COVID-19 update 2

March 19, 2020

We are continuing to see families in need at all our food distribution sites and we are committed to staying open during this critical time. With news of local restaurants and businesses shutting down for the near future, we expect to see those who are surviving paycheck to paycheck at our doors seeking help.

The safety of our families, volunteers, and staff is paramount. We are following recommendations given by the CDC, state, and local agencies. We are also instituting social distancing by allowing fewer families in at a time in our waiting room and have markers outside where people should stand six feet apart from each other while waiting in our lines.

To streamline our operations to keep everyone safe, we will be modifying our food distribution hours at our Nelson St. location starting on Monday, March 23:

  • Monday – Friday, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm
  • Saturday, 9:00 – 11:00 am

By expanding our weekday hours, this will reduce the sizes of our lines as families have more time to come pick up groceries at our facility. We will not have evening distributions until further notice. Current clients are being notified of the changes so they can plan accordingly.

We are also working closely with the Aging & Disability Services Division in Arlington County so they can aid the most vulnerable clients with home deliveries. For more information, please visit our resources page.

Food donations from our local grocery stores have dropped dramatically. To make up for the loss of food, we have increased the volume of our food purchasing orders. We are asking the community to help us fill our food needs in these two ways:

  • Donate money. Funds raised will go towards our food budget so we can continue to get wholesale prices directly from food vendors.
  • You can also host community food drives. We are in need of nonperishable cans. Visit our food drive page for more information and for drop off locations.

Questions? Here are a list of contacts:

If you don’t hear from us immediately, please be patient and we’ll get back to you as we can.

Thank you all for the outpouring of support. Together, we will be able to get through this ordeal as a community.Charles Meng
Executive Director & CEO