Board Matter Oct. 13, 2026

With Supervisor James Bierman

Background: Food for Neighbors will celebrate its Diamond Anniversary this month, and this nonprofit pantry makes a profound difference for local teens in our community facing food insecurity.

Unlike traditional pantries, Food for Neighbors focuses on feeding middle and high school students during weekends and holidays. Founded by Hunter Mill resident Karen Joseph, the organization began by assisting 60 families at Herndon Middle School and Herndon High School in Fairfax County. Today, the pantry serves more than 12,000 students at 60 schools across four public school districts: Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudoun Counties and the City of Falls Church. 

The need is real—and so is the group’s impact. In Fairfax County, more than 64,000 children — or more than one in three — qualify for free and reduced-price meals. To provide meals after school hours, Food for Neighbors offers meals for students at 40 middle and high schools in the county, and since the group’s founding, it has distributed more than 850,000 pounds of food. Last year alone, they collected 151,765 pounds of food with 3,400 donors registered with the pantry’s signature Red Bag Program.

Five times during the school year, Food for Neighbors collects non-perishable food and toiletries from donors who leave items in the branded red bags. Volunteers pick up these bags from a donor’s front door after which the food is sorted and delivered to schools to be discretely given to students in need.

Food for Neighbors will once again collect Red Bag donations on October 24, and I encourage everyone to request a bag today. It will be delivered to you to fill with nourishing foods. As the pantry celebrates a decade of giving back, they invite everyone to help with a goal of doubling the number of Red Bag donors this year.

Motion: Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I ask without objection that the Office of Public Affairs prepare a resolution to recognize Food for Neighbors’ 10th anniversary to be presented out of the board room on October 24, 2026.