Food Security
At Saint Peter’s, food security is a practice of meeting needs of our neighbors and recognizing our shared life.
WHY FOOD SECURITY MATTERS
Food is a sign of God’s care and human community.
When we feed the hungry, we meet Christ.
Daily bread
Manna in the wilderness
The edges of the field
Jesus feeds the crowds
When Jesus teaches us to pray, he teaches us to ask for daily bread. He invites outsiders to dinner and breaks bread with his friends. Throughout Scripture, food is a sign of God’s care and human community. God gives enough manna in the wilderness for each day. The law of Israel reserves the edges of the field so that the hungry, the stranger, and the vulnerable may eat. Jesus feeds the crowds when they are tired and far from home. And in Matthew 25, he tells us that when we feed the hungry, we meet him.
Food security is not charity from a distance. It is a way of recognizing Christ in our neighbors and refusing to treat hunger as normal.
HOW SAINT PETER’S SERVES
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Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) Food Collection
We collect food for AFAC, helping stock a local food pantry that serves Arlington neighbors. Parishioners may bring shelf-stable food to the Narthex. Helpful items include canned tuna, soups, vegetables, tomatoes, peanut butter in plastic jars, and cereal.
We also join AFAC for food-sorting and packing opportunities. These are simple, hands-on ways for individuals, families, and groups to support the food distribution process.
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Bailey's Shelter
On the first Sunday of each month, parishioners make sandwiches and assemble nutritious bag lunches for residents of Bailey’s Shelter in Fairfax County. This is one of our most accessible intergenerational service opportunities. Children, youth, and adults can serve side by side, turning a few minutes after worship into a tangible act of mercy.
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Barcroft Mobile Market
Through the Barcroft Mobile Market, Saint Peter’s volunteers help distribute food to families in the Barcroft community. This ministry is about more than groceries. It supports families, strengthens students, and helps build a local network of care. The market is a project of Communities in Schools of Northern Virginia.
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Community Garden
Our produce is donated to local food pantries through Plot Against Hunger; we connect the work of growing food with the work of feeding neighbors. Our garden reminds us that food begins in the soil, with water, sunlight, patience and care. Plot Against Hunger is a program of Arlington Friends of Urban Agriculture (FOUA).
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Meals on Wheels
Saint Peter’s volunteers deliver meals in partnership with Meals on Wheels, bringing food and human connection to seniors and disabled Arlington neighbors.
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SOME (So Others Might Eat)
Parishioners prepare an early, hot breakfast for people experiencing hunger in Washington, D.C. Volunteers are finished in time to get to work! Read more about SOME.
LOVE THAT BECOMES LOCAL
Food ministries teach us to notice.
Food ministries teach us to notice. We notice the neighbor who needs a meal. We notice the pantry shelf that needs to be filled. We notice the child whose ability to learn is shaped by whether there is food at home. We notice the homebound person for whom a meal delivery may be the day’s most important human contact.
This is how love becomes local. This is how worship becomes bread in someone’s hands.
FIND YOUR NEXT FAITHFUL STEP
Several ways to help feed our neighbors.
bringing food for AFAC to the Narthex;
helping pack or sort food;
preparing Bailey’s Shelter lunches after worship;
volunteering at Barcroft Mobile Market;
delivering Meals on Wheels;
preparing breakfast at SOME;
helping grow food in our Community Garden.
READY TO HELP FEED YOUR NEIGHBORS?