A Cornucopia In Fairfax to Sate Suburban Hunger

Without the operation, "we wouldn't be able to give anything to the people who really need it," said Maria Barrios, who is in charge of organizing food distribution for the church.

In a region characterized by its affluence, the increasing demand on various food banks is a reminder of a basic need. According to D.C. Hunger Solutions, a group that works with the poor, 8.4 percent of Virginians contend with hunger; in the District, 11.4 percent of households are sometimes hungry; in Maryland, it is about 9.4 percent. The food bank estimates that 1 in 5 children in Northern Virginia is at risk of hunger.

The need now may be great, but the support is weakening; these are lean times for many nonprofit groups that work with the area's poor. Supermarkets, which traditionally have donated food to such banks, have begun selling extra food to discount wholesalers, reducing the amount given away. In addition, high gasoline prices are making it more expensive to transport food.

"It's a miracle we're able to provide what we can, since we are located in an area where there is little food production," said Lynn J. Brantley, president of the Capital Area Food Bank, as she walked around the cavernous warehouse filled with stocked shelves and bins full of food. "But there's a need that many don't see in this area. A need that is constantly in need of being addressed."

Much of the bank's food is overstocked items from supermarket chains such as Giant, Safeway and Harris Teeter. About 35 percent of the bank's offerings come from the Agriculture Department, which provides items including black-eyed peas, refried beans, tomato soup and canned apricots. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of food comes from America's Second Harvest, a national group that says it provided more than 2 billion pounds of food to organizations across the country last year.

The food bank's selections look like outsized supermarket aisles: canned green beans, boxes of black tea, granola bars, canned soup, double-chocolate cake mix, Tupperware and Kleenex. There are toiletries -- shampoo and soap -- that volunteers at homeless shelters pick up to distribute.

For decades, the Capital Area Food Bank served the region from the main office, in Northeast Washington. But to help meet the burgeoning need across the Potomac, the bank opened its Northern Virginia warehouse in 1998. Since then, it has served dozens of small organizations and churches large and small.

On a recent morning, a volunteer rummaged through a shelf stocked with peanut butter and other staples. Organizations come in daily to pick up items, but the food bank also delivers. For food that the food bank has to purchase -- about $400,000 worth each year -- it charges organizations.

"Being able to get fresh food for our clients reliably is a blessing," said Meka Jones, transitional housing caseworker for Community Lodgings, a nonprofit organization in Alexandria. "Our families come to us to help them make ends meet."

Staff writer Bill Turque contributed to this report.