'Food and Friends' delivers Thanksgiving meals across DC
WASHINGTON - Serving the community is the highlight of this neighborhood and Thanksgiving is the "Super Bowl" for one local non-profit that works to curb food insecurity.
It’s called "Food and Friends." They’re headquartered in Northeast D.C. but serve families across the greater D.C. region.
To truly understand their impact, FOX 5 went with Food and Friends Dietitian Jennifer Krasilovsky to make a Thanksgiving meal delivery to Northwest D.C’s Lánye Spicer. She smiled as she told FOX 5, "I know it’s a turkey and all of the stuffing and everything, you know, that makes a Thanksgiving meal great."
Spicer, who was kind enough to welcome FOX 5 into her home unexpected, told us she is waiting for a December appointment to learn whether radiation worked and whether her cancer is in remission.
This is her first year working with Food and Friends. When we asked how she learned of the non-profit and her thoughts on what they do, Spicer answered, "I thought it was a wonderful service to provide for people who are will because you just don’ t have the stamina to cook and do all the prep work and everything that goes into making a really good meal."
Spicer told FOX 5 she can now host, planning to have her daughter and a few others at her home for a Thanksgiving meal.
"You know food is medicine," said Krasilovsky, "… we medically tailor our meals to our – help our clients with whatever they’re specifically dealing with. We also offer nutrition counseling. So there’s real, so many different things to help."
Back in Northeast D.C., over 300 volunteers were busy preparing and boxing meals since 4 a.m. Thursday morning … and even before that! The meals include a roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, roasted potatoes, gravy, butternut soup, buttered corn, braised collards, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, fresh fruit and dessert!
Food and Friends helps clients in need all year long but their executive chef tells FOX 5 the main planning begins in July. They prepared 4,500 Thanksgiving meals for this year’s holiday. For the many volunteers, like Kevin Reese, the action started before Thursday.
"This is my seventh day straight, working and just being a part of the whole process. Starting last Sunday, we started cooking-off 800 – 900 turkeys. The ovens were on, basically 14-hours a day. And we did the sides for two weeks before that. In refrigerators that – there’s so much stuff, they had to rent four refrigerators that are out in the parking lot holding all that stuff," Reese excitedly explained.
Food and Friends Executive Director Carrie Stoltzfus says they have seen an uptick in need.
"If you’re undergoing dialysis because you have kidney failure, you’ve got food restrictions that you need to follow and it could be difficult for the average person, like you and I, to figure that out. I couldn’t tell you what is phosphorus if they need to watch their phosphorus so we do things like that, right, so it’s designed for their needs and we can take of folks who are experiencing nausea – just any different symptom or side effect or restriction," said Stoltzfus.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser stopped by to thank the volunteers for spending time away from their families to help other neighbors.
"Thanksgiving is my favorite part but I think, well Thanksgiving is my favorite part but, but you know, just being able to like provide meals for people in the communities so they can host their families, and I think that’s a big deal. When you’re sick and you’re not – you know, you can’t – I know when I’ve been just a little sick, it’s hard to get up and cook a whole meal for somebody but the fact that we can provide that for them and they can host their family and have people come through – I think that’s a miracle and folks love it ," said Executive Chef Rasheed Abdurrahman.