No Child Goes Hungry / Accotink

Help Stop Hunger in Fairfax County!
Although Northern Virginia is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, in Fairfax County, 5.7% of the population experience food insecurity. This means, based on U.S. Census figures, that more than 90,000 people are living in poverty and 30% are children.

Every month, AUUC children, youth, teens, and adult helpers assemble meal packs immediately following the Sunday service in the church sanctuary. Meal packing is fun, it’s quick, and it’s a social justice action that involves our entire AUUC community in meeting a great need in our local community where food insecurity is a reality for many families.

Meal Pack Assembly Events are held in the Sanctuary following the Sunday Worship Service. 2024 meal packing: Jan 14, Feb 11, Mar 17, Apr 21, May 19.

All AUUC children, youth, adults, and AUUC friends are invited to join the fun of working together to assemble these meal packs.

We can’t fill the bags if we don’t have enough food donations, so please sign up to bring in any of the 10 specific food items described below (printable Food Donation List.)

Three Easy Steps to sign up to donate any of the 10 specific food items:

To begin, please visit the SignUp page.
Sign up to indicate which specific food item(s) and quantity you wish to donate.
Drop off your food donations at the church in the yellow-covered black bins located in the Gallery (hallway).

Support this Effort – Donations Appreciated!

Financial support for our No Child Goes Hungry/Accotink program comes from these sources:

Donations of the 10 specific food items by AUUC individuals and families
Donations of cash/checks which will allow us to purchase items to assemble meal packs. Please make checks payable to AUUC with “NCGH/AUUC” in the memo line.

In 2017, UU minister Rev. Kären Rasmussen gave AUUC a $1,000 grant for this project as part of her public No Child Goes Hungry ministry.

For More Information

This program is sponsored by AUUC’s Social Justice Committee and Children’s Spiritual Development Committee. For questions, please contact Shelley B or Nancy D. Email justice@accotinkuu.org.

Thank you for your interest helping us provide meal packs for Halley Elementary School children through No Child Goes Hungry/Accotink.

Below is a list of items that are needed for each meal pack. Included are specifics for each item so that everything will fit into a gallon ziplock bag.

To donate specific items for meal packs, please visit the SignUp Genius. Thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact Shelley B. or justice@accotinkuu.org

Gallon storage bags with slider (e.g., Ziploc or Target brand)
Milk: shelf-stable single-serving containers. Plain, vanilla, or chocolate. (E.g., Horizon, Kirkland, NestleQuick or similar)
Juice: single-serving juice boxes, pouches, or similar (100% juice preferred)
Mac 'n cheese in microwaveable cups (e.g., Kraft, Velveeta)
Chef Boyardee pasta cups, 7.5 oz. (e.g., beefaroni, ravioli, chicken & rice, etc.)
Ramen noodles, in bags, not cups
Tuna salad or chicken salad in box with crackers (e.g., Bumble Bee or StarKist snack kits)
Instant oatmeal packets, individual packets, not cups
Fruit: Applesauce in cups (no other fruit cups, they can break open too easily) or fruit pouches (GoGo squeeZ or similar)
Breakfast bars (BelVita, NutraGrain, granola bar, etc.)
Salty snack, single-serving packs (Cheez-its, Chex Mix, pretzels, cheese cracker pack, etc.) No chips, they crunch up too easily.