Maryland Food Bank

As demand for its services continues to increase around the state, the Maryland Food Bank launched its annual Harvest for the Hungry food drive Friday, an initiative that has collected more than 30 million pounds of food for Marylanders in need since 1987. Organizers hope the campaign, which starts Saturday and runs through Feb. 19, will net more than the 300,000 pounds it collected for the state's hungriest residents in 2010. "With more than 448,000 Marylanders needing food assistance, help is needed now more than ever," said Deborah Flateman, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank.

Deficit reduction is an important national priority, vital to our long-term economic opportunity and security. But just because it's important doesn't mean that it can be undertaken without regard to our national values. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives left values on the sideline this week when it moved forward with a shocking proposal to cut food assistance for our nation's hungry by over $33 billion. That it was done in the name of deficit reduction does not excuse the fact that cuts to anti-hunger programs at a time when need has never been greater are both reckless and short-sighted.

Edward Gerard Novak, a retired banker who had served as the chairman of the boards of the Baltimore Museum of Industry and the Maryland Food Bank, died Sunday of prostate cancer at University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 55 and lived in Baldwin. Mr. Novak, the son of a Westinghouse Electric Corp. worker and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and spent his early years in Violetville. In the 1960s, he moved with his family to Eldersburg and graduated in 1973 from South Carroll High School.

Two partner organizations dedicated to ending hunger in Maryland for more than 20 years have merged. The Maryland Food Bank and Food Resources of Hagerstown have united to form the Maryland Food Bank – Western Branch, a facility that will become a central distribution point for a network of more than 120 soup kitchens, pantries, shelters and other community-based organizations in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties. The merger allows Food Resources to broaden services to the entire Western Maryland region and the more than 52,000 residents who are struggling to provide food for themselves, the groups said.

Larry Adam, founder of Harvest for the Hungry, spoke to the kids gathered in the boardroom like a commander rallying his troops. "And you, the students, you know how to raid your pantries, right?" he asked the group assembled at the Maryland Food Bank's headquarters in Halethorpe. "Yes, sir. That's right," answered Elijah Martin, laughing and nodding his head in agreement. Martin, who attends Catonsville High School, was one of several dozen students who participated in a kick-off rally for the Kids Helping Kids food drive yesterday.

Undaunted by a fire at its homeless shelter next door, volunteers at the Bea Gaddy Family Center in East Baltimore are busy putting together the traditional Thanksgiving dinners they expect to serve later this week to as many as 55,000 needy guests. That's 15,000 more meals than last year. Economic hard times are putting significant pressure on dozens of institutions like the Gaddy center that are struggling to help feed a half-million poor families across the state. As with so many Maryland families, these agencies are finding their food budgets won't go as far as they once did. Much less free food is available this year than in earlier years, and demand for the meals they prepare is significantly higher.

Weichert Realtors, 9339 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City, is an official drop-off location for donations to the Maryland Food Bank through Thursday. For more information or a pickup, call 410-465-8300.

The Maryland Food Bank, an organization that feeds more than 45,000 state residents each week, was awarded $300,000 in federal funds to complete the construction of a central food warehouse in Halethorpe. The funding will enable the food bank to finish improvements to the Halethorpe building, which was purchased two years ago, said Susan Sullam, a spokeswoman for Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who announced the funding last week. "This appropriation is a key factor in finishing the building we purchased two years ago," Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank, said in a statement.

The Maryland Food Bank is now accepting something other than the traditional donations of money and food: baseball tickets.The group, which supplies area soup kitchens and other feeding programs for the poor, lost a source of food when the baseball season was canceled by the players' strike. The group received surplus food from home games.But a new program, organized by retired Anne Arundel County schoolteacher Gus Lundquist, enables baseball fans to send their unused season tickets to the food bank, which will obtain a refund from the team and use the money to feed the hungry.

Christ United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia will host the annual community interfaith service at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Owen Brown Interfaith Center, 7246 Cradlerock Way. Faith traditions to be included are Christian, Jewish and Hindu. Light refreshments will be served. Attendees are asked to bring a nonperishable food item or monetary donation for the Maryland Food Bank. For more information, call 410-381-6329.

