A typical luncheon menu at the monthly Kiwanis Club of South Arlington meeting consists of a buffet spread featuring various cuisines.
But at the July 18 meeting, it was more bare-bones fare: A ham-and-cheese sandwich on white bread, small bag of pretzels, small fruit cup and a package of two Oreo cookies, plus a small bottle of water.
The meal was equivalent to what is typically distributed to those on the street by PathForward, formerly the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network (A-SPAN). Kiwanis Club members later in the meeting prepared 100 bagged lunches to support the initiative, for distribution the following lunch.
“We couldn’t do this without partnerships,” said PathForward’s Liz Nohra. And that’s particularly true during the summer months, when volunteers often are away.
“Summertime becomes really hard,” she said as club members began setting up an assembly-line effort to make sandwiches (two for each bag) and add other food items, condiments and utensils. A personalized note was added to each of the 100 bags.
PathForward provides three meals a day, totaling 43,000 a year, via its drop-in program, through shelters and its mobile-medical program’s outreach team. Some meals go to those who face homelessness but are working jobs. “We give them lunch during the day so they have the dignity of having meals with their fellow workers,” Nohra said.
Volunteers are always welcomed to help put together and deliver the bagged meals.
The connection between PathForward and the Kiwanis Club of South Arlington was John Murphy, CEO of Washington Workplace, which hosts Kiwanis meetings at its office in Shirlington.
“We used to do this monthly for years – we enjoyed this,” he said of his firm’s meal-bagging efforts. (Like many volunteer initiatives, PathForward saw a major drop-off in volunteers during COVID, and is working to rebuild efforts.)
Murphy and the Washington Workplace staff, who also helped at the July 18 event, often went out to deliver meals.
“I got to meet a lot of the A-SPAN clients,” he said. “I still see some today.”
The bagged-meal initiative actually predates the creation of A-SPAN. That organization’s founder, Lora Rinker, more than three decades ago started serving those facing homelessness by passing out lunches from her porch in Lyon Village. It was “an incredible service,” Nohra noted.
Breakfast and dinner also are available to clients and others on the street; PathForward has a chef and a cook on staff, augmented by volunteers plus partnerships with organizations such as the Arlington Food Assistance Center.
Arlington had a count of 243 as part of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ 2024 “point-in-time” survey of those experiencing homelessness. That was up 14 percent from a year before and by far the highest during the COVID era.
Arlington was not alone; the regional homeless count of 9,774 (based on data from January) was up 12 percent from a year before. Among major jurisdictions across the D.C. region, only Fairfax County (including the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church) saw a decline, with its homeless population dropping 2 percent after a spike in 2023.
The count has been conducted annually since 2001, and includes both those who are housed in shelters and other supportive housing, and those living on the streets.
The greatest and growing proportion of single adults experiencing homelessness is over age 55, local advocates say, presenting a particularly daunting challenge to address. On the evening of the 2024 regional point-in-time count, two individuals over the age of 90 were among those housed in emergency shelters across the region.
