Chefs Feeding Families | Real Food for Kids

ABOUT

Launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic Real Food for Kids: Chefs Feeding Families is a joint initiative with Washington, D.C. metro-area chefs and restaurants to provide nutrition security to school children and their families. Chefs Feeding Families, which began as an emergency response, providing hot, prepared meals to alleviate the unprecedented demand for food assistance, also employed restaurant workers who might otherwise have been furloughed. The program has evolved to a more sustainable model, providing meal kits and produce bags that include recipes, easy preparation tips, and nutrition information in a bilingual format to support families’ cultural ownership of these ingredients and to inform and inspire the preparation of nourishing meals at home.

CHEF / RESTAURANT / FARM COLLABORATORS

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly and drastically catapulted our nation into a health and economic crisis. School closures and record-high unemployment have threatened the food security of families and created an unprecedented demand for food assistance.

We are doing our part to fill the need in our community. On March 17, 2020, a day after schools shut down, Real Food for Kids and Chef David Guas of Arlington, VA’s Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery launched Chefs Feeding Families, a joint initiative with Washington, D.C., metro-area restaurants to provide nourishing grab-and-go meals to families impacted by school closures and job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chefs Feeding Families complements the emergency meal distribution efforts of schools, local governments, and other community-based organizations throughout the D.C. metro area. Each meal served through the initiative aligns with our longstanding mission to increase access to healthy, whole foods for all children, and now, their families too.

Through collaborations with D.C.-area restaurants, Chefs Feeding Families also creates local employment opportunities in one of the hardest-hit sectors — one position at a time.

It is more critical than ever to ensure access to nutritious meals to help keep bodies and minds strong in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each meal served through the initiative aligns with Real Food for Kids’ mission to increase access to healthy, whole foods for all children — and now, their families too.

THE SAFETY OF OUR COMMUNITY IS OF UPMOST CONCERN.

To uphold the safety of the food served, each restaurant partner continues to follow CDC recommendations for preparing and serving food, as well as precautionary measures beyond already strict health and sanitation practices to give families in need a nutritious meal.

Number of Meals Served since March 2020

DONATE

Real Food for Kids’ ongoing mission is to collaborate with school communities to improve access to healthy, whole foods for all kids. When the COVID-19 pandemic took kids out of schools and put many adults out of jobs, we adapted to meet the changing and urgent needs of children and their families.

Through the generosity of donors, Real Food for Kids: Chefs Feeding Families provides funding for food, supplies, and restaurant staff to feed as many families as possible and create employment opportunities within the restaurant community also greatly impacted by COVID-19 closures.

Our free meal distribution program can only exist with support from individual and corporate donors. Your donation will sustain and expand our operations so more families can be fed.

“Just want to say thank you so much for your help. It is great helping my whole family ( Wife & two kids). Thanks again for feeding us. May God bless you all.”

– Arlington, Virginia Resident