30th Annual Loudoun Small Business Awards Finalist Spotlight: Loudoun Hunger Relief
Thank you to Trish McNeal from Loudoun Hunger Relief for sharing the LHR story. Congratulations on being a finalist for the 30th Annual Loudoun Small Business Awards! View all finalists here and event info here.
Tell us the story of your business/nonprofit and how it’s evolved.
Loudoun Hunger Relief (LHR) was founded in 1991 when the Loudoun County Department of Family Services asked a number of small church food pantries to come together to form a central pantry resource for Loudoun. Centralizing and combining the small pantries allowed the new larger pantry to be open for service more frequently and created streamlined access to food resources in Loudoun. From those humble beginnings in a storefront in the Virginia Village Shopping Center in Leesburg, LHR has grown from serving a handful of families a week to serving between 800 and 900 families a week in our new Free Food Market and Community Services Center. LHR has grown as the need has grown, and as Loudoun County’s population has grown. We now serve between 14,000 and 16,000 Loudoun residents a year with 2.5 million pounds of food.
What are you most proud of when it comes to your team?
The team, which includes staff, volunteers, board members, and donors, has worked tirelessly over the past four years. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, a major capital campaign, and a capital project, the team has consistently prioritized service over self, ensuring that our neighbors have enough to eat. We are proud to be part of such a talented, fun, and motivated team. Our work serves a purpose greater than ourselves, and we feel pretty lucky to come to work every day.
In what ways do you give back to the Loudoun community?
Our main goal is to support the Loudoun community with nutritious foods. We collaborate with over 25 grocery stores, 20 community organizations, and nonprofits, as well as our schools, government partners, and businesses to ensure that those in need have access to food
What would it mean to you and your business to win a Small Business Award?
Loudoun Hunger Relief would be honored to win a Chamber Small Business Award. Winning this award would testify to the positive impact we have on the community.
Food distributed by LHR puts the equivalent of $4.7 million dollars back into Loudoun’s economy each year. Those are dollars that are freed for families to spend on other necessities like housing, transportation, clothing, and medical care right here in our community. We appreciate the incredible support we receive from chamber members and from our local community
Who is the one person that has influenced you the most in your career?
We draw influence and inspiration from our fellow food pantry organizations, Feeding America, and other nonprofits.
What did you want to be when you grew up as a child?
A free choice grocery market!!
If you’re not in the office, where can we find you/what is another passion you have?
We love to break down cardboard boxes, think of food jokes for our signboard, feed our loved ones, stand in freezers, and rearrange our cupboards at home!
How do you see your business evolving in the next 5 years?
We wish we could say that LHR won’t be needed in 5 years. Instead, LHR is opening a second pantry location in Sterling in early 2025 to better serve our neighbors right where they live.
The second location will allow expanded service hours to accommodate the increased need for emergency food that we anticipate in our community over the coming years. No matter how large or small the need, LHR has always been there for our neighbors and we plan to continue being there.