Food for Others has partnered with She Believes in Me, a local organization that supports young girls, to start a food pantry at their location in Herndon.

She Believes in Me primarily works to empower and teach life skills to girls but they’ve added food distributions to their services to help families struggling as a result of the pandemic. Pre-COVID, SBIM would host in-person events with presentations and activities and send girls home with resources like emotional support items, hygiene products, or small amounts of food.

When COVID-19 spread to our region last March, SBIM began delivering emotional support packages to the girls at home. However, SBIM quickly realized that the families of the girls they serve were hit hard by the pandemic and were struggling to afford enough food.

To help these families, SBIM started delivering nonperishable foods to 90 households twice per month. Through their Liaison program, a SBIM volunteer visits a family every 2 weeks to bring food and comfort items and ask if there is anything else they need.

“We’re really unique because we have close relationships with all the families we serve,” said SBIM President Renee Gorman. “We know that the most vulnerable families do not have transportation so we deliver food to their doorstep.”

In addition to the deliveries, SBIM began working with Food for Others as one of our CARES community partners to serve 160 more families once per month with a pop-up distribution at Floris United Methodist Church.

Food for Others delivers fresh produce, milk, eggs, flour, rice, and other nonperishable items to SBIM just before the distribution and SBIM volunteers package the items into bags for each family.

SBIM recently moved their operations to a new location and decided to start a more permanent food pantry for the families they serve.

To help them make this happen, Food for Others has donated shelving and will be providing them with fresh items like produce, milk, eggs, and non- perishables on a regular basis. Our HVAC contractor, Air Engineers, generously donated 5 refrigerators/freezers to store the perishable items.

“Our partnership with Food for Others really brought us to next level answering the call for those who need for food in Herndon; not only in supply but also in the type of food,” Gorman said. “We can now provide nutritious items like milk, eggs, meat, and vegetables . . . you can see the joy on people’s faces to receive these basic staples.”

To read more about She Believes in Me, visit their website https://shebelievesinme.org/