Forget selling books of restaurant coupons or chances on fruit baskets. One county charity has a little more appealing prize to raffle off this fall - a four-bedroom house on a spacious yard overlooking a creek.
Foodlink, a nonprofit organization that provides other charities with donated food from grocery stores, caterers and restaurants, is raffling off a $550,000 home in northern Charles County.
"It's a win-win situation," said Foodlink's director, Cathy Holstrom. "On the one hand, someone is going to be able to win this fabulous house. And on the other hand, the number of tickets we'll be able to sell directly correlates to the number of families we're going to be able to help."
Last year, Foodlink donated more than 3 million pounds of food to low-income senior housing, food pantries, soup kitchens, group homes and homeless shelters. The organization is partially supported by grants from Anne Arundel County and occupies office space for free in a county building in Annapolis.
"I applaud the work of Foodlink in conjunction with this raffle, especially in these very difficult and austere budgetary times," said County Executive John R. Leopold. "The fact that this organization is taking leftover food and giving it to people in need is a tribute to their resourcefulness."
The demand for food more than doubled in the past two years as a result of the rising prices of food, gasoline and utilities, Holstrom said.
In 2006, the organization helped 5,400 households each month. Last year, it donated food to 11,000 households each month. Seniors and people on disability have been hit particularly hard, she said, because their incomes have not increased to match the cost of living.
At the same time, some grocery stores have decreased their donations as a result of cost-cutting measures.
"In these difficult economic times, stores are trying to be more careful with their inventory," said Holstrom. "They're ordering a little less and holding on to it a little longer."
The proceeds from the raffle will be used to purchase additional food and gasoline for delivery vehicles and possibly be used to pay additional salaries. Currently, Holstrom has one full-time and one part-time employee on her payroll, but she mostly relies on the work of more than 200 volunteers.
