Donate Food

Post offices in Howard County are extending their annual food drive, hoping to bolster one of the lowest yields since the postal service began its effort to help the needy.As of early Friday, donations throughout Howard County for the statewide Harvest for the Hungry campaign -- which collects nonperishable food for county and state food banks -- reached about 9,500 pounds since the drive began March 17. That's only a third of what the county usually donates each year.The campaign was supposed to end yesterday, according to a statewide schedule.

Passover is seen traditionally as a holiday of the spring, not usually marked by snow. But Howard Kaplan and his wife, Roberta, of Baltimore, wouldn't let Monday's inclement conditions deter them from coming to the Pimlico Race Course to dispose of their leavened food. "Snow won't hold anybody up," she said. Baltimore-area families burned their chametz Monday morning in observation of Passover. The holiday commemorates God's freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Because the Jewish people had to leave Egypt quickly, they had to eat their bread before it had risen.

People who wish to donate food to Bea Gaddy's annual Thanksgiving dinner can do so this week at selected transit stops.The Mass Transit Administration is accepting nonperishable items through Monday at all Metro stations and at two Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) stops -- Odenton and Pennsylvania Station.An MTA bus located at the Giant Food parking lot at Perring Parkway and Loch Raven Boulevard also will be taking donations through the weekend, from 7 a.m. Friday until 9 a.m. Monday.

The Maryland Food Bank is showing off a new, $1.4 million kitchen addition at its Halethorpe headquarters, and officials plan to use the added space to expand the organization's reach into job training programs. The nonprofit, which provided more than 14 million meals last year, will use the 6,000-square-foot addition to house a culinary school. The new space will also expand meal preparation and food storage areas. The food bank held a ribbon cutting Tuesday for the facility, which opens next week.

Wayne M. Wilson and the other 25 members of the Baltimore-based Boumi Camel Wheels have shown off their three-wheel cycles at cities throughout North America such as Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto.Sunday, they will strut their stuff at the first Pasadena Thanksgiving Parade being sponsored by Pasadena Business Association.The event starts at 2 p.m. at Northeast Senior High School."It's good to come home and get out and show off our cycles," Wilson said. "We enjoy it."The Shriners group is just one of 50 neighborhood organizations, churches, schools and businesses that will march along the two-mile parade route that ends at George Fox Middle School.

The Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department is sponsoring a food basket drive for needy families in the Elkridge area. The department is asking residents to donate food to help defray the costs of about 30 baskets.Items needed are canned gravy, dressing mix, cranberry sauce, sauerkraut, green beans, canned sweet potatoes or yams, other vegetables and juices.Drop off nonperishables at the fire station, 6275 Old Washington Road, Elkridge.To donate a turkey, margarine and frozen pies, call Capt. Joe Slavotinek at 796-1624 or the station at 313-4901.

Students at Pointers Run Elementary are learning about the devastation of Hurricane Andrew by sending non-perishable food and other items to storm victims.Since the start of school, students have dropped off about $200 worth of canned goods, baby formula, diapers, flashlights, insect repellent and other items, school officials said."We thought maybe they would send a couple of bags, but they brought in several boxes," said Teresa Logan, president of the Pointers Run PTA, which organized the food drive.

Baltimore area postal workers are extending their second annual food drive until Wednesday, in hopes of reaching their goal of collecting 600,000 pounds of food for the poor.The postal service's part of the statewide Harvest for the Hungry food drive had been scheduled to end yesterday.But donations were slowed by two recent snows and officials are extending the drive until Wednesday, said Patricia Liberto, a member of the Harvest for the Hungry's committee.Postal customers can donate food by placing canned or other nonperishable goods near their mailboxes.

When County Executive Robert R. Neall got there, the cupboard was far from bare. In fact, it was stocked full of cereal, rice, soup and canned vegetables. But the piggy bank was empty.Jacki Coyle didn'tbeat around the bush in telling Neall the news. When asked what the Glen Burnie food pantry needed most, Coyle answered frankly: "Money.""Our budget is whatever donations come in, so sometimes we run out," she said. "Today, we don't have any money."After touring the pantry, run by the North County Emergency Outreach Network, a non-profit coalition of 30 churches, Neall told the leaders he could take a hint.

The anonymous good Samaritans keep calling, bringing cash and carloads of food to help the Rev. Dennis Hancock keep open the pantry he runs in a building next to his Brooklyn church.A week ago, the Brooklyn Church of the Nazarene's pantry faced having to scale back its operations, and possibly closing its doors.Except for a few cans of green beans, corn and sauerkraut, the shelves were bare. There was no meat, no turkeys for Thanksgiving baskets. A $2,000 bill for utilities and food bought on credit waited to be paid.

