Why I love volunteering at Food for Others . . .

I have been at Food for Others for about three years as one of our volunteers.  I will be starting my fourth year in 2020. For my first two and a half years I worked on the Power Pack Program, but now I work on both sides of the warehouse : in P3 and as

Give your freezer a makeover to reduce your food waste

How much food do you think you throw away every year? Ten pounds? Twenty pounds? The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that each American tosses out 225-290 pounds of food annually. That’s the weight of two teenagers! You can do the math – a family of four creates roughly one thousand pounds of food waste

Food for Others raising money to fund a mobile food pantry

We have an audacious goal at Food for Others this holiday season. We know that there are families in need of food that we’re not reaching, and we’re going to do something about it. We’re counting on you to help. A couple of posts ago, I wrote about the economics of living in our region

Reducing Your Refrigerated Food Waste

A lot of food goes to waste in the typical U.S. family’s kitchen. TIME reported that the average family throws away $640 worth of food every year. That’s enough to feed a family of four for a whole month! At Food for Others, it is important for us to try to reduce this waste in

A Tale of Two Counties

$114,105 is the amount that a family of four needs to earn to live comfortably in Fairfax County according to the Economic Policy Institute. $33,745 is the maximum amount a family of four can earn in Virginia and still qualify for SNAP (formerly food stamps) benefits. Do you see the gap there? In one Fairfax

Reducing food waste: It can start in our own kitchen cabinets

Reducing Food Waste: It can start in our own kitchens I really hate to throw away food. As a volunteer at Food for Others, I’m continually reminded that hunger is very real, food is not free, and each one of us can be a force for good in the fight against hunger. According to the

Wegmans Check out Hunger Campaign helps families in Northern Virginia

Wegmans in Fairfax has launched its Check out Hunger campaign benefiting Food for Others. From now through December 14, when shoppers check out at Wegmans in Fairfax, cashiers will give them the option to add a donation to Food for Others. For several years, Check out Hunger has helped Food for Others fight food insecurity

Volunteering can improve your health and lengthen your life

When people sign up to volunteer at Food for Others, they undoubtedly know the positive impact they will have on the local community. What many of our volunteers may not know is the positive impact that volunteering can have on their own mental and physical health, and that volunteering their time at FFO may even

How hunger is holding back students on college campuses

  Barely a day goes by without a mention in the news of college admission scandals, whether it’s wealthy parents bribing their child’s way in to top schools or elite universities giving preference to the children of wealthy donors. This can leave the impression that all college students are showered with large allowances and have