MEALS ON WHEELS: AN ANSWER TO DC FOOD INEQUALITY

Capital Area Food Bank takes a new approach in fighting food insecurities.

The Capital Area Food Bank fed over 11 million people in the past 12 months, showing that food insecurity is common here in D.C.

The Capital Area Food Bank feeds those in the community that face food insecurities, as well those that lack access to fresh produce.

The areas most affected by this food insecurity are Wards 7 and 8. Both wards nearly double Tenleytown, in Ward 3, in percentage of full-time workers earning below a living wage, according to data collected by the Capital Area Food Bank.

Austin Chikwendu, the senior director of the D.C. region for the Capital Area Food Bank, has designed a solution to curb the high levels of food insecurity here in D.C. Chikwendu helped to create CAFB’s curbside groceries initiative. A 22 foot step-van that offers fresh groceries on wheels to people in Ward 7, 8 and Prince George County.

“Those who were already vulnerable were hit harder” during the pandemic, Chikwendu said.

She said the food bank designed curbside groceries as an opportunity to reach those who don’t have access to local fresh produce.

The issue was not that people in Ward 7 could not afford groceries, it was that they did not have access to fresh produce, she said. The grocery van is meant to operate similar to a farmers market. Allowing clients to have more of a choice of what groceries they buy, she explained.

It began in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now curbside groceries has two vans that go out three days a week reaching about 30 customers a day, according to Chikwendu.

Chikwendu’s goal for curbside groceries is for it to spread to every ward in D.C. The Capital Area Food Bank plans for the initiative to serve as a catalyst for local communities and to eventually turn it over to a community member who can have it as a business.