2021 has been nothing like we had hoped it would be, and yet everything we needed it to be.
The sameness of pandemic living, which we had expected would ease with vaccinations, has worn on everyone. It’s hardest for those who already have the least. At the height of the need in early 2021, Loudoun Hunger Relief was serving 1000 families each week. That number declined to 600 families a week as the year progressed. Overall, 650 families on average were served each week. That’s 650 of our neighbors helped each week by the generosity of our community.
And that’s how the year ended up being everything we needed it to be. Loudoun Hunger Relief staff and volunteers are human. There were days when someone came to us for help and their need was so great that it broke our hearts. Others were so expressive of gratitude for food for their families that it gave us energy to carry on when exhaustion was setting in. Through everything, the support of our community through food and financial donations has been a rock. That support has been the reason that we were able to help so many get through such a difficult year.
We wish it were over, but 2022 is dawning with another wave of yet another variant. The weariness is real for all of us, but so is the knowledge that our Loudoun community is a caring place.
Thank you so much to all who have supported of neighbors in need of food over the last two years. It’s hard to imagine what things have been like for those struggling to stay housed and fed in Loudoun County of all places. Your gifts of food, time and money have made things bearable and livable for your neighbors, and have given the staff and volunteers serving at LHR the positive energy we needed.
Here’s to a better 2022 for all of us.
And here is a link to a quick Year in Review video from LHR.
