Congressmen Urge Donations in Food Drive

In the wake of the recent derecho, Northern Virginia's congressmen are helping feed needy families with its program, Feds Feed Families.

Feds Feed Families kicked off this year's drive at the headquarters in Reston last week. Congressmen Gerry Connolly, Frank Wolf and Jim Moran attended the event and pointed out that in its three years, Feds Feed Families has collected more than 8 million pounds of food for area food banks.

All food collected at USGS through August will go to Food collected at other sites will go to various other pantries.

Many of the food banks, including the one operated by Reston Interfaith, have a lower inventory following the power outages and increased need following the derecho storm that struck Northern Virginia in late June. 

Wolf was instrumental in the creation of the program and it has the strong bipartisan support of Reps. Moran, Connolly, and Rob Wittman. On Monday, Connolly and Wolf joined Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, Deputy Secretary of Interior David Hayes, USGS Director Marcia McNutt, and federal workers at the kickoff of this year's food drive at USGS.

“Even in Fairfax, we have real pockets of need,” Connolly said. “Reston Interfaith and other regional food banks provides a critical lifeline to many families. I applaud our federal employees for their willingness to step up and provide help to those who are less fortunate."

Wolf said the summer months are traditionally the most challenging times for food banks and pantries, which struggle with the competing pressures of an increase in demand from families, and simultaneous decrease in donations. 

“In 2010, a stunning 17.2 million U.S. households did not know where their next meal would come from. Despite the strength of our local economy, Northern Virginians are not immune from the growing food insecurity facing many of our residents,” said Moran. “I applaud the generosity of our federal workers for doing their part to help those in need.”