Grassroots

`Empty Bowls' Take home a piece of original artwork and support a good cause Saturday at Empty Bowls: A Community Event to Help Fight Hunger in Howard County. Held at the Columbia Art Center, the program features about 300 handcrafted bowls made by local artists. It also includes a meal, live music, a silent art auction, raffles and art demonstrations. Proceeds benefit the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center of Howard County. Empty Bowls is 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Saturday at the Columbia Art Center, 6100 Foreland Garth in Columbia.

Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center has resumed operation of its cold-weather shelter program for homeless people in Howard County. This year, 14 churches are to provide shelter for one or two weeks from now through March 16. Church volunteers will also provide meals, transportation, clothing, medicine and laundry services for those in need, including families, who are unable to get into the Grassroots shelter because it is full. Grassroots provides the county's only shelter for homeless people.

The Columbia-based Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center is seeking to expand the capacity of one of its homeless shelters, the Miles House in Ellicott City, from eight to 12 people."

TALBOTT SPRINGS Elementary School fifth-grader John Lloyd will gladly tell you the secret of success: Find a need and fill it.John created a Type III project at his school, which requires the pupil to find a problem and then invent the means to solve it.Type III projects are open to everyone, although they must be accepted by a committee of resource teachers who work in the Gifted and Talented Program.The pupil is required to write a proposal describing the problem and the proposed solution, including supplies and outside resources that may be needed.

TOWSON -- Three county public high school students have been named semifinalists in the 35th annual National Achievement Scholarship Program, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. has announced.The competition honors academically able black students and encourages them to pursue higher education. More than 1,500 semifinalists will compete for about 800 awards worth almost $3 million.The three winning students are Parkville High School senior hTC Danielle R. Boyd; and Yvonne V. Edmonds and Randolph Frazier, seniors at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology.

United Way contributions from Howard County reached nearly $2.5 million for the 1995 campaign -- an increase of 9.1 percent from the previous year and more than double the county's goal.The county's contributions were part of a regional increase for United Way of Central Maryland, which received a total of $36.5 million last year -- an increase of more than 4 percent over 1994. That percentage increase was the largest for United Way of Central Maryland since the 1988-1989 campaign, the organization said.

Marty Johnson's voice goes up a few octaves just talking about it.By day, Johnson is a partner in a real estate investment firm in Baltimore. But several times a year, including this weekend, the former Cardinal Gibbons and Towson State star gets to play what he loves more than anything else in the world: playground basketball."

ATHOLTON HIGH School Principal Roger Plunkett was among the crowd that turned out for a ceremony to mark the opening of a new shelter for homeless men in Columbia earlier this month. His presence, as well as the fact that some of his students will be doing community service work there, were among signs that the surrounding neighborhood has come to terms with fears about the expansion of this facility.To be sure, some parents were less than thrilled with the prospect of having a number of homeless men within sight of school children.

Four fifth-graders at Atholton Elementary School this week donated more than $225 and a truckload of school supplies, clothing and canned food to Grassroots Inc., a nonprofit social service agency in Howard County.The students -- Christina Naude, Jennifer Perkins, Rachel Nicholson and Avram Gottschlich -- raised the money and collected the donations as part of a yearlong project to help the homeless, said AlainaBeth Haerbig, one of the school's gifted-and-talented teachers.The money and other goods were given to Grassroots on Monday night during Atholton's enrichment fair.

With all of its 12 beds filled -- and neighborhood fears apparently calmed -- Howard County's long-awaited homeless shelter for single men will celebrate its opening tomorrow with a ceremony and a proclamation at the Columbia facility.The shelter -- part of Grassroots Inc.'s 32-bed shelter operation in Hickory Ridge village -- will help homeless men find employment and permanent housing, along with providing addiction treatment, counseling in money management and mental health therapy."We really are trying to address any of a number of challenges a person might have," said Andrea Ingram, executive director of Grassroots, a nonprofit social service agency.

