Food security in Washington, DC

If I were to pick a single fact that jumps out at me regarding food security in Washington, DC, and the metro area, it would be this stat from the Capital Area Foodbank: "In the Washington Metro Area, more than 633,000 residents are at risk
of or experiencing hunger; 200,000 are children."

Actually, growing up, there was a period where my mother sometimes had to make choices between paying the bills on time and buying less food. We were extremely fortunate, and we got a lot of assistance from food pantries, and actually, maybe just out of luck, we were well-known members at two churches and close family friends with the minister of a third, so while some months I would perpetually feel that there was 'no food in the house' and sometimes would make a meal of left-over slimfast that belonged to a nanny we'd had years before, or put 1500 calories worth of Tang in a blender with ice and water. At least halfway that was just being young and not concerned with nutrition or a balanced diet--but at least partly it had to do with there occasionally being no food in the house. We also lived in a rich neighborhood where I and my siblings adapted by spending extra time at our friends houses, and making sure to raid the fridge--I'd make a beeline for things like cottage cheese or OJ, and now that I'm living on my own, I pretty much insist on having OJ in the house all the time. It makes me feel wealthy and secure.

Anyway, to help out with food security in DC, just to try something out without procrastinating, I went to a 'Food For All' volunteer hour in Colombia Heights, and helped pack boxes of food for distribution. There were so many people (about 100) that the task was done in about half an hour. I enjoyed the experience, but I would have been quite happy to spend a few hours or more, and I felt that I would have preferred to volunteer in a place where my service was actually needed. Somewhere in DC, right now, someone is probably eating breakfast from one of the boxes I helped pack--but they would have gotten the box anyway, and all across DC are people who don't have enough.

I know that extra people make light work, and that my extra set of hands made the job go just that much quicker and hopefully that much more energizing for the other volunteers. Plus I can't expect any better an experience with a walk-on volunteer event. But I am now resolved to find ways to connect better with the actual problem of food security (and whatever volunteer work I do), so I can make a larger difference.

For example, I was really excited to hear that they needed all the people they could find to actually drive the boxes to the people receiving them, and a navigator for each car. That would have improved my experience a lot--but actually they had enough, and I instead ended up buying an overpriced waffle at a nearby diner with a friend.