What WFCM Means to Me; a reflection during Hunger Action Month by Deb Forbes, WFCM Board President

Before I lived in Fairfax County, I lived in Lusaka, Zambia in southern Africa, supporting my husband’s humanitarian work. Poverty and deprivation were a daily fact of life for many of those we lived among, but people were quick to see need and help each other.

When I moved to Fairfax County, I missed that communal spirit. I knew there was vulnerability and need here too, but it was difficult to see.

When my church connected me to Western Fairfax Christian Ministries, I began to understand more about who was living on the margins and why, and how I could be useful. By now I was a mother leading Girl Scout troops full of elementary-school-age kids. They imagined poverty the way I had known it in Zambia: people living far away with needs they could barely imagine. With the help of WFCM, they learned that need could be as simple as a family dealing with an unexpected car repair or illness, a paycheck that ran out while groceries were still needed, a friend in their class for whom there might not be dinner at home that night. They learned they had a place in a larger community where we take care of one another.

I am so grateful that WFCM provides the space for us to continue to envision and build this kind of community. The need is greater than ever. Our county is prosperous, but the cost of living is high and for many wages and employment haven’t kept up. Our social safety net has been weakened by the expiration of COVID-era government funds. Capital Area Food Bank recently reported that, rather than need diminishing, we now face a rate of 27% food insecurity in Fairfax county.

We are living in times when the systems we have built—our economy, our institutions, our public discourse—can feel woefully inadequate to the problems we face. But we have the power to take action to build the kind of community we want to live in. A donation of money or food to WFCM is not merely a one-way act of charity. The root of charity is “caritas.” It is a relationship of caring we establish with each other that lifts us all.

Join me during Hunger Action Month to find ways to volunteer, raise awareness, donate food and or donate funds. Let me encourage you to be a #caringconnection.

In service,

Board President, Deborah Forbes