Values

All those who serve and are served by the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank are guided and joined by our shared values.

Service – We are committed to helping our neighbors struggling with the hardships of food and nutrition insecurity by providing services and education to partner agencies and to our community through accurate information and quality food products, while reducing waste and caring for the environment.

Quality – We are committed to excellence in services, products, and operations.

People – Those who work as employees, volunteers, donors of products, and contributors of funds are the strength of the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank programs. They create our success and determine our reputation. We will treat all people with respect, dignity and courtesy. We support and actively aim to create an inclusive environment that embraces all, regardless of race, gender identity, experience, economic status, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. We will work to provide an environment in which all can work and learn together.

Advocacy - The Foodbank consistently forms strong relationships with local, state, and federal government officials to advocate for programs and services that will help alleviate food insecurity in our community.  Our partner agencies and mobile pantry sites receive food from federal government initiatives and several of our child nutrition programs and our signature program for seniors also receive food and funding from legislative actions.  We proudly work with elected officials from all political affiliations and at all levels to ensure that they are aware of the challenges in our community related to food insecurity and are empowered to make decisions in their positions with our neighbors and our work in mind.

Stewardship – Fulfilling our mission requires that we use our resources, gifts and donations wisely and with accountability to the public.

Integrity – We will be honest and fair in our relationship with all those who are associated with us, and with all other organizations working to end hunger and deprivation in our community, our nation and the world.

Our Equity Commitment  - We are the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, a network of more than 140 partner agencies, volunteers, staff, Board, and others working together in a shared mission of involving, educating, and uniting people in the work of ending hunger across the greater Virginia Peninsula.

At Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, we hold people experiencing hunger and food insecurity across the greater Virginia Peninsula at the center of our actions and decisions. We envision a hunger-free Peninsula where each person can participate, prosper, and have access to food that is both nourishing and in keeping with their culture. We recognize that systemic injustices and oppression exist—such as racism, classism, and sexism—and that these create and perpetuate conditions that sustain poverty, hunger, and health disparities.

Understanding this, we commit to serve marginalized communities, in both urban and rural environments, in ways that value who they are, their lived experiences, and their unique barriers to accessing food. We resolve to educate ourselves by listening to and including these communities in our work, and to respond where bias and inequities appear. We will confront oppression and poverty by developing solutions to hunger that are community-driven, equitable, accessible, honor a diversity of needs, and value everyone. Our food programs and public policy efforts aim to build a society where everyone can thrive—celebrating our differences and working together to overcome injustices that might divide us… because no one should be hungry.