I've volunteered there for more than 2 years and they joy and relief that they provide to clients is outstanding. Additionally, the volunteers provide a sense of community in a clean, organized environment and enjoy helping, and continue to come back because of this.
I have been an active volunteer with AFAC for over 25 years. The reason for this longevity is the mission and effectiveness of the organization. Despite the continued increase in need and growth in clients, AFAC has never had to turn anyone away. This not only is a direct result of the leadership of the organization, but also the perception by the community that supports it.
AFAC does an excellent job of highlighting and responding to the needs of fellow Arlingtonians. Keep up the great work!
The opportunity help coordinate two food bank gardens for AFAC(at Central Library and our church) has allowed me to not only provide fresh produce for clients, but to expand general community knowledge about vegetable gardening. At our Central Library garden we hold weekly Garden Talks, partnering with Master Gardeners, on various food growing and preserving topics. As we tend the garden we have wonderful conversations with Library patrons about their garden experiences and questions. We show by example how appealing a food garden can be and engage volunteers in the process. As part of Plot Against Hunger, I also enjoy gleaning produce in large agricultural settings and seeing clients eagerly take vegetable seedlings as well as fresh foods home, and helping with a summer program to educate children on growing and eating nutritional foods.
AFAC is an amazing operation, distributing food to working families and the elderly 8 times a week -- Monday thru Saturday and Tuesday and Thursday nights. More than 2,500 families a WEEK get 35-40 pounds of free food from AFAC. As a volunteer, I am constantly amazed how AFAC does this week after week. I re-stock the dessert case and shelves with pastries donated by local grocery stores before the Tuesday and Thursday nite food distributions. It's so rewarding to know that my fellow Arlington neighbors are benefiting from my volunteer work. I've volunteered at scores of organizations over 40 years and AFAC is by far the best run and with a core of more than 2,000 volunteers does an amazing job of raising money to buy staples like meat, eggs and milk and getting donations of canned goods, bread and desserts. Their produce program with local gardeners means fresh fruits and veggies for clients. AFAC sees an increase in clients every year, and provides a vital service to our community. A very deserving organization.
The remarks of Charlie Meng say it all. The changes at AFAC have been overwhelmingly positive.
AFAC is thriving. They are feeding more people than ever before and are making
their services more accessible. Yes, as nonprofit organizations grow and mature, the changes
that are necessary can create some drama and perhaps even anger
volunteers, board members and staff as their roles change. This is especially true as
nonprofits develop from a grassroots orientation into a more professional "corporate" entity----
this is INEVITABLE with growth and additional service to the community. Seems to me
that "Nonprofit Lover" doth harumph too much.....and was perhaps a casualty of such changes.
I and my family have been closely involved in AFAC activities for more than seven years. We are happy to know that AFAC now owns their facility and is able to continue to be in Arlington to provide nutritional groceries to our neighbors in need. The client base continues to increase and AFAC is able to meet the demand. We will continue to support AFAC with our time, talents and money due to knowing how well AFAC operates in all areas.
I've been volunteering at Arlington Food Assistance Center for over a year now. I work as a weekend produce supervisor and also as a weekday chicken/canned goods staple supervisor and bagger. I also donated to the AFAC through the combined federal campaign. On the weekends when farmer's markets are open, we primarily prepare food donated by the markets for distribution. AFAC really focuses on feeding the hungry with highly nutritious food. This is a very well-run organization that uses its volunteers really well. I feel really good about donating both my time and my money to the organization.
AFAC has discarded its volunteer-run business model in favor of the currently popular corporate model. Specifically, over the past few years AFAC has doubled the size of the staff (with relatively high salaries, at least for a nonprofit), bought three vans at significant expense, and relies very heavily on purchasing food from local grocery stores and other for-profit entities. Formerly AFAC got more than than half of their food at minimal expense, often even free, from the Capital Area Food Bank, and volunteers performed virtually all the the work needed to run the organization. The result of this shift in resources is that there now is much less money available to spend on food. This new corporate approach to fulfilling AFAC's mission has totally changed the overall tone of this organization, to the point that quite a few donors and volunteers have left in disgust.
charles.meng 12/07/2011
The facts are very simple and tell the truth. AFAC's budget for food purchases has risen to $575,000 - an increase of over $80,000 in the last 2 years. Food purchases are made from both local and national wholesale suppliers with the result that we have been able to purchase twice as much food as we could from either the CAFB or from local grocery stores. Much of these funds have gone to providing our families with greater amounts of fresh, healthy and nutritious produce and for our elderly clients, with more low sodium and low fat food supplies. Last year we served more families than ever before - currently over 1555 families come to us each and every week - an increase of 22% over last year. In real terms that is over 4500 individuals - of these, 1300 are children and another 400 are the elderly living on fixed incomes or in senior living facilities. We have opened 8 new distribution sites to better serve those that we help. We have also started a backpack program to provide homeless students in the County public school system with food to help them through the weekends and over long holidays when they do not have access to school meals. We have the support of over 1,400 dedicated and hardworking volunteers. Our volunteers help with food drives, sorting food, gleaning fields and growing produce in their gardens for our many families. Our volunteers serve throughout the organization in both large and small ways - from bagging and sorting food donations, running our food distributions, assisting in data entry, handling our finances and assisting in numerous small ways the many families who rely on AFAC for the groceries they need to feed their families. We have 3 vans that are used to collect donated food from local grocery stores and pickup food drives from the many local schools, congregations, businesses and service organizations that help AFAC. The oldest van was purchased in 1996, and the newest was purchased in 2006. The 2 newest vans were purchased through the generosity of local foundations. We have had to hire new employees during the economic downturn - helping all those who rely on AFAC is an awesome task that takes many long hours and great hard work. Wages are not excessive by any test. AFAC believes in the importance of being a responsible employer by providing it’s drivers, warehouse staff and other staff a living wage and the benefits that much of corporate America no longer provides. AFAC has the active support of numerous donors whose great generosity has made all that we do possible. Each year more and more donors have recognized the importance of AFAC’s work in the community especially in these hard times. Last year the number of donors increased significantly as did the support they provided. Finally, it must be noted that our overhead rate remains low - our last audit placed it at 7.3%. This means that over 92 cents of every dollar donated to AFAC goes directly to feeding our neighbors in need. AFAC is truly an efficient, well run organization that is a vital part of the social safety net of Arlington County. Charles Meng Executive Director Arlington Food Assistance Center charles.meng@afac.org
charles.meng 08/28/2020
The above review was written by a disgruntled former employee. We now have a food purchase budget of $1.5 million, our volunteers gave AFAC 50,000 hours of time last year, we receive over 1.5 million lbs of donated food and we are now serving 2500 families each week. We do this with no federal or state aid and only $500,000 from our local county. We must raise the remaining $7 million ourselves and have been successful because of the great support of our caring and giving community.