Food & Friends has started construction on a 17,000-square-foot expansion at its Northeast Washington headquarters, breaking ground Monday, July 13, 2026, on a roughly $30 million project the nonprofit says will more than double its ability to prepare medically tailored meals for neighbors living with cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. The current facility is stretched thin as demand for diagnosis-specific meals climbs across the region, and staff and volunteers say the new space will let them serve more clients and ramp up one-on-one nutrition support.
What the expansion will add
The project enlarges the kitchen and production areas, adds two loading docks, creates bigger volunteer spaces and builds private rooms for nutrition counseling, while converting the existing kitchen into a chilled packing area. According to Food & Friends, the capital campaign, called Nourish Together, is designed to boost capacity for medically tailored meal production and volunteer operations. Construction is slated to start right away and is expected to take about 18 to 24 months.
Production and demand
Right now, staff and volunteers package about 7,100 meals each day, and the organization delivered more than 2.2 million medically tailored meals last year across a service area it describes as roughly the size of Connecticut. In comments to WTOP, CEO Carrie Stoltzfus said, "The demand has been so high, and so we need more room. And we're really, really excited to be kicking that off." Rebecca Kahn, the director of nutrition services, told reporters the team is already seeing fewer hospital visits among clients who receive medically tailored meals.
Funding and city backing
The Washington Business Journal reported in June that Food & Friends had already raised nearly 80% of its $30 million Nourish Together goal. The D.C. Council has lined up behind the project as well. A resolution authorizing up to $15 million in revenue bonds to help finance construction appears in public legislative records, and LegiScan shows the measure that would allow the District to issue those bonds on the nonprofit's behalf.
Evidence that food is medicine
Independent analyses and the nonprofit's own evaluations help explain why leaders are betting big on more kitchen space. Food & Friends' FY2025 annual report documents the delivery of more than 2.2 million meals last year and cites independent technical reviews that link medically tailored meals to significant drops in hospital visits and charges for high-need clients. The report, along with studies summarized in it, presents the program as a health care intervention that can lower costs while improving outcomes, according to Food & Friends.
Community response and next steps
Local chefs, volunteers and donors celebrated the campaign's progress at the organization's Chef's Best fundraiser in June, The Washington Informer reported. Community coverage and project summaries describe a phased construction plan meant to keep meal production and home delivery going while building crews get to work, with exterior construction starting this summer and interior renovations following, Next Stop...Riggs Park says.
