What they do: Food & Friends provides home-delivered nutritionally tailored  meals and groceries as well as nutrition counseling to thousands of individuals and their families struggling with chronic illness in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Clients, along with their caregivers and dependents, receive a weekly delivery of  up to eighteen medically-tailored meals per person. For clients outside of the freshly-prepared meals delivery area, Food & Friends offers deliveries of fresh produce, frozen lean meats, and staple pantry items every other week through its Groceries-to-Go program, and now offers shipping of freshly-prepared meals.

How they do it: Each client’s relationship with Food & Friends begins with a dietary
consultation. Registered dietitians work with clients to select specialized meal plans that meet their nutritional needs. Community dietitians then provide recurring personalized nutrition counseling to help each client maintain their meal plan. Together with their staff of professional chefs, Food & Friends registered dietitians have developed 12 different meal plans to meet the dietary needs of persons living with a broad range of illnesses. In 2020, a team of nearly 5,500 volunteers worked with staff every day throughout the pandemic to prepare and deliver over 1,200,000 meals to individuals and their families, facing cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and other chronic conditions..

Mission: To improve the lives and health of individuals living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses that limit their ability to provide nourishment to themselves.

Latest project/campaign: Now in its fifteenth year, the Food & Friends’ Slice of Life fundraising campaign brings together volunteers, sponsors, and community partners to sell over 9,000 pies every holiday season. For each pie purchased, Food & Friends provides a day’s worth of meals to a member of the Washington, D.C. community facing serious illness. Pie sales for 2021 began on October 1, 2021 and purchasers have five flavors to choose from—apple crumble, classic pumpkin, sweet potato, nutty pecan, and sea salt chocolate chess—all made by Whisked by Jenna!, a local Washington, D.C. gourmet bakery. Whole Foods Markets is the Exclusive Presenting Sponsor for the campaign. Last year, Slice of Pie raised more than $370,000 to support food and nutrition services for people in need in the Washington, D.C., area. People outside of the region who cannot pick up pies can choose to support Food & Friends by purchasing a pie for a client. You can also join the Food & Friends monthly giving Bread & Butter club here. 

Major Funding: Donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals such as philanthropist Brad Clark, The Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation and The A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.

Profit/nonprofit: Nonprofit

Annual Budget: $12.4 Million

Interesting fact about how it is working to positively affect the food system: Eighty-three percent of the seriously ill clients served by Food & Friends in 2020 reported improved health while receiving nutrition assistance from the organization.   

FACT SHEET:

Location:
Food & Friends
The William P. Bresler Building
219 Riggs Road NE
Washington, DC 20011

Core Programs: Home Delivered Meals, Groceries-to-Go, nutrition counseling and education

Number of staff: 62

Number of volunteers: 8,500 per-year pre-pandemic, 5,400 in 2020

Areas served: Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia

Year Started: 1988

Executive Director: Carrie Stoltzfus, MPH

Contact Information: cstoltzfus@foodandfriends.org

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