Helping the Hungry in the Snowpocalypse

[Cross-posted from DC Food For All]

Last week, Bread for the City's two centers were slammed with people coming to beat the snowstorm and pick up supplies of food. (We provide our clients with one package of three days worth of food per month.) As a result, this week is very quiet in our offices.

So we checked in with our fellow organizations to see what is happening. First and foremost, we are concerned about elderly and home-bound people - for whom this isn't just an inconvenience, but a real crisis!

Some good news from Food & Friends -- which delivers meals to people living withHIV/AIDS and other challenging illnessess. They have not missed delivering a single meal to our clients facing life-challenging illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancer, so far.



However, with more snow predicted, they need more help!

We seek delivery volunteers, especially those with 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Food & Friends needs 11 volunteers at 10 a.m. and 33 volunteers at 12 noon to deliver meals to our clients. Each route should take less than 3 hours, and we will provide detailed delivery directions to allow you to help us ensure that those in need are served in this challenging weather emergency. Sign-Up Via Email here.

Other good news from Miriam's Kitchen, which is not only open but also just recently started serving dinner. (More on that development here on the DC Food For All soon....):

We are lucky to have a tremendous core of volunteers that allow us to open no matter the situation. In fact, in our 27 years of service, we have NEVER had to close. Today at breakfast we served 106 homeless men and women, and we expect about the same for dinner tonight.

And the DC Central Kitchen has been working overdrive to make the food that way-over-capacity shelters are serving.

During this week's record snowstorm, the Kitchen not only produced its scheduled 4,000 meals per day, its dedicated staff, volunteers and trainees were able to produce an additional 2,500 meals per day, over the last five days, assuring that men and women who were trapped in local shelters were provided with healthy and hearty breakfast, lunch and dinners.

Jerald Thomas, the Kitchen's Executive Chef: "Volunteers and local chefs have been walking in to help. Just today, chefs from Café Atlántico walked over to lend a hand. We also got a $2,000 cake donated when a wedding was canceled. The outpouring of time and talent is amazing."

Of course, this was a difficult situation before the second wave of snow that is scheduled to arrive in just a few hours. We're going to be on the look out for important stories and opportunities for people to help out - please share what you know in the comments.

In the meantime, for anyone who is searching for hot meals or other supplies in your area, check out the DC Food Finder to get a comprehensive list of places to start calling. Good luck and stay safe out there!