2 Arlington churches come together to feed the hungry

Jimmy Alexander | jimmy.alexander@wtop.com
November 8, 2025, 4:21 PM


With the increase in food insecurity as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, two Arlington, Virginia, churches joined forces on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, to feed the hungry. (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

With the longest government shutdown in U.S. history stretching to day 39, and on the heels of the Supreme Court granting President Donald Trump’s administration’s emergency order blocking a court order to fully fund SNAP benefits, the need for food has grown.

Government workers have not received a paycheck in a month, inflation is still causing sticker shock in grocery stores, and many in the area had their federal jobs cut earlier in the year, which has caused food insecurity to grow for many in the D.C. area.

Organizers at Saturday’s food pop-up giveaway, which was jointly hosted in Arlington, Virginia, by Mount Olivet United Methodist Church and Walker Chapel United Methodist Church, said they’ve never seen longer lines. “We had folks who were showing up for the first time because they’ve been furloughed,” said pastor Teer Hardy.

The furloughed government workers stood in a line that wrapped around the parking lot off Glebe Road with families who work multiple jobs to make ends meet. ... “It really is a melting pot of our community here in the parking lot,” Hardy said. ... The food pop-up has been going for nearly 20 years on the second Saturday of the month in the parking lot at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church.

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Jimmy Alexander
Jimmy Alexander has been a part of the D.C. media scene as a reporter for DC News Now and a long-standing voice on the Jack Diamond Morning Show. Now, Alexander brings those years spent interviewing newsmakers like President Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney and Sean Connery, to the WTOP Newsroom.

jimmy.alexander@wtop.com