Food & Friends delivers thousands of Thanksgiving meals to DMV residents
Food & Friends delivers thousands of Thanksgiving meals to DMV residents
A tremendous community tradition continued in D.C. on Thanksgiving Day. Volunteers with Food & Friends, a local community-based organization, prepared and delivered thousands of Thanksgiving meals to people in the DMV who are struggling with serious illness and food insecurity.
WASHINGTON - A tremendous community tradition continued in D.C. on Thanksgiving Day. Volunteers with Food & Friends, a local community-based organization, prepared and delivered thousands of Thanksgiving meals to people in the DMV who are struggling with serious illness and food insecurity.
FOX 5’s Ayesha Khan visited the non-profit in Northeast, D.C. and went along for a delivery to learn more about the special tradition, which has been happening for more than 30 years.
The goal was to deliver more than 4000 Thanksgiving meals to about 900 families in the DMV.
Volunteers and staff worked hard for weeks to get the meals together prior to Thanksgiving. One of those volunteers, Shanika Rawlings, tells FOX 5 she was happy to do the work.
"A community is important so once you build a community, and you allow yourself opportunities to give back to your community you build a positive environment a positive world and once, you know, you continue to give, eventually you will start to receive those blessings as well," said Rawlings.
Recipients of the meals say they are appreciative for the effort.
"Getting the food is always a wonderful thing especially when friends are cooking food for you," Sherrone Polite, a recipient of a Thanksgiving meal, told FOX 5.
Polite, a former DC police officer, was left visually impared after an on the job injury years ago.
"I’m a low vision person who would need the help with preparing meals and making sure my nutrition in the home is stable so I can stay in the community," said Polite.
Food & Friends executive chef Rasheed Abdurrahman says the organization's mission has become more significant as demand for food increases in underserved communities.
"The supply chain is broken. I mean since COVID a lot of folks did not return to work and part of the problem was there weren’t people to do the job and the cost of gas went up so a lot of that reflected and went directly to the cost of food and the availability of food," Abdurrahman explains.
Food & Friends says it's mission would not be possible without the help of volunteers and the community.
To learn more about how you can volunteer with the organization click here.