors to deliver food to teens in Arlington and across Northern Virginia during the nonprofit group’s first Red Bag Event of the school year.

Amazon volunteers worked alongside community members at the Arlington Career Center to collect, sort and pack food and toiletry donations.

At the end of the Sept. 9 event, donated items were delivered to 42 local secondary schools in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, with Amazon delivery teams completing the special deliveries to four local school pantries at Arlington Community High School, Gunston Middle School, Kenmore Middle School and Wakefield High School.

The Red Bag Program kickoff event was coordinated as part of Amazon’s Global Month of Volunteering, where employees in the D.C. area and across the world come together to volunteer for various causes

“We’re committed to supporting the immediate needs of students and their families, which often includes providing food, shelter, clothing, and more. Our headquarter communities are a big piece of this mission as these are the neighborhoods we’re proud to call home,” Melissa Robinson, principal program manager of Volunteering at Amazon, said in a statement.

“Through our community investments with trusted partners like Food For Neighbors that work closely with school districts to help to administer essential items, we can provide free resources to students to eliminate barriers to learning,” Robinson said.

Food For Neighbors’s mission is to end child hunger in Northern Virginia. Food For Neighbors focuses on teens in underserved communities, working to raise awareness, mobilize communities, and partner with local middle and high schools to connect vital resources with vulnerable, food insecure students.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Amazon as a Food For Neighbors Community Champion and sponsor of our first Red Bag food and toiletry collection event of the new school year,” said Karen Joseph, founder and executive director of Food For Neighbors.

Amazon’s philanthropic partnership and $155,000 donation through Amazon Fresh helped Food For Neighbors expand its services into Arlington Public Schools last school year, where the group helped more than 975 hungry students, Joseph said.