Food & Friends’ COVID-19 Response

Starting July 1, 2021, Food & Friends will only allow fully vaccinated volunteers who have submitted proof of vaccination to our Human Resources team. Please see our Volunteer Vaccine Policy for more details.

How You Can Help

Volunteer

Deliver meals – Sign-up as a delivery volunteer. We’re practicing no-contact deliveries and are staggering food pickups outside to minimize person-to-person interaction.

Kitchen volunteering – We can safely accommodate individuals and groups (up to 6 people) to help with meal preparation and packing. You will be asked to adhere to our social distancing and mask rules to maintain a safe working environment. Starting July 1, when all volunteers are vaccinated, we will no longer require social distancing and mask-wearing.

You can sign up for shifts through VolunteerHub. New volunteers must complete a free background check and online orientation before signing up for a shift. 

Donate

Please donate. Your gift will help provide home-delivered nutritious meals to vulnerable individuals through this pandemic and beyond.

Start Your Own Fundraiser

Using Facebook for birthday fundraisers or Food & Friends’ easy, do-it-yourself fundraising platform, you can create and personalize your own fundraising page. This is a great way to virtually come together with your friends and family to raise awareness and support of a cause you care about. We’ll provide plenty of help and resources to make it simple.

Go to www.foodandfriends.org/fundraise or contact Sophia Black, Special Events Manager at sblack@foodandfriends.org.

Service Updates

Home-Delivered Meals will be delivered once a week for the foreseeable future, rather than the prior 3-times per week schedule. Clients will still receive 18 meals per week and we continue to use our 11 specialized meal plans.

Groceries-to-Go clients will remain on their usual bi-weekly schedule, though some delivery dates have shifted.

Have a service question? Call (202) 269-6820.

If you are not eligible for Food & Friends’ service but need food assistance, please call 1-800-349-8323 (Washington, DC);
240-777-1755 (Montgomery County, MD); or 301-883-6627 (Prince George’s County, MD).

In The News

“How Food & Friends meets increased food demand from those at highest risk of coronavirus” by John Domen, WTOP News, April 17, 2020

“AIDS Services Know How to Love in a Plague” by John-Manuel Andriote, NextAvenue, April 17, 2020

“At US food banks, a cupboard increasingly bare” by Cyril Julien, AFP, April 2, 2020

“Volunteering and coronavirus: When helping people could mean putting them at risk” by Jessica Contrera and Ian Shapira, The Washington Post, March 17, 2020

“Food & Friends will continue making deliveries, despite COVID-19 pandemic” by John Riley, MetroWeekly, March 12, 2020