Needy Families

Columbia Management Inc. and merchants associations from seven Columbia village centers joined to raise about $3,000 for food, clothing and toys for about 12 needy families this holiday season.CMI, which operates and markets Columbia commercial and retail projects owned by the Rouse Co., donated about $1,500 from seasonal leases. Two crafts vendors -- Chez Sarita and Touch of Youth -- leased space from CMI for about six weeks for the holiday season at the Wilde Lake and Long Reach village centers.

The joy of the holiday season. A turkey on the Thanksgiving table. A toy in a child's Christmas stocking.The folks behind the "Holiday Sharing" program started sending out letters last week to local businesses and other groups, asking for donations to help make the holidays memorable for needy families in Anne Arundel County.Books, crayons and toys for Crystal, 6, and her brother Michael, 4, filled the Reichert household in Glen Burnie last Christmas, thanks to the program."Tears just came to my eyes," said their grandmother, Eileen Reichert, 59, who cares for her grandchildren alone since her husband died two years ago. "We had so much come in. I've never seen so much in all my life."

Pasadena, like many other suburban communities, has held its own during these tough financial times. Caring individuals, churches and organizations have united to help needy families, and they especially need your help during this holiday season.Here is a list of local groups that are collecting items for needy families.Members of the Mountain Road and Fort Smallwood Optimist clubs will be at Angel's Market and Lauer's Super Thrift on Edwin Raynor Boulevard this weekend and next, collecting food and money for the annual Christmas food drive.

In Baltimore County Murder charge filed against man accused in infant son's death TOWSON - A 34-year-old man accused of injuring his 3-week-old son was charged in jail with first-degree murder yesterday after the infant died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, county police reported. Ryan Anzael Backmon had been hospitalized early Dec. 11 after he was injured at his mother's Middle River home in the 600 block of Lanoitan Road, where the father, Antonio Anzael Backmon, was visiting, according to police spokesman Bill Toohey.

Army Sgt. Joe Vano had planned to go camping this weekend with a friend from Pennsylvania.But he and three of his Fort Meade buddies were sitting around watching the television news one night and decided their time off would be better spent in the Midwest helping flood victims."

Christmas came early yesterday -- in April -- for a Baltimore Highlands couple who got a free wheelchair ramp through a fix-up program that matches volunteers with needy families."

The number of Maryland families that need government help to make ends meet has reached record levels, but funds for the state's safety net are being cut. More than 700,000 Marylanders receive food assistance, the most in state history. A record 70,000 people depend on emergency cash assistance. And demand for the state's child-care subsidy program is such that officials imposed an indefinite freeze on new applicants. Yet state and federal officials are budgeting less money for the safety net in the coming fiscal year.

In an effort to provide holiday dinners to needy families in Prince George's County, the Prince George's County Public Safety Assistance Program is collecting donations of canned goods through Dec. 20. County agencies that are participating in the holiday food basket program include the Office of the Sheriff, Police Department, Fire/EMS Department, Department of Corrections, Office of Homeland Security, Public Safety Communications and the Office...

The Fuel Fund of Maryland may help provide one type of energy assistance to needy families, but this particular morning, it was providing another type to some of its most stalwart supporters. About 100 guests gathered at the Holiday Inn Select in Timonium for the fund's Annual Breakfast. As they shared a hot morning meal together, they also honored local investment celeb Julius Westheimer and several Fuel Fund volunteers for their charitable efforts. Among those at this energizing get-together: Victorine Q. Adams, Fuel Fund founder and honorary board chair; Donna Morrison, event chair; Bill McLennan, board president; Bob Geis, Rebecca Biggers and Jane Christie, board members; Mary Ellen Vanni, Fuel Fund executive director; Erla McKinnon and Joanne Bowman, honorees; Harold Gordon, president of the Victorine Q. Adams (Baltimore City)

S.E.R.V.E., a Western Maryland College student community service organization, holds its biggest annual fund-raiser today, a silent and live auction to help pay for home-repair projects in Appalachia. With a bona fide auctioneer, Students Engaged in Rural Volunteer Experiences will sell a host of items, ranging from gift certificates to artwork, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Decker Student Center. Proceeds will help cover the $185 per student cost of a trip March 17 to Dungannon, Va. "It's absolutely vital," Jeremiah Kelly, S.E.R.