Volunteer AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Hunger is closer than you think. Right now, students in your local schools are struggling with food insecurity, unsure where their next meal will come from. At Food For Neighbors, we believe every student deserves access to nutritious food, and with your help, we can make that happen. As a volunteer or food donor (or both!), you can make a difference!

Sign Up to Volunteer
Sign Up to Donate Food

How You Can Help

Whether you have a few hours a month or just one morning to spare, there’s a way for you to get involved. Volunteers are the heart of our program, and there are many ways to make an impact.

BE A VOLUNTEER AT A RED BAG EVENT

We host five Saturday events throughout the school year and need volunteers to help with food pickup and delivery to schools, as well as sorting and organizing items into bins for school pantries. It’s easy to get started!

BE A RED BAG FOOD DONOR

Donate nonperishable food right from your doorstep with the Red Bag Program.

PARTNER WITH US

No matter the size of your organization, when we work together as a team, we can make a big impact—through group volunteering, food drives, fundraisers, or financial partnerships.

ADVOCATE

Be a voice for change by advocating for food security in your community—spread awareness, inspire action, and help ensure that no student goes hungry.

Volunteer WITH a Group or Team

Volunteering is even more rewarding when you do it together! Whether you’re a business, school group, community organization, or friends, joining forces with Food for Neighbors creates a powerful impact. Team volunteering strengthens bonds, gives back, and drives positive change. From sorting and distributing food to organizing donation drives, there are many ways to get involved!

Let’s Get Started!

Why Volunteer?

By giving just a little of your time, you can make a huge difference in the lives of local teens.

Volunteer to Fight Teen Hunger through our Red Bag Program

Make a Direct Impact: Help local students facing food insecurity by ensuring they have access to nutritious food, reducing stress, and improving focus.

Join a Caring Community: Connect with others who are passionate about making a difference while building friendships and purpose.

Inspire Change: Raise awareness and encourage action, creating a ripple effect of kindness in your community.

Volunteer to Fight Teen Hunger through the Red Bag Program

Make a Direct Impact on Local Students

Many students in our communities face food insecurity, and volunteering with Food For Neighbors helps ensure they have access to nutritious food, reducing stress and improving their ability to focus on school.

Volunteer to Fight Teen Hunger through the Red Bag Program

Be Part of a Caring Community

Volunteering connects you with others who are passionate about making a difference, fostering friendships and a strong sense of purpose.

Volunteer to Fight Teen Hunger as a driver through the Red Bag Program

Inspire Positive Change

By volunteering, you help raise awareness about food insecurity in your community and encourage others to take action, creating a ripple effect of kindness and support.

“Volunteering with Food for Neighbors is so rewarding because we get to directly support teens…who are facing food insecurity. The Red Bag Program is an amazing way to bring the community together to donate food, and the energy from volunteers at the sorting site is truly inspiring. Visiting the schools we support and hearing from social workers or family liaisons about how we’re making a real difference for teens and families makes it all so worth it!” – FFN Area Manager

DOES YOUR COMPANY OFFER matching grants for volunteering?

Did you know your time can make an even bigger impact? Many companies offer volunteer grant programs, where they donate money to organizations like ours in recognition of your volunteer hours. That means the time you already spend helping can directly support our mission even more—at no extra cost to you!

Search for your employer to see if they offer a volunteer grant program and turn your time into funding for our cause.

Students Welcome!

Earn Community Service Hours

Students ages 9 and up are always welcome to volunteer at Food For Neighbors! For community service credit, visit our volunteer table at the event—just snap a picture of the instructions for easy reference. Questions? Contact us!

Contact Us

“Food insecurity affects students–our peers–directly. We know we are privileged at our school so we want to help out others. We want to give back to the community.” – High School Volunteer

Volunteer FAQs

Sorter FAQs

A typical food-sorting event lasts about three hours on a Saturday morning, the same day we pick up donations. We host five events each school year (on Saturdays). The fast pace makes the time fly, and before you know it, you’ll have helped receive and distribute food to local teens in your community!

