National Hunger Action Month Begins At Home

AFAC truck frequently seen around Arlington County delivering supplemental groceries to one of the distribution sites.

As September begins a nationwide campaign to recognize Hunger Action Month, Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) Chief Executive Officer Charles Meng focuses on hunger insecurity in Arlington. AFAC is a nonprofit organization distributing free nutritious supplemental groceries to people in need weekly in Arlington.

In Meng’s July 28 letter to the Arlington County Board he provides an update on FY 2025 and a look ahead at FY 2026. Meng says in FY2025 9,398 distinct families had an active referral to AFAC. This made up 23,190 individuals, 9.5 percent of Arlington’s population.

Ninety percent of these 9,398 families (8,455) came to pick up food at one of the 1,350 food distributions. Ninety-four percent of these families are at or below 30 percent AMI. Meng explains one-third of the people who benefit from AFAC supplemental food are children, “and we especially need baby food.”

But as he looks ahead several things keep Meng awake at night including the increasing number of Arlington families who need food assistance, the uncertain political climate and the impact of the current economic situation on escalating food prices. Decreasing income levels and unpredictable AFAC donations are also concerns. 

He says, for instance, AFAC had to stop including eggs in the weekly grocery offerings in May due to the astronomical increase from $18.00 a case to $106 a case at one point. “This last week we brought [eggs] back but still at $31 a case.

AFAC food purchases in 2025 allowed for distribution of 4.9 million pounds of food of which 70 percent was purchased and the remaining 30 percent (1.4 million pounds) was donated through innumerable food drives and donations. Food purchases totaled $5.5 million with 55 percent purchased with County support and 45 percent with AFAC funds. Meng says there are AFAC food boxes located all around Arlington including the library as well as businesses, churches, community centers and a number of other locations. “It has become a thing in Arlington.”

In addition, a number of groups including churches, Scouts, neighborhoods, schools and community organizations hold food drives every year. Meng says, “I remember three little girls who had a lemonade stand along the bike trail and proudly came to present the $144.52 they had raised for AFAC.

“The food donations are also important because they allow us to offer some variety to the AFAC families. Since we buy in bulk, we may have all canned corn that week but people donate a lot of things and so we may have some choices like canned beans to offer as well.” Meng says the easiest thing for a food drive is cereal. “We need a lot of cereal and it’s easy to buy a couple of boxes.

“We need these food donations. The County AFAC budget is restricted to  food purchase and with increased demand it does not cover the total food cost. “Last year’s food purchase budget was $1.75 million which was covered by the County, but we spent close to $3 million so I had to get the money from the reserves to pay for the extra amount.”

The last AFAC Board of Directors meeting in June approved a FY2026 budget request of $11.7 million based on the assumption AFAC will serve their families during 200,000 visits, equal to the number in FY2025. But although ongoing County support covers 9.7 percent of the total budget for food purchase, it does not cover the other 90.3 percent of AFAC’s budget which includes the building costs, salaries, trucks and all the other expenses. This 90.3 percent is covered by individual, corporate and foundation donations and other fundraising. 

And Meng adds, “But depending on what happens on the other side of the river (which I expect to happen), we’ll have to raise more funds or take more money out of our reserves to balance the budget again next year. … For instance, we don’t need the tariffs. We buy potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Canada, yucca from Ecuador and tomatoes from Mexico.”

Meng says what worries him is that the donations that are so important for AFAC’s budget will drop at this critical time. “We live in a generous community but a lot of our donors are withdrawing their monthly pledges because they aren’t employed by the government anymore and don’t have the same resources themselves. On the other hand,” he adds, “Some people are angry and donating more.”

But the letter says, “The problem we are now facing is that our expenses are growing faster than we can raise the necessary funding. This is particularly troublesome as we enter a time when local federal cuts are rippling through the Arlington economy.” 

And it’s a double whammy because he says, “once you get the pink slip you cut back on the housekeeper and lawn mower so their income drops, and that’s who we serve.”

Looking ahead based on data trends from prior years Meng says they project by Thanksgiving 2025 AFAC will be serving close to 5,400 families a week and have already placed an order for 5,000 turkeys and enough Halal chicken for the observant. 

Meng’s letter points out over the last five years AFAC has seen the number of families served increase by over 85 percent to just under 4,000 families a week. At the same time AFAC has increased their staff by only two employees. Over 2,300 volunteers supplemented the staff last year by volunteering 1,658 hours which is equivalent to 25 full time employees. Meng says, “If we are to serve significantly more families we will need to add additional staff, space and vehicles at our cost which will only increase our reliance on our reserves accordingly.”

As September focuses on the national need to combat hunger, there are opportunities to get involved locally by donating and volunteering at AFAC, as well as special events to focus on food insecurity and raise funds. These include the eleventh annual AFAC Golf Tournament, Farm Harvesting to collect fresh produce, shredding for hunger on Saturday, Sept. 13 and Hunger Action Day on September 15. For more information: afac.org.