Prince William County Community Foundation

An estimated 40 million Americans—including 12.5 million children—struggle with food insecurity, meaning they can’t afford an adequate diet. Federal nutrition programs and charitable meals make up the first line of defense, but solving this challenge will require communities to go beyond what is currently available and tap into new resources to expand and introduce new programming to disrupt the hunger issues plaguing our nation. 

The need for creative solutions in Prince William County to solve local food insecurity levels and related risk factors are critical. Prince William County is home to the highest concentration of people with food insecurity needs in the greater Northern Virginia area. When pairing this realization with the economic plight of the county, the picture gets more dramatic. Prince William County finds itself in a housing boom with individuals seeking to secure living arrangements in the county while working in high paying occupations within neighboring counties including Arlington, Fairfax, and the District of Columbia. With an influx of new residents bringing in new revenue within the county, individuals that have called Prince William home for generations are now experiencing dramatic increases in the cost of living and housing expenses. Though many of these lifelong Prince William residents are making salaries above the nation’s average, many of these salaries leave residents struggling to make ends meet check to check. 

The combination of food insecurity and the economics of the county has led to startling statistics across Prince William when it comes to food insecurity. According to Be Happy, Be Healthy, an alarming 44% of food insecure children in Prince William County reside in households with incomes above 185% of the federal poverty level that are likely not income-eligible for federal nutrition assistance. This is more than double the national average of 21% for this metric. Without the support of assistance programs and supplemental meals that are provided through school, the volume of children in Prince William County experiencing food insecurity fluctuates between 14,000 and 26,000 daily. Though hunger hits every zip code in America, the data tells us that a uniquely high concentration of Prince William County residents, and specifically our children, are being impacted by food insecurity and are experiencing reverberating affects from health to education to financial success.

To drive hunger from Prince William County’s most economically disadvantaged areas today and end hunger locally forever, the Prince William County Community Foundation (PWCCF) is sending out a call to action for everyone to collaborate to solve food insecurity, including corporations, foundations, individuals and the government. Considering the depth that hunger has plagued our communities, PWCCF realizes we all must work together to tackle this critical issue impacting approximately 14,000 Prince William County children daily. PWCCF is a grassroots volunteer organization founded to educate and empower our community to thrive by eradicating food deserts and food insecurity.

Placing ourselves at the forefront of eradicating local food insecurity, the C.H.O.W. Initiative, PWCCF’s hallmark program, increases accessibility to nutritious and quality foods by transporting meals directly to county residents and children without the resources to navigate to food pantries and distribution sites. In an effort to eradicate childhood and family hunger in our community that impacts some 14,000 Prince William County children and residents annually, our most prominent initiative focused on eradicating hunger is our C.H.O.W. Initiative. The C.H.O.W. Initiative works with county food pantries, organizations, businesses, and individuals to collect food donations that are then packaged and bundled for individuals in need distribution. Distributed food packages vary week to week with packages often including fresh produce, frozen meats such as fish and poultry, frozen soups, snacks, and non-perishable pantry items.

To get the C.H.O.W. Initiative in motion, PWCCF retrofitted a vehicle to transport meals to neighborhood children in need. The C.H.O.W. Initiative meals-on-wheels program goes into communities and bring nutritious meals to local neighborhoods so that no child goes hungry. By placing nutritionally adequate foods right in their hands through mobile distribution and community outreach, the Foundation's goal is to help eradicate hunger in our community. Since the start of the C.H.O.W. Initiative in 2019, the Foundation has served over 6,000 families, equating to more than 45,000 meals.