Blue Ridge Area Food Bank celebrates 40 years with fund, food drive

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is hosting its first-ever region-wide campaign called Unity in Community Food & Fund Drive.

The event’s aim is to re-engage individuals and groups in all 25 counties and eight cities served by the Food Bank. The ambitious goal in honor of the Food Bank’s 40th anniversary is to collect enough in financial and food donations to provide 400,000 meals for families in need of food assistance.

One out of 12 adults and children in the Blue Ridge area is food insecure.

Beginning Aug. 7-14, community supporters can make an online donation (at www.brafb.org) where contributions will be matched, thanks to a gift from Virginia Estates.

This means every $1 donation will help provide eight meals.

On Friday, Aug. 13, and Saturday, Aug. 14, volunteers will be standing by to accept drive-by, non-perishable food donations outside at the following locations:

• Food Bank Headquarters & Shenandoah Valley Branch
  96 Laurel Hill Road, Verona
• The Food Bank’s Thomas Jefferson Area Branch
  1207 Harris Street, Charlottesville
• The Food Bank’s Lynchburg Area Branch
  501 12th Street, Lynchburg
• The Food Bank’s Lord Fairfax Area Branch
  1802 Roberts Street, Winchester
• Rockbridge Area Relief Association
  350 Spotswood Drive, Lexington
• Culpeper Food Closet 
  120 N Commerce Street, Culpeper
• WMRA Radio Station 
  983 Reservoir Street, Harrisonburg

Community members who want to contribute food are encouraged to provide nutritious non-perishable food donations, such as canned fruits and meats, and low-sodium vegetables. The Food Bank asks donors to avoid making donations of food that are in glass containers.

“The fight against hunger is a community-wide effort, and even during such a difficult and unprecedented year, our community’s generous response to the Food Bank has been equally unprecedented,” says Michael McKee, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. “The Unity in Community Food and Fund Drive is an opportunity to mark 40 years of fighting hunger, but more importantly, to meet our goal of providing 400,000 meals for those in the Blue Ridge region who are experiencing food insecurity. Any amount helps and is an important investment in our community. We ask everyone in our region to consider contributing whatever they can.”

Currently, an average of nearly 119,000 individuals visit the Food Bank and its partner food pantries each month. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and its partner network projects greater need in the fall, given historic trends in food assistance, rising inflation, and the expiration of pandemic-driven government benefits and protections.

For more information, individuals can visit www.brafb.org/event/unity-in-community.

For content-creation resources, visit the Food Bank’s Newsroom webpage.