D.C. group plans to triple production of meals for AIDS patients

Officials with the Washington, D.C.-based Food and Friends, which provides meals to people with AIDS and other serious illnesses, hope the agency will be able to triple its production after moving into a new facility with an industrial-size kitchen and staff offices, The Washington Post reports. The move was supported by $8.7 million in donations, agency officials say. The organization, founded in 1988, employs 55 full-time staff members and has more than 750 regular volunteers. It delivers three meals and "groceries to go"--bags of nonperishable food items--each day to clients in Washington and 14 counties in Maryland and Virginia. Food and Friends officials say the new 25,000-square-foot facility should allow the agency to triple its meal production capacity. Food and Friends also offers cooking classes as well as nutritional counseling for people with AIDS and other serious diseases.