Germantown Community Coalition

We had a lovely meeting of the Germantown Community Coalition this morning... Present were Megan Foley (Sugarloaf Congregation of Unitarian Universalists), Toni Woods (Mother Seton Parish), Tamara Leonard-Lara (Darnestown Presbyterian), Betty Velthuis (Neelsville Presbyterian), Donna Rojas (Northwest High School PTSA), Marissa Chubb (Hughes Network Systems), Mike Ginsberg (Germantown Athletic Club) and Mike Knapp (Montgomery County Council).

We discussed this year's Holiday Giving Project: The Thanksgiving referral cutoff is October 30th; the December gift cutoff is November 30th. Last year, we had 912 households in the Project; this year, maybe we'll go over 1,000! I hope not, but it could easily happen... We need SPACE for the month of December, so we have a place to sort all the toys. If we could distribute from the same space, it would be perfect.

We are mulling over some new ideas for the Emergency Food Program. We are looking to establish some direct relationships with area agencies, churches and senior living facilities, to provide bags of food to their clients as a group once a month. If you have a small group (3-4 people, students OK as long as there's one adult) that could pack some bags and drop them off one afternoon a month, we'd love to hear from you!

Brigid Ryan came to the meeting to speak on the important topic of Continuing Operations (COOP) planning. A very high percentage of organizations that don't plan for emergency (fire, flood, power outages) never recover after they occur. Think about it BEFORE you have a crisis! The Montgomery County Volunteer Center is also looking to set up agreements with area businesses and churches, to share their resources (volunteers, parking lot as a staging area, etc.) in the case of a local emergency. Large power outages, train derailments, hurricanes and fires can happen in Germantown; your organization could make the difference in the services provided!