Maryland Food

Use of food pantries and homeless shelters has increased sharply around Maryland in the past year despite the state's prosperity, according to an anti-poverty group's survey.Early results of the survey, conducted by the Center for Poverty Solutions in Baltimore, show that Maryland food pantry patrons took home 59 percent more groceries this year than last and that the number of children seeking shelter went up by nearly a quarter.Though both numbers have risen in the annual survey over the past five years, the increases this year are much greater, said Rob Hess, president of the center.

The U.S. Postal Service has extended its annual Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive through Wednesday.Letter carriers around the state will pick up canned and perishable food left at residential mailboxes for a drive to benefit food pantries throughout Maryland. The donations will be distributed by the Maryland Food Bank.Bill Ewing, executive director of the food bank, said local food banks rely increasingly on public donations such as those collected during the drive because donations from the food industry no longer are sufficient.

The Anne Arundel County Food Bank is counting on students to help feed the needy as they embark on the annual Harvest for the Hungry "Kids Helping Kids" campaign.The goal is tons upon tons of food -- perhaps more than the 43,000 pounds brought in last year as 40 county schools joined in the three-week fall campaign. Statewide, a 213-school effort harvested 147,000 pounds of food to help needy families across Maryland."We come out of the summer months pretty well drained of food," said Bruce Michalec, director of the county food bank, "so [this]

Officials and volunteers who gather food for the state's hungry outlined yesterday an ambitious plan to collect more food in schools, set up new pantries at Maryland's neediest schools and link classroom learning with the issue of hunger.Larry Adam Jr., founder of Baltimore-based Harvest for the Hungry programs, said he plans to get 250 schools in Maryland to collect 250,000 pounds of food in October and November -- the largest effort to date for a program called Kids Helping Kids. That would be 100,000 more pounds than were collected in 213 schools last year.

Each weekday morning, in the hours before dawn, the ragged crowd assembles along U.S. 1 and Route 175, the commercial heartland of Howard County. Dressed in faded jeans, T-shirts and boots, the men pace up and down the road, waving at passing truckers for the chance at a day's work and a day's pay in Jessup's busy wholesale market.They're called lumpers, and they form a little-noticed -- but important -- part of the county economy. At the sprawling Maryland Food Center Authority, home to more than 40 warehouses, lumpers load and unload everything from bottled pickles to canned peaches, from fresh rockfish to frozen peas.

In Baltimore CityArson is suspected in second fire at Morrell Park schoolA fire yesterday at Morrell Park Elementary and Middle School in southern Baltimore, the second suspected arson this year, forced the closing of the middle school today, said a city schools spokeswoman.The fire was started in a walkway and caused nine portable classrooms to lose power, said Vanessa Pyatt, the spokeswoman. The portables house the school's 270 middle-schoolers.School officials were notified of the fire at 3: 20 a.m., Pyatt said, adding that fire officials suspect arson.

Mission: Created in 1998 by a merger of the Maryland Food Committee and Action for the Homeless, the Center for Poverty Solutions is dedicated to eliminating the root causes of poverty through public policy, education, research, direct-service programs and community mobilization. The statewide charitable organization's programs include grants and technical support to emergency food providers; nutrition, hunger and homeless education in schools; homelessness prevention and services through 26 AmeriCorps volunteers; Baltimore Grows, an urban-gardening project; and self-sufficiency programs.

Bags of Plenty, the annual drive to stock soup kitchens around the state, is on track to reach its goal for food donations. But as of last weekend, the close of the campaign, it had fallen far short of its cash goal of $70,000.Donations will continue to trickle in for several days, and Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank, says the Franklintown Road center expects to surpass last year's total of 280,000 pounds of nonperishable food and might reach this year's goal of 300,000 pounds.

Data is available on how contributions to charities are usedA Nov. 30 letter to the editor ("Putting the right goods in Bags of Plenty") expressed concern about how the cash raised by the Bags of Plenty is used. It seemed unfair to raise the question without attempting to answer it.In Maryland, charities raising more than $25,000 in public support must register with the state. You may obtain basic financial information on registered charities at: http: //www.sos.state.md.us/sos/charity/html/search.

Carl J. Sefa and his 86 letter carriers are bracing today for Dundalk's annual weeklong outpouring of canned goods and pasta for Harvest for the Hungry."

