WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Local nonprofits are enlisting children in the fight against the twin scourges of hunger and homelessness. Food for Others, one of the region’s largest providers of free food to the area’s needy and bulk food for homeless programs, is particularly innovative in finding roles for young people. Many families bring all their members to work in the organization’s programs.

“It gives whole families a sense of empowerment, a sense that they really can make a difference,” group spokeswoman Liz Reinert said.

Very young children help their parents or older siblings package up food baskets or help patrons with their selections of fresh goods. Local Scouts can help earn patches for their homeless and hunger work at the center. School sports teams get involved in planning food drives and designing distribution programs. Some of the organization’s 500 volunteers teach young children stories about homeless animals, putting an understandable face on the need.

By working in the group’s warehouse distribution center, children learn that helping others is something every family can and should do.

“It’s all part of being a good neighbor, being a good family member,” Reinert said.

Reinert’s group also works with schools to help high schoolers meet their service requirements for graduation and writes curriculum plans for classroom use. It even purchases books to help student volunteers understand how families can find themselves in need of the organization’s help.

Involving children and their parents in the mission to help feed the needy helps remove the stigma often associated with being homeless or needing food assistance.

“We help children see that these people are their neighbors, average people who find themselves in need of our help,” Reinert said.

For Mary Smith’s four children, ages 11 to 16, the programs at Food for Others have been a wake-up call.

“Until we started working there, I don’t think they had any idea there were needy families in Northern Virginia,” Smith told The Examiner. “They had no idea there were people [in their community] in need,” she added.

Smith said her family started at the center with their “Harvest for Hunger” program, where kids and their parents pick produce and package it into food baskets. On their trip, Smith said they picked squash.

“They were astonished at how much work it took to bring food to the needy, and they were tired but they also had fun and learned a lot,” Smith said. Her entire family works a few hours at the warehouse once a month.

Today, Food for Others will be holding a workshop where a teacher will be explaining to volunteers why families sometimes need free food.

“We’ll be doing a mini budget session to show how much it costs to feed a family, and why some paychecks may not stretch far enough sometimes,” Reinert said. On average, the organization serves 60 needy families a day on a $500,000 a year budget.

Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at fsietzen@yahoo.com.