At a time when charitable giving is down because of the national recession, United Way of Central Maryland will stop funding for Howard County's main homeless shelter for the first time since 1978. The action threatens to renew a 2007 rift over United Way funding cuts to groups across the region. During that dispute, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman threatened to create a rival charitable organization or end county government participation in United Way, but the dispute ended with an agreement to allow more local influence over the regional agency's funding grants.

A public dispute between the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center and its landlord over a $4,834.80 security deposit has been settled before going to trial, both sides confirmed. Grassroots, which argued that it should get the entire amount, got $4,000, and Bruce Taylor, who rented a house at his family's former psychiatric hospital to the nonprofit while its new building was under construction, kept the rest. Taylor's family operated the former Taylor Manor Psychiatric Hospital, now run by Sheppard Pratt.

At a time when nonprofits are struggling with declines in donations, Howard County's primary homeless shelter is taking the scion of one of the area's most prominent families to court over a $4,834.80 security deposit. Leaders of the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center in Columbia are angry at what they see as an attempt by a former landlord to take advantage of a charity. "We work hard for every penny we get," said Grassroots' director, Andrea Ingram. "It's a huge amount of money if you think of it in terms of donations."

Despite having more beds and occupying a new, larger building, the county's main homeless shelter remains full to overflowing. For the sixth year, a group of county churches is preparing to host up to 25 homeless people a night for a week or two at a time, from Nov. 24 until March 29. "We're always full," said Andrea Ingram, director of the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center. "We're more than full." Even with 51 beds, compared with the 32 in the old building, Ingram said four beds in the emergency shelter room are often in use, with people sleeping in two of the rooms intended for counseling.

Purim Carnival to be held March 9 The Jewish Federation of Howard County, with local synagogues and schools, will sponsor its 16th annual Purim Carnival from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 9 at Reservoir High School, 11550 Scaggsville Road in Fulton. Admission is $5 per family at the door. There will be games, vendors and food. A performance by Barry Louis Polisar, a family entertainer, in the Reservoir High School auditorium at 4 p.m. will require a separate ticket. Polisar's song "All I Want Is You" is performed in the movie Juno.

Shelter program goes until mid-March The Grassroots center's cold weather shelter program, a project of 14 local churches, began Nov. 19 and is to be available to the homeless in Howard County through mid-March. Church volunteers provide shelter, meals, transportation, clothes, medicine and laundry services for homeless Howard County citizens and families who cannot be accommodated by the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center because its shelter is full. Grassroots provides the county's only shelter for the homeless; the county's Mobile Crisis Team, which responds to psychiatric emergencies and family crises, is also headquartered at Grassroots.

On February 5, 2008, THOMAS JURGENSON; beloved husband of Judith L. Jurgenson; dear step-father of Heidi, Jeffrey and Sean Pringle; loving brother of Renata Barron. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, at 2 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church. Donations in his memory may be made to the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center.

Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center has resumed operation of its cold-weather shelter program for homeless people in Howard County. This year, 14 churches are to provide shelter for one or two weeks from now through March 16. Church volunteers will also provide meals, transportation, clothing, medicine and laundry services for those in need, including families, who are unable to get into the Grassroots shelter because it is full. Grassroots provides the county's only shelter for homeless people.

During her 18 years as executive director of Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, Andrea Ingram has worked to expand its offerings, adding a cold-weather shelter, creating a mobile crisis team and - perhaps most significantly - overseeing a major expansion of the facility. For those efforts, Ingram will be honored tomorrow night with a dinner and the 2007 Making a Difference for Women Award from Soroptimist International of Howard County, a service organization of professional women.

24 faith communities support Grassroots Twenty-four faith communities have pledged support and contributed to the Grassroots Renovation and Expansion Campaign. Linden-Linthicum United Methodist Church has pledged $47,500 and St. John Baptist Church has committed $20,035. Five churches have pledged $15,000 each: Bethany United Methodist Church, Glen Mar United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church and St. Louis Roman Catholic Church.