Food & Friends

It was thanks to the Yelp Elite Event that shed light to Food and Friends. I've learned the impact that they have on the community that is a non-profit organization that provides diet specific foods to those in need at no cost to them. And is purely run by volunteers and supporters alike. Whether it be generous donors, Philanthropy, and those can volunteer some of their time.

There is never a charge to those who need it. And you can support in the organization from organizing, cooking, packaging to delivery. It's the only organization of its kind and provides a great service. But most importantly positively impacts the community in which we live. There is no threshold, rich or poor. All services are provided equally.

I'd recommend anyone contribute and find out how you too can make an impact.

One of my favorite places to volunteer in the city.

Matt is our beloved Curmudgeon-in-Chief who keeps us in line and makes sure that all of our work meets the exceedingly (but absolutely necessary) high standards established by this organization.

This is a fantastic place to volunteer as an individual, or with groups large or small. Volunteers need to be at least 16 years of age, and individual volunteers must complete a background check as well as a volunteer orientation. They are also expected to volunteer 2 to 4 hours (1 to 2 shifts) a month. The volunteer coordinator won't harass you if they don't see on the schedule every single month (I travel quite a bit for work and one time they didn't see me for months. When I returned home, I signed up for multiple shifts to make up for the time that I was gone). However, volunteers are expected to govern themselves and do their best to honor their commitment.

Background checks are not a requirement for members of groups (e.g. church groups, university alumni groups) that are coming to volunteer for one shift, but an orientation is conducted before volunteers are allowed to work in the kitchen.

The atmosphere is generally congenial and volunteers are always willing to help one another. However, this is not the place to play around. The chefs have a set number of tasks that need to be completed every shift, and completed correctly, in order to fulfill the needs of the rapidly growing list of clients. In short, it's not the place to 'volunteer' if you just wanna hang out and chill on your phone. You will be BUSY!

The shifts I work here are some of the most productive and rewarding 2 hours of my day. I'm already pretty good in the kitchen, so to be able to lend both my food prep and my organizational skills to help my terminally and chronically ill neighbors in need.... it just doesn't get any better than that.

My husband and I have been volunteering as delivery drivers with Food & Friends for a few months now and we love it. It's been such a fulfilling experience for us to be able to visit the sick and shut-in in our very own community and provide them with a warm smile and a healthy meal to hopefully make their days a little more pleasant.

The volunteer operations are well coordinated, Stephanie is super cheery and organized. Overall, I get the sense that this organization really cares about their volunteers and donors--we've already gone to a few appreciation events that were top class. Such an awesome mission, we look forward to helping them out for years to come!

A tip: Deliveries within the district are so much easier with two people. Not impossible with one, but keep in mind that you'll need to be able to park near the clients' homes and that isn't always available, especially for downtown residences. It works out great that Jeremy is able to either circle the block or "double-park" while I run up to the door and drop off the package.

P.s. So excited that Food&Friends is my 100th Yelp review :) #funfact

Food and Friends claims to sit at the nexus of health and hunger, but in fact dedicated over 5 percent of 2016 revenue to the compensation of its executive director.

That's right, Food and Friends of Washington, DC, compensates its executive director, Craig M. Shniderman, nearly $440,000 per year according to its 2016 Form 990, the most recent year available. This includes over $390,000 in cash compensation for Craig. In fact, as the Harvard Business Review has reported, Food and Friends has lost funding because of its outrageous executive compensation, including a grant from Montgomery County.

There are so many worthwhile charitable organizations in the DC area, including Miriam's Kitchen, Martha's Table, Food and Friends, Thrive DC. Why volunteer where the organization could hire a staff with the CEO's salary?

Overall I enjoyed my experience volunteering with Food & Friends, but I think there is some room for improvement.

The community service director at my school organized the opportunity for a few of us to volunteer in the kitchen at Food & Friends. About a week before hand, Eric, their volunteer coordinator informed us that he canceled our reservation because the kitchen was full that day. This was disappointing, as there had been spots available when we signed up. Since we had already carved out the time to volunteer, we instead helped out as delivery drivers.

In order to be a delivery driver, you need to have your own car. We arrived at 9 am as scheduled, and then sat around for about 30 minutes. At this point, Eric gave us a brief overview of Food & Friends and then he took the kitchen volunteers upstairs to give them an orientation. After about 5-10 minutes he returned and explained the delivery job to us. We ended up heading out for deliveries around 10 am. This 1 hour of orientation could easily be fit into 10 minutes.

The delivery run itself was nicely organized. All of our clients were close by each other, and the route order made sense. The instructions provided were clear and easy to follow. To navigate, they provide map print outs for you, or you can use your own GPS. We finished our deliveries and got back to return our freezer bags around noon, so it was about 2 hours of driving and delivering.

I love the concept of Food & Friends, and it was rewarding to be able to go meet the people that the program serves. I am definitely interested in volunteering with them again, but I am hoping for a slightly better front office experience.

This has been one of the best volunteering experiences I have ever had!
Most times my help comes in the form of helping myself to more helpings at the dinner table. However, a few days before Thanksgiving I decided I wanted to do something different for a change. This year I signed up for the 7 AM shift (the only one left) as a driver, scheduled to deliver Thanksgiving dinners in the metropolitan area.

The staff here is warm, friendly, and really excited about what they are doing. I had the pleasure of talking to a former employee, who came out to lend a helping hand. He had nothing but good things to say. The facility is clean and very modern, they even have a little serenity garden around the back of the entrance. You can park at Fort Totten metro and a shuttle will drop you off at the head quarters less than a 5 minute ride away.