Editor: Last November, Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air once again joined an ongoing effort by Knox Presbyterian Church in East Baltimore to provide food  for Thanksgiving to families in need in Baltimore City and in Harford County. The 800 turkeys and boxes of non-perishable food supplied by Christ Our King were made possible by the generosity of church members, friends and many local businesses and organizations.  We wish to thank the following members of the Harford County and Baltimore area business community for their in-kind and financial donations: Amanda's Florist; the Arena Club; Bethel Presbyterian Church; Brightview Avondell; Brightview Bel Air Assisted Living; Cargill, Inc; Chesapeake Financial Solutions; Christopher J. Seling & Assoc., Inc.; Curves of Jarrettsville; DAJ, Inc., McDonald's of Churchville; Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery; Frontier Pool Maintenance, Inc; Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, Troop 3120; Harford Financial Group; Hart Heritage Estates Assisted Living; Harvest Fare; Hogg Construction; Jones Junction; 46th Legislative District, Maryland House of Delegates; Long and Foster; Lorien Bel Air; Lorien Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; Maryland Food Bank; Metropolitan Title Company, Inc; Penske Trucks, Your Space Storage/Hickory; Presbyterian Women of Fallston Presbyterian Church; ReMax American Dream; Redner's Warehouse Markets; Rutherford and Rutherford, DDS; Skylight Creative Ideas;...

Loch Raven Technical Academy, in partnership with the Maryland Food Bank, will be distributing food at the LRTA Food Pantry inside the school, 8101 LaSalle Road, on Saturday, Nov. 19, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The program is a new outreach effort at the school. Families in need in the community are invited to come and receive food items. The food bank provides the food for the pantry only on designated dates. The next date after Nov. 19 will be in December. Loch Raven program designed to map a path for students Students in gifted and talented courses in Grades seven, eight and nine and their parents are invited to Loch Raven High School, 1212 Cowpens Avenue in Towson, on Nov. 2, at 6:45 p.m., for a presentation on the choices and challenges as they prepare for their high school and postsecondary education.

When a load of bagged salad arrived at the Fishes & Loaves food pantry in West Baltimore recently, people scooped it up quickly. Salad is a treat for the more than 100 people who come to the pantry each month but usually face a limited choice of high-sodium canned goods, cereal, and jars of spaghetti sauce. The Rev. Andre Samuels, who runs the pantry, wants to offer more nutritious options but said they are expensive or hard to find at the distributors, nonprofit and government agencies where he gets food.

"Pieces as Prayers: Kolam and Kaleidoscope Quilts" opens Fri., June 3, Himmefarb Gallery, Tai Sophia Institute 7750 Montpelier Road. Art quilts are by Gaithersburg artist Lauren Kingsland. Symmetry and reflection speak to our fundamental yearning for balance and order in ourselves and in the world. Kingsland's quilts explore the beauty of this balance through the Indian Kolam tradition and the magic of peeking into a kaleidoscope. Show runs through Aug. 27. Artist recepton June 15, 5-8 p.m. Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. 410-888-9048.

Submit notices via email: booster@patuxent.com ; fax: 410-332-6336; or mail: Northeast Booster Reporter, 501 N. Calvert St., 3rd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21278. Include sponsor or host, date, time, address of event, contact name and phone number. Deadline is noon the Wednesday before publication. Arts Canticle Singers of Baltimore — is holding auditions for the 2011 season. 410-374-9312. Hamilton Gallery — 5502 Harford Road is hosting a Sew Fabulous Sewing Workshop, Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Margaret Garland, 443-676-7465 or sewfabulousss@yahoo.com . Benefits Blue Jean Ball Raffle — a fundraiser for the Maryland Food Bank through May 30. $10 each or 12 for $100.

As demand for its services continues to increase around the state, the Maryland Food Bank launched its annual Harvest for the Hungry food drive Friday, an initiative that has collected more than 30 million pounds of food for Marylanders in need since 1987. Organizers hope the campaign, which starts Saturday and runs through Feb. 19, will net more than the 300,000 pounds it collected for the state's hungriest residents in 2010. "With more than 448,000 Marylanders needing food assistance, help is needed now more than ever," said Deborah Flateman, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank.

About 32 percent of clients served by the Maryland Food Bank reported having to choose between buying food or paying for utilities at some point last year, according to a study released Tuesday morning as part of a national survey. The report, conducted by Feeding America, the parent organization for the Maryland Food Bank, interviewed more than 62,000 clients nationwide, including several thousands in the state. Among some of the findings: &bul;27 percent of households served by the food bank have children under 18; &bul;about 9 percent of those households have individuals 65 and older; and &bul;63 percent of clients have incomes below the federal poverty level.

Rayford Dean stood in a long, winding line of people waiting for Thanksgiving groceries at St. John Baptist Church in Columbia. The 48-year-old works as a truck driver, he said, but he was recently divorced and needed help to provide a holiday meal for his three children, so he took an early lunchtime and waited Tuesday with dozens of others. "It means I can actually do a Thanksgiving dinner," he said. "Without it, we'd just have spaghetti. " Hundreds of needy Howard County families got bags of Thanksgiving food and related products in two distribution programs Monday night and Tuesday in Columbia.