Oyster reef in Severn River wins ecosystem award 2 The Federal Highway Administration has awarded its Exemplary Ecosystem Initiative Award to the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Department of Natural Resources, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other partners for creating the Asquith Creek Oyster Reef in the Severn River last fall. The 3-acre reef provides a sanctuary for 4 million juvenile oysters and was made from demolished concrete from the Bay Bridge Preservation Project. Its purpose is improving the Chesapeake Bay water quality and was done as part of the state's sustainable growth program, Smart, Green & Growing, created by Gov. Martin O'Malley last year.

For about 35 teens, the PAL Center in Woodmoor doesn't just mean board games and billiards, basketball tournaments and the occasional movie; the children also get a free dinner with friends. Most walk to the center in Baltimore County, arriving about 4 p.m. weekdays and typically staying until the building closes at 8 p.m. Nearly all say they enjoy the simple cold supper served from a paper bag. "I like that we have different things for dinner every day and that I get to talk to my friends," said Amandi Alston, 15. "I would rather have soda, but I know that the juice and milk they give us are better for us."

Expecting demand for food assistance to soar this summer, the Salvation Army in Baltimore kicked off its first "Can Do" campaign Friday to collect and distribute food to needy families across the metropolitan area. Volunteers assembled boxes of food, which could be used by a family of four for three days, at the nonprofit agency's warehouse in Hampden. The Salvation Army bought canned food and dried goods - enough for about 1,000 families - from the Maryland Food Bank, according to Peggy Vick, the Salvation Army's director of family services and volunteer services.

Maryland's food banks are coming up short this holiday season. Food contributions to charitable organizations throughout Maryland are not meeting expectations, forcing many to scale back Thanksgiving baskets and other donations. "I think everybody's feeling a crunch," said Deborah Flateman, chief executive officer of the Maryland Food Bank, the largest such group in the state. The Maryland Food Bank, one of more than 200 nationwide sponsored by America's Second Harvest, provides nearly 12 million pounds of food annually to 1,000 community groups.

Rosa Rodriguez has a hard time making ends meet. A 46-year-old cleaning woman from Honduras who lives in Highlandtown, she has five children to feed, and her salary often just doesn't cut it. Yesterday, however, she found a bit of relief. Moving down lines of tables with her teenage daughter and about 100 other needy city residents at the East Baltimore Church of God, Rodriguez was able to pick out boxes and bags of fresh produce, bread, beverages and canned goods - all for free. "I feel glad for the help they are giving us, and it is a big help for me," she said in Spanish.

Teachers at Corkran Middle School have found that it isn't hard to pick up which students are hungry. They squirm and act out as lunchtime nears. They fall asleep during class. They say they long to be at school when others count the days to holiday breaks. Sometimes the students come right out and just ask for food, said Pamela Fowler, a teacher at the Glen Burnie school. Her brother, Norman Evans, was troubled by her stories of teachers bringing in snacks for children whose parents didn't quite meet requirements for federally subsidized meals.

Since the Maryland Food Bank's founding in 1979, Bill Ewing has known that volunteers running emergency food pantries and soup kitchens across the state needed more space to store frozen food. But now, the executive director of the Halethorpe-based nonprofit group is hopeful that the problem is solved. Eighty-four large chest freezers are being delivered to soup kitchens and pantries, emergency shelters and churches this week through a $80,000 grant from the Shoppers Food Warehouse Foundation and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

AACC offers lecture on business budgets Anne Arundel Community College will offer a lecture from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. tomorrow in Room 242 at the Career Center, 101 College Parkway, Arnold. "Funding Your Business and Preparing a Budget and Pro forma Financial Statements" will teach how to manage a successful budget. The cost is $10 general admission and free to AACC students and employees. Reservations are required. Information: 410-777-2066 or www.aacc.edu/esi. Seminar's focus will be marketing The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce will offer a seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Small Business Development Center, 2660 Riva Road, Suite 200. It will be presented by Hollis Minor of The Minor Group.

The executive director of the Maryland Food Bank, Bill Ewing, who headed the nonprofit for 28 years, announced yesterday that he will step down from the leadership position Feb. 4 in order to transition into a consulting role with the organization. Maryland Food Bank board of directors Chairman Martin Brunk also announced Ewing's replacement. Brunk said a search committee worked for months to find the right person, eventually settling on Deborah Flateman, who has served as chief executive officer of the Vermont Foodbank for the past decade.

State to provide money for nature park work The state will provide more than $1.5 million for the construction of facilities at two nature parks in eastern Baltimore County, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced this week. The funds, recently approved by the Board of Public Works, are part of Program Open Space, the state's land preservation program. About $850,000 will be used to build a canoe launch, canoe storage building, pedestrian bridge and boardwalk overlook at Dundee and Saltpeter Creeks Park.