Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network
P.O. Box 937, Verona, VA 24482
800-296-FOOD (3663)

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network (BRAFBN) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit Virginia corporation. Established in 1981 to help feed hungry people in our community, the Food Bank has distributed over 86 million pounds of food throughout our service area. Our service area includes nine cities and 25 counties, and we have four area branches. These branches include the Shenandoah Valley Branch in Verona; Lord Fairfax Area Branch in Winchester; Thomas Jefferson Area Branch in Charlottesville; and the Lynchburg Area Branch in Lynchburg.

BRAFBN is one of over 200 regional member food banks and food rescue programs of Feeding America®, the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization.

Visit the BRAFBN web site >

Branch Locations:

Lord Fairfax Area Food Bank
1802 Roberts Street
Winchester, VA 22604
(540) 665-0770

Thomas Jefferson Area Food Bank
1207 Harris Street
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6415
(434) 296-3663

Lynchburg Area Food Bank
501 12th Street, Suite B
Lynchburg, VA 24504
(434) 845-4099

Capital Area Food Bank

The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest, public nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Each year the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including 6 million pounds of fresh produce through over 700 member agencies. The Capital Area Food Bank was founded on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, January 15, 1980. In 2005, the CAFB is celebrated 25 years of nourishing the National Capital region.

In addition to food distribution, the CAFB has several community-building initiatives including Kids Café, Food For Kids, Face Hunger, The Anacostia Farmers Market, From the Ground Up, Sister Hook-Up, Produce for People, the Brown Bag Program and others.

Visit the web CAFB site >

Headquarters:
645 Taylor Street NE
Washington, DC 20017
(202) 526-5344

VA Branch:
6833 Hill Park Road
Lorton, Virginia 22079
(703) 541-3063

Central Virginia Foodbank

The Central Virginia Foodbank (CVFB) was founded in 1980 to procure and distribute food efficiently and effectively to feeding programs throughout the area. Since then, the Central Virginia Foodbank service area has grown to include 31 counties and six cities in the Central Virginia region. Presently, we distribute food through a network of almost 550 network partner agencies, which includes more than 100 childcare providers serving needy children. In addition, we serve as many as 2,500 daily meals in the summer and 1,500 daily meals during the school year to needy children through our 40 Kids Cafe programs.

The amount of food we distribute has steadily grown over the years. In fiscal year 2004-2005, we distributed more than 11.3 million pounds of food to the hungry. We received donated food from food manufacturers and grocers, the USDA, community and company food drives, and from individual donations of food and money. In fiscal year 2004-2005, food drives provided more than 961,000 pounds of food.

The people who receive Foodbank food are among our society's most vulnerable people:

• 50% Children who live in poverty or who are victims of disasters.
• 37% Adults - the working poor, disabled, homeless, unemployed, or mentally ill.
• 13% Elderly people struggling to survive on limited incomes - and to pay for medicine.

While our primary focus is "that none shall go hungry," we are also working hard to raise awareness of hunger issues in Central Virginia through various events scheduled throughout the year.

Visit the CVFB web site >

1415 Rhoadmiller Street
Richmond, Virginia 23220
(804) 521-2500

Fredericksburg Area Food Bank

The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank was incorporated in 1982 as the Fredericksburg Area Food Relief Clearinghouse. The original concept was for the organization to feed hungry families and individuals throughout Planning District 16 (the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George, Caroline and the City of Fredericksburg). The idea involved obtaining surplus food through retail and wholesale food outlets and then redistributing the food to the hungry. The first full- scale food pantry was opened at 304 George Street in Fredericksburg during the winter of 1981-1982. In the first winter of operation the facility distributed 13,000 pounds of food to the needy.

The 28 founding members of the Food Relief Clearinghouse included many of the downtown churches, welfare agencies, domestic violence shelters, and community homes. In the mid-1980's, the pantry eventually outgrew its downtown location and rented a warehouse on Little Page Street. It became affiliated with the Central Virginia Food Bank in Richmond, Virginia. This affiliation increased the variety of foods available at the clearinghouse. Further expansion occurred in 1991 when the clearinghouse once again relocated to 310 Central Road in the Fredericksburg Industrial Park.

In 1993 it was evident that the food relief clearinghouse had grown so substantially that a new warehouse was needed. The Board of Directors spearheaded a capital works project and completed a warehouse in June of 1994. The Fredericksburg Area Food Relief Clearinghouse moved into its new facility in the summer of 1994. Food distribution had increased to 500,000 pounds annually. In the spring of 1995, the Fredericksburg Area Food Relief Clearinghouse changed its name to the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and became a certified affiliate member of Second Harvest Food Bank Network. This affiliation brought many strategic advantages to the Food Bank. The Second Harvest Food Bank Network, currently known as America's Second Harvest, is the single largest domestic feeding organization in the United States. It is comprised of over 200 food banks and 30,000 food pantries nationwide.

