ALIVE! gave out 30,716 pounds of food to more than 1,000 Alexandria households on Saturday, and now its shelves are nearly empty.
The 50-year-old nonprofit’s next distribution of food will not be until the end of May, although ALIVE! will continue providing food to local pantries between now and then, said Executive Director Jennifer Ayers.
“People can continue to rely on ALIVE! to supply local pantries and community nonprofits,” Ayers told ALXnow. “We are working on increasing inventory and we have seen our referrals for home delivery triple since the shelter in place, and requests for financial support are rising.”
Food pantries around the city are still open, and Ayers encouraged residents to visit Hunger Free Alexandria to see the locations of food distribution points. Ayers is encouraging those who want to help to donate to the organization through the Spring2ACTion online fundraiser on April 15.
So far, ALIVE! has received $20,000 from the city to buy 17,000 meals worth of bulk food. The city also found storage space for the nonprofit to house all of the food. There were other notable donations in recent days, including $1,000 in gift cards from Elizabeth’s Counter.
Last Saturday, families received four bags of food at the drive-thru distributions at John Adams Elementary School and Cora Kelly School.
“A huge thank you to everyone in the community,” Ayers said. “This is truly a community effort.”
Ayers gave a shout-out to the following organizations and volunteers for their support:
- Alexandria Transportation and Environmental Services
- The Alexandria Police Department
- The Alexandria Sheriff’s Office
- The Department of Parks and Recreation
- Volunteer Alexandria
- Caring Transitions
- The Salvation Army
- Your Dog’s Best Friend
- Affordable Signs
- Minuteman Press of Alexandria
- Del Ray Farmer’s Market
- Elizabeth’s Counter
- Old Blue BBQ
- Lancaster Food LLC
- Fresh Produce Association
- Great Harvest Bakery
- Jen Walker Team
- Pat Miller
- Alexandria City Public Schools
- The Alexandria Department of Community and Health Services
Photo via Alive!/Facebook
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