Dearest friends and families,

Cherry blossoms are blooming, tulips are popping and spring is generally springing in the DC area. At DCFP, we’re bringing all of this beautiful new energy into our final quarter of the school year. Since you heard from us last, we have been busy solidifying partnerships for next year, arranging new Pantry Programs for schools that have been patiently waiting, and, most excitingly, EXPANDING our Share Table Program to our neighbors in Arlington County. We have also held THREE Distribution Events with our incredible volunteers, many of whom have already signed up to help June 7th as we send all essentials we can before schools close for the summer. We’d love to see your smiling faces if you are able to join - read more below!

OUR DISTRIBUTION DAYS!

Our team, along with well over 50 volunteers, have delivered thousands of boxes of much-needed food, toiletries and snacks to our partner schools throughout Washington, D.C. these past few months. We’ve also had the great fortune to be able to deliver hot meals from Support & Feed (and boy were those well received by the seniors we support!), donations from our friends at Stoddert Elementary School, DC Soccer Club and beautiful produce from our partners at Hungry Harvest. Thank you to Van Ness Feldman, Hyatt B.L.A.C.K, Hyatt Group, NTT, MITRE, DC Central Kitchen and Capital Area Food Bank, and of course our fearless volunteers who have been with us all this time. You are all amazing. We’ve tackled some very cold days, rainy days and everything in between — thank you thank you! Our next distribution is taking place on Friday, June 7th as we anticipate school closures for the summer. If you would like to join us, please sign up here!

OUR PANTRY PROGRAM

Our team is now supporting over 40 schools with an affected student population of nearly 2,300. The Pantry Program gives pre-identified students access to much-needed snacks, toiletries and meals throughout the school day, after school and over the weekends on an as needed basis. The Pantry provides on average 10 lbs of food per student per month!

SCHOOL SHOUT OUTS:

We would like to welcome the following new schools to the DC Food Project Family - we’re thrilled to be working with you!

Bancroft ES
Creative Minds PCS
iDream PCS ES
Plummer ES
Rocketship Infinity Community Prep
Simon ES
Stuart Hobson MS

WELCOMING ARLINGTON!

Our team is thrilled to be partnering with Arlington County who provided us a grant to launch Share Tables throughout 10 of their public schools. Beyond our wise words of wisdom on how this program can successfully run, we provide a rolling cart, bushel baskets, bilingual signage and educational materials to each school.

Share Tables help reduce food waste by providing a space for students to place unopened and uneaten food for others to take and ensuring that food does not end up in the trash. A vast majority of the food that the students put on the Share Table are fruits or vegetables and this has helped increase the nutritional intake for the students who choose to use the Share Table. Students also have access to the Share Table for snacks during the school day and this helps provide healthy options for students. If there is food available at the end of the day, schools are either opting to roll the cart to the school entrance for students or families to take home with them or providing the food to after school programs or extended day. It’s a win-win for all if you ask us! We’ll be a conducting a Food Waste Audit later this spring.

With that, we want to welcome the following Arlington Public Schools to our DCFP Family:

Carlin Springs
Charles Drew
Hoffman-Boston
Innovation
Jefferson
Kenmore
Long Branch
Oakridge
Randolph
Taylor ES

UPCOMING EVENTS:

June 7th: DC Food Project Pantry Pack and Deliver Volunteer Day

If you are interested in volunteering or sponsoring a school or volunteer day, please contact us here.

THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM TO YOU:

These April showers will surely bring us all of the May flowers. We’ll be back in touch as the school year ends with updates for SY 2024-25 (if you can believe it!) — until then, we wish you all of Springtimes’s best this season!

In Gratitude,
Alysa, Katie, Krista & Lucie

Welcoming Arlington and Looking Ahead!