Purpose

The mission of Food & Friends is to foster a community caring for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses by preparing and delivering specialized meals and groceries in conjunction with nutrition counseling.

Description

Food & Friends packages and delivers meals and groceries to more than 2,800 people annually living with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging illnesses such as breast, lung and colon cancer throughout Washington, DC and 14 counties of Maryland and Virginia.  Determination of eligibility is health-based and there are no requirements for income or insurance coverage.  To be eligible for service, one must have a qualifying primary illness, compromised nutritional status and a limited ability to prepare his/her own meals due to factors such as disability, illness or medical treatment.

Services are specially designed to meet the unique needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS and other life challenging illnesses.  A team of chefs and registered dietitians designs all meals offered by Food & Friends.  Eleven (11) daily menus are offered to meet special dietary restrictions.  Vegetarian, pureed, diabetic, and mild are a few of the special meal plans that are available.

Detailed information on operational policies and procedures may be made available upon request for communities interested in developing similar initiatives.

The following services are provided:

• Home-Delivered Freshly Prepared Meals - Freshly-prepared, delicious meals are delivered directly to client homes Monday through Saturday.  Each delivery includes food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is designed using the guidelines set forth by the Institute of Medicine.
• Home-Delivered Groceries - "Groceries to Go" is available for individuals and families who live outside the Home-Delivered Meals delivery area.  It is also available for clients and family members who are healthy enough to prepare their own meals.  Groceries to Go is a weekly service that includes two bags of non-perishable groceries along with frozen soups and entrees prepared in the Food & Friends kitchen.
• Nutrition Counseling and Education - Individualized nutrition counseling is provided by registered dietitians for all Food & Friends clients.  Quarterly cooking classes are offered specifically designed for people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging illnesses.  Additionally, a broad range of client education materials are provided on topics such as food safety, the importance of protein, safe drinking water, dealing with lack of appetite and management of side effects.  Regular nutrition education programs are hosted on a variety of topics.  Finally, Food & Friends registered dietitians are also available for off-site workshops and group counseling.

Numerous organizations serve as Referral Partners.  An Referral Form is available online for use by agencies or individuals themselves.  A Client Services staff member conducts a home visit with the first day of food delivery to provide expanded information about Food & Friends, as well as to assess the home environment.

Food & Friends relies greatly on volunteers to carry out its work.  Approximately 300 volunteers are involved each week in a variety of activities ranging from meal preparation, meal and grocery deliveries, organizing special fundraising events, etc.  Faithful Deliveries has been developed in partnership with faith communities to form teams among congregants who deliver groceries to clients and families in their own neighborhoods.

Sources of funding for Food & Friends are through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Special Fundraising Events including:

• Dining Out for Life - Area restaurants designate between 25-100% of their proceeds on a specified day to go to Food & Friends.  Volunteer ambassadors are assigned to each restaurant to distribute information about Food & Friends and to solicit additional contributions from diners.  Opportunities to develop this event in other communities may be explored through Dining Out for Life International.
• Chef's Best Dinner and Auction - Over 1,000 supporters sample food prepared by 50 of the area's most noted chefs.
• Slice of Life – Those in the community may order their Thanksgiving pies from Food & Friends and help deliver nutritious, life-saving meals to children and adults battling HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses.
• Thanksgiving at Food & Friends – Opportunities for volunteers to get involved with Food & Friends at Thanksgiving.
• An Evening of Theatre to Benefit Food & Friends – Attend a theater performance and a private dinner reception at the theatre prior to the performance.
• Other events with proceeds donated to Food & Friends.

Food & Friends is a member of the Association of Nutrition Services Agencies (ANSA), which serves as the national network for member agencies and people who live with and are affected by HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging illnesses.  ANSA provides access to extensive resources including:

• ANSA Nutrition Guidelines for Agencies Providing Food for People Living with HIV Disease
• ANSA Nutrition Fact Sheets

ANSA sponsors an annual conference and further ideas about how services have been developed in different communities may be gained through information from ANSA member organizations including:

• Community Servings (Boston) 
• God's Love We Deliver (New York City) 
• Project Angel Food (Los Angeles) 
• Project Angel Heart (Denver) - note: this is largely a volunteer initiative 
• Project Open Hand (Atlanta)

Other useful information and materials may be accessed through the links below.  Note - Providing this listing does not reflect endorsement by WeCanEndHunger.org, VirtualCAP.org or Food & Friends, Inc.

• AIDS Education Global Information System (AEGIS) - Nutrition Information
• HIV/AIDS Dietetic Practice Group (DPG)
• AIDS.ORG
• HIV ReSources, Inc.

Outcomes

Food & Friends By the Numbers – A total of 975,150 meals were delivered to 2,759 clients in 2009.  Since 1988, Food & Friends has delivered 12,492,148 meals to 19,780 clients (through 12/31/2009).