Needy Families

A cheese giveaway is putting Vermont's finest dairy product on the tables of Carroll's needy residents. Volunteers at Carroll County Food Sunday filled grocery bags yesterday with three days' worth of food as usual. "Oatmeal or Cheerios; macaroni or beans," each patron was asked. Then they were offered the unheard-of: Monterey Jack, cheddar, Colby Jack and extra-sharp cheddar cheese. Each family received an 8-ounce block with their groceries. "They can have the flavor they like," said David Hagerty, chairman of Food Sunday, which operates distribution sites in Westminster, Eldersburg and Taneytown, and assists about 16,000 households a year.

SOME AMERICAN families aren't living the salad days. Some need help just putting food on the table. There's help for them in the form of food stamps. But sometimes a maddening bureaucratic wrangle withholds relief. One of the major problems? Owning a car, which can make a person ineligible on the basis of assets that exceed the food-stamp guidelines. That makes no sense. Workers need cars to keep their jobs and stay off welfare. And just because they're working doesn't mean they don't need food stamps.

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)

THANKS TO the generosity of pupils and staff at Eldersburg Elementary School, more than 20 area families will have a little bit brighter holiday.Sturdy laundry baskets filled with two dozen cleaning, paper and personal hygiene items were distributed to area residents last week during the His Table bagged lunch program administered by ESCAPE Ministries Inc.Project coordinator Christine Schwarz and committee members Nicole Agostino, Maureen Diesher, Cindy...

THE PORTLY gentleman said, "At this festive season of the year it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time."Ebenezer Scrooge's response was a nasty one, but his attitude was adjusted later that night after visits by four ghosts. The portly gentleman's concerns, however, still persist.Holiday Sharing will try to make some slight provision by bringing food and toys to about 3,000 families countywide, and it could use some help.

For Haven E. Hoffman, who lived in the small Washington County community of Chewsville, Christmas was a year-round event.For more than 50 years, Mrs. Hoffman, who was known locally as "Mrs. Santa Claus," repaired and painted toys to make sure that needy children had gifts on Christmas morning and their parents had a holiday dinner to serve.Mrs. Hoffman, a deeply religious woman who had hoped to be a missionary and succeeded in becoming one dispensing seasonal joy, died Thursday of congestive heart failure at Washington County Health Systems in Hagerstown.

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]

THE GREATEST GIFT you can give someone is often the gift of time. The 1998 Piney Run Volunteer of the Year is known for giving generously of his time.Ernie Burkhart was recently named Volunteer of the Year by Piney Run Park and Nature Center Recreation and Conservation Council."Ernie is just one of those people who gives all the time," said Lynette Lenz, a naturalist at the park. "We know we can call on him at any time for anything."Burkhart is serving as the council president. He has represented the council on the Carroll Association of Recreation Councils since its inception in 1995.

Carroll County YMCA has launched a campaign to raise $56,000 to help needy youths and families receive services in child care, day camp, swimming lessons, health and fitness and family enrichment.More than 70 volunteers will participate in the "Partner With Youth" fund-raising campaign through March.Individuals, businesses, service clubs and other organizations will be asked to contribute.Proceeds will be used to help youths and families in Carroll County, said Connie Saul, campaign chairwoman.

Two new streams of people and food are converging these days at the Kosher Food Pantry.More and more needy families who observe strict Jewish dietary laws are seeking free food.Jewish students at 30 schools are collecting food in the first organized campaign for the Pikesville pantry.Volunteers like Henry and Pauline Hausdorff of Pickwick, Baltimore County, have been busy packing food lately but will get busier when the new drive, Hanukkah for the Hungry, kicks in with gifts from students.