Fredericksburg Area Food Bank located at 1327 Alum Spring Road operates a 9,000 square foot warehouse. It contains an additional 4,000 cubic foot of freezer space. The size of the warehouse and the affiliation with America's Second Harvest increased tremendously the amount and variety of food now available at the food bank. Food distribution grew to over 1 million pounds within 18 months and peaked at 1.4 million pounds in 2000.

Visit the FAFB web site >

1327 Alum Springs Road
Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401
(540) 371-7666

Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula

The mission of the Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula is to distribute food effectively through collaborative efforts that minimize hunger, promote nutrition and self-reliance through education.

Goals:

• Ensure future capability to acquire, store and distribute food for those in need within our community.
• Secure sufficient funding to sustain operations.
• Recruit, develop and maintain the most qualified and committed people as personnel and board members.
• Collaborate with agencies and other organizations to provide food for those in need.
• Educate the community about the problem of hunger, basic nutrition, safe food handling and self-reliance.

Visit the web site >

9912 Hosier St.
Newport News, Virginia 23601
(757) 596-7188

Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia

The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia (FSEVA) operates the following programs with the hope of ending hunger and economic disparity:

Warehouse Distribution Program: Except for USDA commodities, this program includes all food and grocery products from food drives, purchases, and donations from manufacturers and supermarkets. This is the heart of the Foodbank - where millions of pounds of food are sorted, boxed, and delivered to more than 600 partner agencies.

USDA Commodities: FSEVA is a State of Virginia contractor for the distribution of USDA commodities to designated agencies. This source of food includes quality meats, fish, canned and packaged fruits and vegetables, rice, beans, pasta, and peanut butter.

Fresh Food Initiative: This is an effort to collect prepared and perishable food from over 100 area restaurants, hotels, caterers, country clubs, and hospitals to distribute immediately to the hungry at on-site feeding agencies.

Kids Cafe: FSEVA has established 25 Kids Cafes, wonderful after-school feeding programs for disadvantaged latchkey children. Because FSEVA's Kids Cafes are conveniently located in low-income neighborhoods, participating children can walk or bicycle to these sites after school. Over 70,000 children in FSEVA's area receive free or reduced school lunches - a reliable indicator that hunger and food insecurity regularly threaten their respective lives.

Senior Supplement Food Program: Like childhood hunger, hunger experienced by seniors can have a lasting and life-altering effect. Each month, FSEVA provides low-income seniors with highly nutritious food items, particularly towards the end of the month when most food budgets are low or depleted.

Justine's Clothes Bank and Tasley Thrift Store: FSEVA's clothes bank distributes new clothing to the poor and to agencies serving the poor. FSEVA's Foodbank on the Eastern Shore also operates a thrift store to meet the needs of the area's poor and to generate modest income for the Foodbank.

Plant-A-Row for the Hungry Program: Through a working partnership with the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, local gardeners are encouraged to plant an extra row of produce and contribute that part of their harvest to FSEVA and its member agencies to use in their feeding programs.

Community Gardens: A terrific source of vitamins and an alternative to processed foods, Community Gardens are promoted in areas of low-income housing. FSEVA serves as a mentor to the residents of the communities to plan, plant, care for, and harvest a garden that is shared by everyone who participates.

Visit the web site >

800 Tidewater Drive
Norfolk, Virginia 23504
757-627-6599
800-253-7842

Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank
1025 Electric Road, Salem, Virginia 24153
(540) 342-3011

Since 1981, the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank has provided millions of pounds of food and related product to approximately 350 partner agencies that directly serve the families and individuals in need of emergency food assistance. Without the Food Bank's distribution program there would be severe and detrimental effects on the types and qualities of services that our partner agencies provide the thousands of disadvantaged families and individuals living in our communities.

The Food Bank does not directly distribute food to those families and individuals in need of food assistance but, instead, acts as a distribution center to locate, transport, store and distribute the food to our partner agencies that do.

Our partner agencies include non-profit food pantries, children's feeding programs, shelters, soup kitchens, and elderly care facilities. These partner agencies rely on the Food Bank to provide them with the large quantities of food to which they may not otherwise have access.

Visit the SVSHFB web site >

Branch Locations:

Southwestern Virginia Alleghany Highlands Branch
118 South Lexington Avenue
Covington, Virginia 24426
(540) 962-6328 Ext. 23

Southwestern Virginia Appalachian Branch
126 Russell Avenue
Abingdon, Virginia 24212
(276) 628-9266