So Begins Another Busy Day...
They're a family of trucks--a tractor-trailer in the first loading dock, a box truck in the second, a van in the third. The first vehicle is delivering food. The other two are picking it up. Three more trucks are waiting in the alley.
Meanwhile, on the warehouse floor, forklifts zoom around and volunteers stack cans of peas. And out front, a hungry man loiters and lingers, hoping for food.
So begins another busy day at the Washington area's largest food dispensary, the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB).
United Way of the National Capital Area has supported CAFB since it opened nearly 30 years ago. But the need in late 2009 is greater than ever, according to CEO Lynn Brantley.
"I'm worried," she said, in an interview in her office last Friday. "How are we going to meet our ongoing need? People are losing jobs. Our agencies are seeing a 30-to-200 percent increase [in demand for food]. I've never seen a time like this."
According to Brantley, the surge in demand comes from people who have never sought free food before. "We're hearing from attorneys who say, 'I lost my job. I used to contribute to you. Where do I go for help?'," she said. The Food Bank expects to have distributed 25 million pounds of food by the time 2009 ends. That's the largest one-year total in CAFB's history.
CAFB does not hand out food at its headquarters on Taylor Street NE. It collects food from donors and distributes it to more than 700 nonprofit partner agencies around the metropolitan area. More than 380,000 people will have been fed by a CAFB partner agency in 2009, including more than 2,000 children a day.
CAFB is no longer a mini-storefront operation. Its budget for the current fiscal year is $10.8 million. It employs more than 80 people at its warehouse. It expects to move to a new headquarters on Puerto Rico Avenue NE in 2010, which will increase both its budget and its number of employees.
United Way donors contributed $30,900 to CAFB in the last full fiscal year. That's a relatively small sum. Yet each dollar contributed to CAFB buys three meals for one person, Lynn Brantley said. "Every dollar makes a big difference," she said.
The first thing a visitor sees on CAFB's front door is a sticker that reads: UNITED WAY.
"I've always been a proponent of United Way," said Lynn Brantley. "We as a community have to pull together, and United Way is a critical way to do that."
Meanwhile, on the warehouse floor, forklifts zoom around and volunteers stack cans of peas. And out front, a hungry man loiters and lingers, hoping for food.
So begins another busy day at the Washington area's largest food dispensary, the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB).
United Way of the National Capital Area has supported CAFB since it opened nearly 30 years ago. But the need in late 2009 is greater than ever, according to CEO Lynn Brantley.
"I'm worried," she said, in an interview in her office last Friday. "How are we going to meet our ongoing need? People are losing jobs. Our agencies are seeing a 30-to-200 percent increase [in demand for food]. I've never seen a time like this."
According to Brantley, the surge in demand comes from people who have never sought free food before. "We're hearing from attorneys who say, 'I lost my job. I used to contribute to you. Where do I go for help?'," she said. The Food Bank expects to have distributed 25 million pounds of food by the time 2009 ends. That's the largest one-year total in CAFB's history.
CAFB does not hand out food at its headquarters on Taylor Street NE. It collects food from donors and distributes it to more than 700 nonprofit partner agencies around the metropolitan area. More than 380,000 people will have been fed by a CAFB partner agency in 2009, including more than 2,000 children a day.
CAFB is no longer a mini-storefront operation. Its budget for the current fiscal year is $10.8 million. It employs more than 80 people at its warehouse. It expects to move to a new headquarters on Puerto Rico Avenue NE in 2010, which will increase both its budget and its number of employees.
United Way donors contributed $30,900 to CAFB in the last full fiscal year. That's a relatively small sum. Yet each dollar contributed to CAFB buys three meals for one person, Lynn Brantley said. "Every dollar makes a big difference," she said.
The first thing a visitor sees on CAFB's front door is a sticker that reads: UNITED WAY.
"I've always been a proponent of United Way," said Lynn Brantley. "We as a community have to pull together, and United Way is a critical way to do that."
posted by Bob Levey's United Way at
7:00 AM
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