The mission of the Capital Area Food Bank is to feed those who suffer from hunger in the Washington metro area by acquiring food and distributing it through its network of partner agencies; and educating, empowering and enlightening the community about the issues of hunger and nutrition. CAFB is a member of Feeding America, a national network of 200 food banks.

The Need

Many of the food bank’s 700 partner agencies report they are seeing a tremendous increase in those seeking food assistance, from 30 to 100 percent. This increase is due to: job loss, the economy, high cost of housing, lack of health care and other issues. The CAFB’s motto is ’til no one is hungry.

CAFB by the Numbers

The Capital Area Food Bank:

• Distributes 30 million pounds of food annually, half of which is fresh produce; 84,000 pounds of food daily and 500,000 pounds each week.
• Serves 478,100 people in the region struggling with hunger.
• Delivers 70 fresh produce drops each month to 40 sites in low-income neighborhoods.
• Spends 92 cents of each dollar raised for food distribution, transportation and programs.
• Provides nutrition and education training to more than 1,000 adults and children annually through CAFB programs.