Derek Reese, owner of TBonz Grille & Pub in Ellicott City, plans to take 60 pounds of grilled meat Sunday to the annual Taste & Auction at Turf Valley Resort. He'll offer the filet mignon in bite-sized portions, alongside a salad of field greens, crumbled blue cheese, candied walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette, he said. Joe and Mary Barbera, owners of Aida Bistro & Wine Bar in Columbia, will serve a goat cheese antipasto roulade on grilled crostini. Alexias Sharoky of Trapeze in Maple Lawn will contribute 25 pounds of Cajun-spiced, seared tuna, served with a cucumber wasabi and sesame-ginger sauce.

Dr. Sinnarajah Raguraj was visiting friends in New York on Sunday, enjoying a leisurely breakfast, when he began to get frantic cell phone calls from all over the country. What was happening in Sri Lanka? Within hours, the Bel Air internist was back in Baltimore, working on a relief mission to his native country. Since then, he has been on the phone constantly, talking to friends and colleagues across the United States and the world, trying to help victims of the devastating tsunamis that killed more than 60,000 in South Asia.

Beth Shalom Congregation of Taylorsville has donated 1,680 pounds of food to Carroll County Food Sunday from its annual food drive between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The synagogue has also contributed to the food bank, as of Wednesday, an additional 220 pounds of food collected from a year-round food drive. The congregation donated 1,410 pounds of food during last year's High Holy Days. The food drive is tied to the traditional Yom Kippur observance, in which Jewish people fast from sundown to sundown.

Organizers of an annual state drive to collect food in schools announced yesterday a goal of 250,000 pounds of canned goods, honoring 10 schools that last year brought in large amounts for the poor. The kickoff of the "Kids Helping Kids" campaign, a large focus of the annual Harvest for the Hungry food drive in Maryland, came on World Food Day, as local hunger advocates sought to call attention to the continuing problem of food insecurity in prosperous times. Despite Maryland's economic health -- the state topped the rest of the nation in household median income in a recent U.S. Census Bureau survey -- 500,000 of its residents worry about where their next meal is coming from, said Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank.

At a time when a restructured welfare system is sending more people to charities in search of help, mild weather has cut into usual donations of food and money.Because people usually think about donating food during the cold holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, most charities schedule major food drives for this time of year and push for donations that fuel them through the spring. This year, donations have been light."The people that give, they don't feel the cold, and the realization isn't there to give to somebody else," said Bruce Michalec, executive director of the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, which distributes food and furniture to churches and local groups that help the needy.

Around this time of year, Howard County churches and agencies that help the needy begin receiving calls asking where people can donate food and gift baskets in time for the holiday season.Privately, some county social services workers say this kind of seasonal giving is appreciated but troublesome: Donations come fast and furious right after Halloween, but that generosity falls off precipitously shortly after the first of the year.The Salvation Army Service Center in Ellicott City acts as a clearinghouse for donations throughout Howard County during the holiday season.

Around this time of year, Howard County churches and agencies that help the needy begin receiving calls asking where people can donate food and gift baskets in time for the holiday season.Privately, some county social services workers say this kind of seasonal giving is appreciated but troublesome: Donations come fast and furious right after Halloween, but that generosity falls off precipitously shortly after the first of the year.The Salvation Army Service Center in Ellicott City acts as a clearinghouse for donations throughout Howard County during the holiday season.

Your mail carrier will be delivering something more than letters and packages soon. Indeed, a chance to do someone in need a good turn will be at your doorstep this week.Tomorrow through Saturday, post office customers can donate food to the hungry by placing canned goods near their mailboxes. Letter carriers, in the course of their regular rounds, will pick up the nonperishable food and deliver it to the Maryland Food Bank as part of the Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive Campaign."Think of it as a very easy way to help the needy," said Larry Adam, founder of Harvest for the Hungry, a statewide network of volunteers that helps organize food drives.

Wayne M. Wilson and the other 25 members of the Baltimore-based Boumi Camel Wheels have shown off their three-wheel cycles at cities throughout North America such as Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto.Sunday, they will strut their stuff at the first Pasadena Thanksgiving Parade being sponsored by Pasadena Business Association.The event starts at 2 p.m. at Northeast Senior High School."It's good to come home and get out and show off our cycles," Wilson said. "We enjoy it."The Shriners group is just one of 50 neighborhood organizations, churches, schools and businesses that will march along the two-mile parade route that ends at George Fox Middle School.

WHEN HARVEST FOR the Hungry began nine years ago as a volunteer organization providing groceries to Maryland food banks, 450 providers were scattered across the state. Here's a "misery index": The number of food banks has since doubled. And yet despite the boom in providers, they are having trouble keeping pace with demand from hungry individuals and families.This dilemma was the focus of a "hunger summit" in Annapolis last December, where government officials, businesses and non-profit groups discussed how better to help the needy.