The 30 minute orientation was a full house of families, college kids, couples, friends; everyday people wanting to give time by either cooking or delivering Thanksgiving dinner to people in need. As you leave out, there is a nice little goodie bag waiting for you, and the cooking crew is there clapping and cheering as you walk through the back to get your assignment. It really made me feel good, like I was about to go out and win a championship game.

I got 3 orders, all for Arlington Virginia, each residence within a 10 minute drive. The assignments are random, so there's no 'Oh wait a minute I want DC.' You have to take what they give you!

Well I finished up my tasks around 10 AM! No check in or follow up. I was done. Great to bring smiles to 3 different faces. One thing was very clear: You never know who needs a helping hand; you can't necessarily just look at a person and see they are struggling, whether it be their health or finances.

Food and Friends will have served over 1 million dinners in 2011 to nearly 50% of people with AIDS/HIV, the other half survivors of Cancer, and a small percentage of persons with other life changing illnesses.

Food and Friends delivers and cooks 6 days a week and encourages people to come back anytime they want. What I liked the most, there was no pressure involved to so sign up again. Food and Friends just asks that you help out when you can!

Food & Friends is a nonprofit that prepares and delivers meals "designed to meet the unique nutritional needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging illnesses."

I've volunteered at Food & Friends as part of a group in the kitchen, and I currently volunteer delivering meals on Saturdays. They're very well organized, and they make volunteering fun, whether you're peeling potatoes, assembling meal bags, or bringing food to their clients.

I was very impressed with the experience of volunteering with Food & Friends. Food & Friends truly works like a well-oiled machine and offers a noteworthy cause.

Food & Friends is an organization that delivers food to persons in need who may have terminal illnesses like HIV/AIDS, cancer, etc. I volunteered here with my mentees from the Just Say Yes! (JSY) Program. We had 5 cars worth of mentees and mentors who were willing to volunteer on MLK day. Food & Friends is impressive because it has a highly efficient process for executing its mission.

Food & Friends starts with a group orientation that is very informative and addressed all of our questions and concerns. Our facilitator explained the history of the organization, how long it's been around, and how many people it serves, etc. Next, she explained the process in detail.

What makes them so efficient is that they provide very detailed instructions on what to provide the clients. Every client has different nutritional needs and F&F specifically creates meals for the individuals' diet. For example, diabetic, diabetic/heart healthy, no fish, etc. This is written clearly on your bags, along with your itinerary, special instructions, and driving directions. All of the homes are basically in the same area, and they give you directions to make your trip most efficient.

In closing, F&F is running a great program. It's a quick way to make a contribution to a noteworthy cause. It was started from a church in 1988 and it's good to see that vision come to fruition. It's amazing how many times I have driven past this location and didn't even know it was there. Keep up the good work.

Note: Adults must have a background check to participate. However, if you are part of an organization that already does background checks, then you are eligible to volunteer.

I wanted to do something charitable this year to celebrate Thanksgiving, and had been looking around for some time through different options. After seeing the Food & Friends meal delivery on the Yelp events page, I knew that would be the perfect way to do something good on the holiday. I had never heard about Food & Friends before seeing the event posting, and was very surprised at the size of the operation the day of the the event. It was even on the morning news! I kind of feel like I'd been living under a rock, or something, to have missed the big to-do over Food & Friends' Thanksgiving meal deliveries each year. At least I'm in the know now, so I can participate again in the following years, and maybe even get a group to go with me.

I give the workers at Food & Friends great praise for how smoothly they kept the process of shuttling everyone to and from the charity's building from the metro, briefing the group about what they would be doing, and handing out the delivery routes. That may seem like an easy process, but when your dealing with a group of 75+ people, believe me, that system can get quickly be destroyed. The organization and preparedness at Food & Friends was outstanding. They couldn't have put it together any better.

I'm so happy to have been able to be a part of such a wonderful opportunity to help those in need. If you're interested in ever helping a charity, I highly recommend choosing Food & Friends. What they do is truly amazing, and really makes a difference for the families they help. When you see the recipients smiling at their door, so excited to be receiving the meal, you'll understand exactly why I feel the way I do.

Food & Friends is by far thee most organized volunteer organization I've ever had to pleasure of working with. The organization provides nutritious meals to those living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses.

I delivered meals with Alex E. (fellow Texan), and his friend Eddie on Thanksgiving morning! We had a great time! Step foot on the premises and you're immediately overcome with joy. The staff is very friendly, helpful and accommodating. We were instructed to park at Fort Totten metro and were whisked to the orientation site by a shuttle. Before you can deliver the food you must submit a confidentiality agreement and sit through an orientation on delivery procedures. I was pleased with the staff's enthusiastic attitude at 8 in the morning kept the orientation brief, making sure not to deviate.

I was sooooooo happy I had manpower! The donations were very generous, with some clients receiving two nice size meals (fit for a family of 4). We were given a client list complete with their address and contact information just in case we had to call them if they didn't hear us knock. They try to give you a route where clients are in close proximity one another and once you get into the swing of the deliveries the time zooms by! Great experience overall and my karma's on a trillion times infinity!!

It was a packed house for the 8:45 shift as I expected, but F&F handled the high volume of volunteers beautifully. I'm not sure if every volunteer experience will be like Thanksgiving Day, but I look forward to finding out! Food & Friends has definitely revolutionized the volunteer game! I found my spot ya'll!!