Alexandria Living Magazine
Fontaine and several other restaurants make efforts to help feed the hungry in Alexandria.
One of the unique items on the menu at Fontaine Caffe & Creperie — aside from those amazing crepes — is 100% vegan soup. Freshly made in house, Fontaine serves tomato, carrot, leek and potato, vegetable and several other types of warm, healthy goodness on a rotating basis.
In 2019, the restaurant donated about 250 gallons of soup and thousands of baguettes to the meals program at Meade Memorial Episcopal Church on North Alfred Street.
The restaurant’s owners have instilled a culture of getting involved in the community, and it’s the restaurant’s staff that cooks and packages the soup every Monday and Wednesday. A community member part of Volunteer Alexandria delivers the meals every Monday, and a church member picks up the meals every Wednesday. The soup is part of a multi-church Bag Lunch Program serving hot meals every weekday to the homeless, unemployed and underfed in Alexandria.
Fontaine is one of a growing group of businesses that are working to help fight hunger locally.
A report published in 2014 for the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria and the Childhood Obesity Action Network highlighted significant gaps in the services that are available to local residents who are suffering from food hard-ship, which is defined as irregular access to affordable, healthy meals. In response, several community leaders and organizations created Hunger Free Alexandria.
The cooperative effort’s mission is “to coordinate community efforts to raise awareness of food insecurity and to increase reliable access to nutritious, culturally appropriate food in the City of Alexandria.”
Approximately 15,000 of Alexandria residents live below the poverty line, where food hardship is common. By some estimates, more than half of students in Alexandria City Public Schools receive free or reduced-price lunches.
“Restaurants can play a role in fighting hunger in Alexandria and Fontaine is an ex-ample of it,” said Marion Brunken, Executive Director of Volunteer Alexandria. “And it’s not all about money. There are creative ways to ensuring all people are fed and we need businesses to help us.”
Restaurateur Mike Anderson donates a portion of sales to ALIVE (an Alexandria nonprofit that serves families in need in many ways) through one of his restaurant’s programs: Holy Cow in Del Ray has, since it opened, donated a quarter for every burger sold, to one of more than 200 local nonprofit organizations through ACT for Alexandria. In 2018, Holy Cow passed the $100,000 mark in donations.
In addition, many local grocery stores donate to ALIVE’s food bank, as do farmers markets. ALIVE then provides groceries at three sites in Alexandria and also helps supply food to pantries, schools, meal programs and other partners.
Many people are motivated to give generously during the holiday season, but donations often dry up in January and February. By the end of February, many of Alexandria’s food pantries are running low. “We really need to come together to make these changes,” Brunken said. “We are better together.”
To help fight hunger locally this winter and to find volunteer opportunities, visit volunteeralexandria.org/hunger-in-alexandria.
