Facts
In 2007 LIR served more than 35,000 individuals that is over 10,000 families.
We distributed food to prepare over 300,000 healthy, well-balanced meals.
Through our food sharing program with other organizations, Loudoun Interfaith Relief provided more than 55,000 pounds of food, indirectly serving an estimated additional 10,000 individuals!
FAQ
What is a Food Pantry? A Food Pantry is set up very much like a grocery store. You will find perishable items as well as non-perishable items. Food is stored in freezers and refrigerators and organized on shelves. Individuals and families are served at a food pantry. The food you will find is totally dependent on the types of donations that are received. Donations come from a variety of sources. Food donations are received by the community from local grocery stores, individuals, churches, synagogues, clubs and organizations.
In a food pantry, orders are packed for clients. Clients do not shop for their food. Since, the food in a food pantry is totally dependent on donations; the inventory must be carefully monitored in order to guarantee that there will be enough for everyone.
What is a Food Bank? A Food Bank stores many thousands of pounds of food. A food bank does not distribute food to individuals or families. For a small fee, organizations, like Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc., can purchase food. They also house and distribute food for USDA. A food bank can also help a food pantry by monitoring their operations to be sure standards are maintained.
Emergency Kitchen. An emergency kitchen is also referred to as a soup kitchen or community kitchen. This program provides prepared meals, on-site, to clients in need.
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The mission of Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc., is simple, yet critically important to the lives of thousands of residents in Loudoun County: feed the hungry by providing emergency food assistance to those in need and promote client self-sufficiency to any person or family living in Loudoun County.
LIR was established in 1991 by a group of dedicated volunteers from area churches. These volunteers were united by a commitment to offer support and solutions to several groups of people: (1) the working poor whose income is insufficient to cover basic necessities (2) the unemployed (3) the senior or the sick who cannot compete in the workplace and (4) the homeless who have no income and who cannot afford a roof over their head. Today, the need to combat hunger in our community continues and unfortunately continues to grow…
We are the largest and only nutritious food pantry in Loudoun County. We serve our clients by providing the food necessary to prepare three balanced meals a day for three days for any size family. Our staff and volunteers are trained to utilize the food pyramid to design healthy meals. Non-food items are provided on an “as-available” basis. Currently, clients are allowed to receive our services twice a month. In order to receive our services, we require that a client provide Loudoun County proof of residency (or referral) and identification.
Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc. is affiliated with the Lord Fairfax Food Bank located in Winchester, Virginia. The Lord Fairfax Branch is governed by the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. The Blue Ridge Food Bank manages three other food banks. Everyone is ultimately governed by America’s Second Harvest. The America’s Second Harvest is the national network that includes more than 200 food banks and food rescue organizations throughout the country.
Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc. follows the guidelines that have been established by these organizations in order to safely serve our clients. Several members of our staff are also certified food handlers.
As part of the Blue Ridge Food Bank and America’s Second Harvest, we can provide clients food from the USDA. Weekly, we pick up the items that make up a USDA commodity box from the Blue Ridge Food Bank in Winchester, Virginia. Last year, we served 12,187 individuals who qualified for and received USDA assistance.
A special part of the Emergency Food Distribution program—Extended Care—allows LIR to provide food on a weekly basis for a family in more desperate situations. The loss of the family income—due to illness or job cuts or rising gas prices—can make a family eligible for participation. Our staff qualifies participants and works closely with those families to help prioritize, budget and make the most of the family income.
A household can be enrolled in Extended Care for a 12 week period of time. Depending on the degree of need these families face—we can offer food for 7 days at a time through the 7-day program or we can provide food, up to 12 weeks, for 3 days at a time through Short Term Care. Long Term Care provides a 3 day supply of food every week and families are usually enrolled in this program for life. This last program was designed for the terminally ill, mentally ill or for senior citizens.
As another feature of the Emergency Food Distribution Program, we offer Life Skills classes to all our clients. Our Life Skills classes are offered in order to provide information and tools to promote self-sufficiency. We are planning to change this program soon. While clients are waiting for their orders to be packed, we will be providing Life Skills information on a continuous reel video in the waiting area. This will allow us to take advantage of each client’s waiting time in a productive way. The format of this video will be trivia type questions. The questions will focus on food related topics—topics such as safe food handling to how to cook venison. We are also going to incorporate Spanish subtitles as well as information about other human services offered in the County. We are very excited about the new direction of this program and are discovering many ways to take advantage of this technique to reach people—we just need space. In the meantime, we will be incorporating safe food handling tips to recipes that are designed to make the most of the food that has been provided.
We also share our food with other local organizations such as food pantries and homeless shelters, including: Seven Loaves, Middleburg, Virginia; the Loudoun Emergency Homeless, Leesburg, Virginia, Transitional Housing, Good Shepherd Alliance and the Warming Shelter.
As the population of Loudoun County has increased, the number below the poverty line has also increased and, accordingly, so has the number of families and individuals we help. This past year, LIR directly served 35,526 individuals (over 10,000 families). Through our food sharing program with other organizations, we provided 39,000 pounds of food, indirectly serving an estimated additional 10,000 individuals. Last fiscal year, LIR was able to provide enough food to prepare a staggering about of food to prepare over 300,000 meals!
Ultimately, the goal of LIR is to provide support and assistance so that families can live in our community without a need for our services. We strive to get people back on their feet with all the skills that they need in order to budget and manage their everyday lives. We have had success in this goal, but new families and individuals are constantly challenged in their lives. And, unfortunately, there are those who will always need LIR (such as the elderly and the sick.) Accordingly, we continue our efforts to address the hunger problems of a growing community with rapidly growing needs.