Weekend Food For Kids Helps With Food Insecurity

The March Weekend Food for Kids packing event was another great success for Assistance League of Northern Virginia. Twenty-three members were joined by 33 Dominion employees, and 12 community volunteers, including friends from Didlake and first-timers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Through this program, Assistance League tries to ensure that students have food over the weekend, when school-provided meals are not available. Students can better focus on learning if they’re not hungry.

These monthly collaborative food-packing efforts are not only impactful, they are also fun events for all participants. Volunteers can usually pack the 1720 bags of food in about an hour and they are delivered to 6 elementary schools in Prince William and Fairfax counties. Bob Kovacs attended the January food packing and produced a 2-minute clip that showcases both why and how the nonprofit packs so many bags of food for this important program. Use this link to see the video and learn more about this program: Weekend Food for Kids 01/31/2024 (youtube.com)

Over the past two months, Assistance League has also delivered clothes to three schools as part of its New Clothing for Kids program. Based on specific requests from counselors, the nonprofit provided 74 T-shirts, 28 pairs of leggings, and 38 pairs of sweatpants and will soon deliver spring and summer-weight clothes, as requested by the schools. In addition to food bags and clothes, the charity also delivered a total of 77 grocery gift cards to 8 schools in March.

Assistance League greatly appreciates the support of its volunteers and community partners. Together they make a significant difference by providing the essentials that students need: food and clothing. When students’ basic needs are met, they have more self-confidence and can achieve more in school.