The Capital Area Food Bank has been serving northern Virginia from the same facility for nearly 30 years. Over time, the needs of our community have grown – so now, we’re doing the same.  As one of three CAFB warehouses that support CAFB’s food distribution throughout the region, our Lorton, Va., facility is critical to our work in Northern Virginia and beyond. Built in 1982 and later acquired by CAFB, the current warehouse has never been retrofitted to meet the significant growth — in both population and in food insecurity — that Northern Virginia has experienced in recent years. Even befor ..read more

Many families rely on meals provided at school to help ensure their children are able to access enough nutritious food to learn and grow. But what happens when the school day ends? To help ensure kids are getting enough to eat, the Capital Area Food Bank participates in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program. This program allows us to provide healthy, kid-friendly meals to 48 locations throughout the region that host afterschool programs. Those sites include Pleasant Homes in Seat Pleasant, Md., where students help to prep the plates and pass them out to their classmates. The children ..read more

Joanne Barkett Conway focused much of her own life on improving the lives of others. That work has left a lasting legacy that now, thanks to a significant new gift from her husband William “Bill” Conway, Jr., will only grow larger. William “Bill” Conway, Jr. has committed $10 million to the food bank to address regional food insecurity through one of his philanthropic vehicles, the Bedford Falls Foundation DAF. The gift is a multi-year investment that honors his late wife’s dedication to helping kids, families, and other individuals through her philanthropic leadership. The new funding will s ..read more

Tope Fajingbesi has a consistent standard when it comes to the food that she and her husband, Niyi, distribute from their farm: if any of their produce isn’t of high-enough quality to be sold at a farmers’ market in DC, then it’s not an item that Dodo Farms will sell elsewhere.   For Tope, that standard is about respecting the dignity of her clients, whether they are purchasing produce from her booth at the farmers market in Dupont Circle or receiving produce purchased by the food bank and distributed at one of our partner locations.    Photo credit: Rebecca Drobis “I ..read more

A former telephone switchboard operator from Silver Spring, Cheryl worked all of her life. Then an illness forced her into early retirement.  “I always worked so I never thought I would have to go to a food bank,” she says. “And then I did.”  Seniors in our region face some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country. For Cheryl and too many others, that can mean tough choices between paying for necessary medications or nutritious food.   “Am I going to let my blood pressure go through the sky and have a stroke or am I going to get the medication?” Cheryl asks. “I go ..read more

A new year is underway. Kick off 2024 with this at-a-glance guide for how to help people in your community each month of the year: January In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, create your own “Day of Service” by grabbing some friends and signing up for a volunteer shift. February Sign up for our newsletter to receive stories and updates from the communities we serve. You’ll learn how hunger is affecting our community, and how you can be part of the solution. March Volunteer at a Community Market to get a hands-on experience right in your community! Each month, our Commu ..read more

Local farms are a vital part of how we are able to make fresh produce available to our neighbors. Since the establishment of the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) in Maryland last year, we’ve been able to significantly ramp up how much we purchase from local growers! Here’s how the year finished up: This season, roughly 2.9 million meals came from local growers. That includes 200,000 meals’ worth of milk and eggs — which we hadn’t been able to offer as frequently. Nia Nyamweya of Beauty Blooms Farm with some giant gourds We worked with 11 new growers and producers in Mar ..read more

Only about half of people who need food assistance are getting it, according to data from our 2023 Hunger Report. We’re dedicated to addressing the barriers to food assistance, so we can reach as many of those in our community who need help accessing enough nutritious food.   But how do we go about doing that? That’s where one of our most powerful data tools comes in: the Hunger Heat Map.   The map helps us to visualize the landscape of hunger in our region, seeing where the highest levels of food insecurity are and where we need to create new food distributions, find new partn ..read more

Giving Tuesday is an annual celebration of global generosity and a chance for people across the globe to make a positive impact. You can make a huge impact right where you live through your support of the Capital Area Food Bank! When you give, you provide critically needed meals for neighbors across the Greater Washington region. Want to learn more about how your contribution can power our work throughout the community? Check out the chart below, and read on! First, our team sources the food. It comes from local farmers like Nia, who will provide enough nutrient-rich, Maryland-grown produce f ..read more

There’s no one who knows the problem of hunger better than someone who has experienced it. That’s why we’ve created the Client Leadership Council (CLC): to empower food-insecure individuals to have a voice in the policy decisions that impact their lives. Through this 10-month advocacy training program, our clients learn how to harness the power of their lived experiences to shape public policy and food bank programming by sharing their stories with media, politicians, and beyond. Get to know several members of our fourth Client Leadership Council class and why they’re participating in this yea ..read more