Our Daily Bread (ODB) is always helping people in need; now it’s receiving a helping hand to continue carrying on its work. The Fairfax nonprofit has just been awarded a $25,000 grant by the United Way of the National Capital Area (NCA).

The money will expand ODB’s ability to provide grocery cards via its Food Bridge Program. These cards are given to Fairfax County residents participating in ODB’s supplemental delivered-food program, as well as to people referred to the organization for emergency food assistance.

"We are grateful to the United Way of the National Capital Area for recognizing this very real need in the community and providing such a generous grant to address [it]," said ODB Executive Director, Lisa Whetzel. "Because of these funds, Our Daily Bread will be able to help 300 struggling families put food on the table."

"When parents have the security of food in the home, they can focus on overcoming the financial crisis that brought them to ODB," she explained. "By providing grocery cards to our families, we are empowering them to use the budgeting skills they learn through ODB to choose fresh foods that meet their families’ dietary needs."

ODB provides emergency, safety-net services to working individuals and families throughout the Fairfax County who are having a tough time making ends meet. Besides its Financial Assistance and Financial Literacy programs, ODB’s Food Bridge Program works to prevent homelessness by lowering families’ food costs so they may use their limited funds to pay off other bills, in hopes of restoring financial self-sufficiency.

"It is shocking to think that, in wealthy Fairfax County, there are 76,000 people who do not know where their next meal will come from, and many of them are children," said Whetzel. "United Way NCA shares our belief that we can do so much more in our communities when we connect those who have something to give with those who have the greatest need, and we are grateful to have the United Way NCA’s support to provide that connection in the Fairfax community."

Our Daily Bread is celebrating 30 years of providing assistance and a way forward for struggling individuals and families throughout the county. But it can’t do it alone.

It relies on funding and volunteer support from the community to provide supplemental food, financial assistance, financial mentoring and budget classes, an intensive Project BRIDGE program to foster long-term self-sufficiency, holiday assistance and back-to-school help. For more information, go to www.ODBFairfax.org.