Capital Area Food Bank

Thank you to our friends at Feeding America for convening an insightful conversation today on new USDA data showing higher levels of food insecurity across the county. It was a great opportunity to dive into the new data alongside representatives from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the Maryland Food Bank, UnidosUS (@WeAreUnidosUS), Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), Share Our Strength, Alliance to End Hunger and more. Two members of our Client Leadership Council, an advocacy training program for our clients, also offered their perspectives on how food insecurity has affected their families. Next week, we'll be delving deeper into the latest levels of food insecurity in our region with the release of our fifth annual Hunger Report. Check back here and on our website next Thursday to read the new report. #HungerActionMonth #HungerReport #foodinsecurity #foodbank

#HungerActionMonth is here! All September long, people nationwide are joining forces to spotlight hunger in our communities and take meaningful action. Visit our blog to discover ways you can help ensure everyone has access to the food they need. And stay tuned for more insights on the impact of hunger in our region coming later this month. https://lnkd.in/g4B9SBdJ

We were thrilled to recently attend the openings of three new grocery stores in DC, Alexandria, and Gaithersburg. These expansions by Amazon Fresh and Safeway are not just about adding locations—they’re about connecting more of our neighbors with access to nutritious groceries across our region. We're also incredibly grateful for the ongoing support from these grocers. A huge thank you to Amazon Fresh for their generous donation of $20,000 and to the Safeway Foundation for their remarkable contribution of $140,109. This support will go a long way in helping provide essential resources to neighbors in need. With more grocery stores opening, we can ensure that more people have closer and more convenient access to the quality groceries they need.

We’ve seen how the high cost of groceries affects our clients as they attempt to stretch their budgets to afford enough nutritious food. This recent New York Times piece details why the slowdown in food inflation hasn’t been felt by many families: prices are still rising and may not go down significantly for some time. One particularly challenging factor: wages that weren’t growing as fast as rising food costs. “As supply chain issues have eased, grocery inflation has returned to levels that more closely resemble the typical rates before the pandemic. .... Still, since wage growth did not keep up with food price increases for a while, consumers have been through a ‘very tough period’ and not everyone has seen their wages keep pace.” https://lnkd.in/eYNszAUH

⭐Partner Spotlight⭐ Food for Others has been one of our valued community partners for more years than we can remember! Through our partnership, we support Food for Others as they serve neighbors in Fairfax County. They operate programs such as My Market, a client choice pantry that offers wrap-around services, and Power Pack, which provides weekend meal packs for students. Deb Haynes, Executive Director of Food for Others, shared their programs are currently serving 250% more people than they did in 2019. This staggering number is a reminder that food insecurity remains a great issue in our community, and we will continue to work together to meet increased demand.

We're able to meet the growing need for food in our region thanks to the incredible support of our extensive partner network. More than 400 organizations across DC, MD, and VA collaborate with us to distribute food to those in need! Our recent summer partner meetings were a wonderful opportunity to connect and share ideas across our network. We heard from partners in all three regions that the need for food assistance continues to increase, and we are committed to continue working together to find solutions.

Summer is drawing to a close, and we're gearing up for back-to-school season! ☀️🎒🍏 So far, we've served over 45,000 meals this summer, and our commitment to providing nutritious meals to kids continues throughout the school year. Our after-school meals program offers healthy, kid-friendly meals to locations throughout the region that offer programs for children once the school day ends. ‼️We're now accepting applications for host sites‼️ Apply now: https://lnkd.in/eZPSW79V

Sabrina Tadele, our Director of Strategic Initiatives, recently spoke on a panel focused on how increased collaboration across nonprofit partners can maximize impact. Hosted by United Way Way and joined by Léo Elias Sandoval from the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), and Dee Dee Parker Wright from Easterseals, the group discussed how building partnerships between organizations can better support and elevate individuals in need—specifically those who are employed but not earning a living wage. Key Takeaways: 💡Identifying Service Gaps: Recognize services that clients need but aren’t currently offered and map out how to engage with other organizations that provide those services. 💡Alternative Service Delivery: Enable partnerships by delivering your services in alternative formats. For example, our food bank is using grocery store gift cards—an untraditional approach—to collaborate with community colleges. 💡Inclusive Engagement: Engage all levels of the organization, from leadership to coordinators, in partnership development strategy. Successful partnerships thrive on collective effort and strategy across the entire team.

At the Capital Area Food Bank, we believe that food has the power to transform health. We're striving to help improve the health of the people we serve — not just through what food we provide, but also where and how we make food available, like at our food pharmacy at Children's National Hospital. Iman, a patient at the Children's diabetes clinic, says the food she receives has "drastically helped" to improve her health. By helping more of our neighbors get the food they need to manage their well-being, these programs play an important role in advancing health equity across our community. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eE9yKq5Q #foodismedicine #foodinsecurity #nutrition #healthcare

This week, the food bank lost one of its co-founders: Father Eugene Brake. The following is a statement from CAFB President and CEO Radha Muthiah on what his life meant to the CAFB and to our community. *** Statement from CEO Radha Muthiah on the Passing of Father Eugene Brake Along with so many others at the Capital Area Food Bank, I am deeply saddened at this week’s passing of Father Eugene Brake, one of the food bank’s co-founders. Father Brake, a cherished member of the CAFB community for decades, was among the interfaith leaders who recognized a growing need for emergency food in the region following significant cuts to government assistance programs in the late 1970s. With grit and determination, Father Brake and others, including CAFB’s first CEO Lynn Brantley, set to work gathering food from local grocers and growers, and distributing it to those in need. Together they laid the groundwork for CAFB to open its doors – with great intention – on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in January of 1980. Father Brake was a tireless champion for the needs of people in low-income communities. Growing up in poverty in Delaware, he later devoted his life to the service of those experiencing hunger and homelessness in the Washington region, working and often living in the places of greatest need. He was a man of great faith, and also a man of great action. Everyone in the CAFB community who knew him describes him as a person constantly on the go (Father Brake himself was fond of calling himself “Fast Brake”). In the early years of the CAFB’s founding, that meant driving around to collect food in an old pickup truck and taking it to people who needed it, sometimes fielding calls late at night from those seeking help. Later on, when the food bank had its own fleet of trucks and drivers, that meant doing whatever was needed, from painting something in the warehouse to building new desks for a reconfigured office when space was getting tight. All of this was performed with an air of cheerful urgency, a sense that whatever he was doing in that moment to support the organization’s mission could not wait. Father Brake once said “All I ever wanted was the same opportunities for everybody. That’s what drives me. It’s the very nature of Christianity.” By all accounts, that sentiment shaped every aspect of how he approached his life of service. I am incredibly proud that the passion for equity that drove Father Brake to help lead the food bank’s founding is still woven into the fabric of the organization today. His “can do” spirit, his deep commitment to the community, his fierce belief that all people deserve the same chance at a good life, and his understanding that food underpins opportunity and is one of our most essential human rights all live on thanks to his unyielding efforts. He made a profound difference for millions of people during his life, and through his legacy, he will continue to do the same.