About 1.5 million people in the Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. region are facing food insecurity. This also means that 1 in 10 children are unable to eat, leading to stomach aches, headache, colds, ear infections, and fatigue. Facing one or more of these symptoms at a young age leads to children being sick more often, a slow recovery, and a higher likelihood to be hospitalized. Additionally, seniors who are food insecure are about 50% more likely to have a heart attack, asthma, or heart failure.
There are many barriers that impact how many people access or consume food. The first barrier is regarding locations in which people cannot easily walk to purchase food. The second barrier is when there is an abundance of food nearby, but it's all unhealthy food. 70% of food insecure people will purchase fast food when they do have sufficient funds for food. The third barrier is a systemic inequality, in which there is a lack of access to purchase fresh food due to racially motivated laws.
The Capital Area Food Bank works with over 400 nonprofits in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. to provide 60 million meals a year across 500 distribution sites. The Northern Virginia Food Rescue addresses limitations for those facing food insecurity and food waste that can emit methane into our atmosphere. They are able to collect non-contaminated food waste from schools, grocery stores, and restaurants and serve it at various distribution sites. In 2016, they created the Food Rescue Hero App and Website, in which anyone can redirect healthy food waste from landfills to food distribution sites.