From left: Floyd Hammer, Outreach Program Founder; Kathy Hamilton, Outreach Program Founder; Jeff Bergman, WHC Hunger Project Co-Chair; Joan Adoff, WHC Hunger Project Co-Chair, and M. Bruce Lustig, WHC Senior Rabbi. Photo Contributed
One hundred volunteers came together at the Julia Bindeman Suburban Center in Potomac to pack the 500,000th Washington Hebrew Congregation Hunger Project meal on Sunday, Dec. 6.
Started eight years ago, the WHC Hunger Project now packs 150,000 meals each year, which are delivered to local partner organizations, including Capital Area Food Bank, Maryland Food Bank, SOME, and Manna Food Center. At small-scale events throughout the year, volunteers typically put together 10,000 meals. At the event on Sunday, nearly 12,000 meals were packed.
Fully funded by Washington Hebrew Congregation’s Tikkun Olam Values (TOV) Fund, WHC Hunger Project helps provide food for individuals and families who cannot afford or do not have access to nutritionally adequate and safe food. The food assembled at WHC Hunger Project events is distributed within seven days to local shelters, kitchens, schools, and homes.
Floyd Hammer and Kathy Hamilton, founders of Outreach Program (see outreachprogram.org), a non-profit that provides safe water, food, medical care, and education to those in need at home and abroad, joined Senior Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig, WHC Hunger Project Chairs Jeff Bergman and Joan Adoff, and WHC’s volunteers in recognizing this milestone.
Learn more about WHC Hunger Project at whctemple.org/HungerProject.