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We are committed to ending teen hunger in Northern Virginia by raising awareness and inspiring community action. When people understand the need, they step up—because no teen should ever go hungry.

Our vision is a community where every child has reliable access to nutritious food, supported by neighbors who care and take action to end childhood hunger.

Perfect for events, interviews, or everyday conversations about Food For Neighbors:

• More than 1 in 4 students in our area faces food insecurity. We’re working to change that by partnering with middle and high schools across Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties.

• More than 3,800 volunteers help us sort, pack, and deliver food to schools—it only takes a few hours to make a big difference. (As of July 1, 2025)

• Over 3,400 households participate in our Red Bag Program, filling a bag with shelf-stable food just five times a year. (As of July 1, 2025)

• At a single Red Bag collection event, we typically see over 2,100 households donating food and 800+ volunteers showing up to help.

Food For Neighbors understands the value in helping middle and high school students obtain a more reliable source of food for their next meal. The schools we partner with attest to the positive impact our programs are having on their students. With the support of local donors, volunteers and businesses, we are committed to ending hunger in all of Northern Virginia to help give all students a chance to succeed.

The Red Bag Program is part of a movement to collect and distribute weekend food to middle and high school students who struggle with hunger. It’s neighbors helping neighbors throughout Northern Virginia. Five times a year, donors fill our Red Bags with food and toiletries and leave them on their doorsteps for collection. Volunteers pick up the bags, sort the donations, and deliver them to partnering schools, where staff connect the vital resources with students in need. Learn more in this video about the Red Bag Program: https://youtu.be/SIIv_CBUE8w

For the most vulnerable students, we also offer interested schools grocery store gift cards throughout the school year, with larger numbers provided before Thanksgiving and Winter Break. Complementing the shelf-stable food from the Red Bag Program, the gift cards enable students and their families to shop for their most-needed food, like fresh fruits and vegetables. As school populations are very diverse, the gift cards also respect the need for families to select food that meets their cultural, religious, and situational needs. 

In addition to providing food and toiletries, we help schools establish in-house pantries by supplying shelving and/or storage cabinets.

In Northern Virginia, several nonprofits support elementary school children, but Food For Neighbors is the only one focusing solely on providing reliable, supplemental food to the older middle and high school students, who are just as hungry.

Food For Neighbors makes a point of helping food-insecure teens by working closely with secondary schools, where we help establish in-house pantries and fill them with food and toiletries.

Social workers and other staff identify students in need, build relationships with them, and easily connect them with these resources, as well as our grocery store gift cards.

The supplemental nutrition supports students at times, like weekends, when they lack access to school meals. School staff believe the food helps students attend school more regularly, focus on their studies, and earn better grades.

Food For Neighbors (FFN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to end child hunger in Northern Virginia. Focusing on the otherwise underserved teen population, FFN raises awareness, mobilizes communities, and partners with local secondary schools to connect supplemental food, toiletries, and/or grocery gift card resources with students in need.

What began in 2016 as a handful of volunteers helping students at Herndon Middle School and Herndon High School has grown into a fully engaged and diverse team of energetic community members, schools, organizations, and businesses sharing their strengths and resources to make a difference. With over 3,300 food and toiletry donors and more than 3,800 volunteers, FFN is partnering with 53 secondary schools in Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties to help approximately 10,000 students.

Heartfelt testimonials and survey feedback reflect that, among many other positive impacts, the reliable and easily accessible supplemental food resources help students attend school more regularly, focus on their schoolwork, and earn better grades. These outcomes give students a better chance to reach their full potential, where they have increased economic mobility and can contribute to society in a number of ways. This lifts up the students, their families, and the community as a whole.