To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Food for Neighbors carried out a now-familiar routine: the mobilization of thousands of volunteers to pick up and sort food donations left in red bags on doorsteps across Northern Virginia.
The nonprofit concluded its Red Bag collection day on Saturday (Oct. 24) with over 38,000 pounds of food heading to food pantries in 60 different area middle and high schools.
Coinciding with National Make a Difference Day, the latest round of collections pushed Food for Neighbors’ lifetime total over 850,000 pounds — and closer to reaching its current goal of 1 million pounds in the coming years.
“Ten years ago, I saw one small sign of a much bigger problem,” founder Karen Joseph said in a press release. “What has happened since is a testament to what we can accomplish when a community comes together. Thousands of neighbors have stepped up to help students get the food they need to learn, grow, and succeed. That’s what making a difference is all about.”
A Reston resident, Joseph was serving as the PTA president at Herndon Middle School, which her son attended, in 2016 when she learned that students were routinely taking snacks from a teacher’s desk.
When the teacher explained that she kept food on hand so students could focus on learning instead of their hunger, Joseph was confronted with the realization that many of her son’s classmates experienced food insecurity, despite Fairfax County’s overall wealth.
“It was hard to believe that children were going hungry in our community,” she recalled. “I knew we had to do something.”
That “something” became Food for Neighbors, which provides interested community members with a red bag and a grocery list of food and drinks they can purchase for donation. The bags are then picked up by volunteers on scheduled collection days and sorted for distribution to participating schools.
Initially focused on Herndon middle and high schools, where it served approximately 60 families, the program expanded quickly, reaching eight Fairfax County and two Loudoun County schools within just two years. It now supports food pantries at 60 schools in Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington County and Falls Church City that feed approximately 12,000 students when they don’t have access to school meals.
In Fairfax, Food for Neighbors serves 40 schools from Centreville and Herndon to McLean, Annandale, Fort Hunt, Springfield, Fairfax City and South County. Its Red Bag Program has also evolved to collect hygiene items, including toothbrushes, deodorant, menstrual pads, soap and Ziploc bags, in addition to food.
The nonprofit’s efforts to address teen hunger and other needs were recognized earlier this month by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors with a resolution in honor of its 10th anniversary.
“The need is real — and so is the group’s impact,” supervisors Jimmy Bierman (Dranesville District) and Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill District) said when requesting the resolution at the board’s Oct. 13 meeting. “… Last year alone, they collected 151,765 pounds of food with 3,400 donors registered with the pantry’s signature Red Bag Program.”
Alcorn and Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik officially presented the resolution to Joseph on Saturday at Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield, one of 10 locations around Northern Virginia where volunteers gathered to sort donations.
At Luther Jackson alone, volunteers sorted roughly 6,000 pounds of food that filled over 250 bins, according to Alcorn’s office.
“Everybody who’s here today volunteering, it really shows what we as community can do,” he said in a press release.
According to Food for Neighbors, more than one in three Fairfax County Public Schools students and nearly one in four Loudoun County Public Schools students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals.
In the D.C. region as a whole, food insecurity remains elevated post-pandemic, with 38% of households experiencing uncertainty or difficulties obtaining the food they need within the past year — a 2% increase from last year, the Capital Area Food Bank found in its 2026 Hunger Report, released on Sept. 15.
According to the report, 42% of food-insecure households have children, and 44% reported that their financial situation has worsened over the past year, reflecting in part the impacts that federal budget and workforce cuts have had on the region.
In Fairfax County, 27% of households reported experiencing food insecurity, matching the high mark from 2024 for the five years since the Capital Area Food Bank introduced its survey in 2022.
Despite the scope of the challenges it faces, Food for Neighbors says it’s already looking ahead to its next Red Bag collection day, which is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2027. The nonprofit typically holds five collection days a year.
“Food For Neighbors is a wonderful example of what is possible when a community comes together to support the power and promise of public education,” FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid said at the Luther Jackson sorting event. “What began with just 20 volunteers has grown into an extraordinary partnership supporting 12,000 students across 60 schools. Their commitment reminds us that by supporting our students, we strengthen the future of our entire community.”