Volunteer tasks include:

  • take pictures during the event
  • help set-up and clean-up
  • help coordinate the volunteers and drivers as they arrive
  • unload vehicles
  • empty Red Bags
  • sort food
  • organize the empty bags for the next event
  • move filled bins

Volunteers helping with event setup arrive at 8:30am to arrange tables, get bins, hang signs, etc. All other volunteers arrive before 9:30am. Upon arrival, check in at the volunteer table where a Greeter will explain the various jobs. Volunteers unload Red Bags from arriving vehicles and sort food into large bins. These bins are later transported to school pantries. Some positions require heavy lifting, but there are plenty of other tasks available for all ages. You’ll be amazed at how quickly a focused group can collect and sort so much food!

A lot of them! Each sorting site requires about 30-60 volunteers. It takes a lot of volunteers, but with everyone participating, we are done before it’s time for lunch!

Yes. This is a family event and students as young as nine will enjoy sorting, but student volunteers under 18 yrs old must be accompanied/supervised by their parent or an authorized designee with a signed permission form.

Please note: A student permission form is required for each event.

Yes! Food For Neighbors is a great way to get those community service hours for school. Just ask about this at our event welcome table, and they will direct you to the right person to sign your paperwork. Or you can contact us for help.

Our sign up emails are sent about 14 days before each event. If you have not been receiving them and you have signed up to be a volunteer, please try adding info@SignUpGenius.com to your address book/contact list so your email provider can identify them as an acceptable email and not spam or junk.

If you are still not getting the emails, this may be because your email provider is blocking the emails from ever getting to your account. If adding them to your address book doesn’t work, you should contact your email provider for more information. We have found this to be the case with a lot of hotmail email addresses. If you choose to use a different email for your SUG account, please contact us to make this change in our database.

If you need to update your contact information or make any changes to your status, please contact us.

If you are interested in being a volunteer, please complete a volunteer form (and check Volunteer Sorter). We will add you to our volunteer database. About two weeks before an event, you will receive an email inviting you to sign up (please check your SPAM folder if you do not receive the Sign Up Genius). You do not have to participate at every event. If you miss an event, no worries! We’ll keep you in the database and you’ll be notified next time.

Driver FAQs

Red Bag pickups start promptly at 8:45am on Saturday mornings. We’ll provide a route that ends at a nearby sorting site, and you’ll typically finish within 90-120 minutes. Once you commit to a Red Bag Day event, we’ll email you training materials. We host five events each school year (on Saturdays). You’re not committed to every event—before each one, we’ll text you to check your availability.

No problem. We have extra drivers to fill in when someone is not available.

A group of volunteers unloads your vehicle while you check in with the Driver Coordinator. Turn in your scale, door hangers and extra Red Bags.

Drivers need a mobile phone to receive text messages and download the routing app. Your vehicle should be large enough to carry 20-25 full Red Bags.

We also recommend you have 1-2 “driver helpers” to collect, weigh, and record donations in the app. Many of our current volunteers are families, with one parent driving and family members assisting as the team.

We’ll send you our driver training materials with instructions to review.

No, these two things are happening simultaneously.

Our driver availability surveys are sent about 21 days before each event and then training materials are emailed about 10 days before each event. If you have not been receiving them, check your message app to confirm you’ve received the first text from us and that you replied “Yes” to give us permission to text you.

If you are interested in being a driver, please complete a volunteer form (and check Volunteer Driver). We will add you to our driver list and contact you closer to the next event.

If you need to update your contact information or make any changes to your status, please contact us.

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Located in Northern Virginia.

Serving middle and high schools in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.

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© 2025 Food For Neighbors // Food for Neighbors® is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) public charity and your donation is tax-deductible under U.S. tax law. To claim a donation as an itemized deduction on your taxes, please keep your email donation receipt that we will send you. Any funds raised in excess of our goal for any particular project will be automatically applied to the other ongoing work of Food For Neighbors.