Best Practices? Time to Review...

From time to time, some of our clients have expressed a sincere wish to support the work of Germantown HELP. Far from "feeling entitled," many of our clients are grateful and want to give back.

In the past, though, this really hasn't been possible. Historically, our work has been done by volunteers who go in and out of the pantry at odd times, have the security code and responsibility for the pantry as they volunteer. We had two main categories: The Volunteer and The Client.

Not only does this waste a potential source of willing workers, but it disrespects our clients. Why, because someone asks for help, do they become suddenly unworthy of trust? If they are interviewed, as any new volunteers are, and have good references, shouldn't they be able to become part of the organization? Can't some activity be structured to provide almost any of our clients the ability to give back?

Some organizations in the county shy away from using minors, even teenagers, to work for them. This is almost 100% true for any interaction with clients. We have found kids and young adults to be an excellent source of compassionate help. We're not foolish - they are supervised carefully, and given tasks appropriate to their age and abilities. But face it, they are stronger, more flexible, and usually more fun than most adults. They want to help and they want it to be meaningful. They are being raised to believe that they must get student service learning hours, that they should help in the community; but they are often banned from meaningful work. We wish we had more tasks we could share with them.

The old rule was that clients couldn't volunteer until they got back on their feet and didn't need our help any more, that it was sort of a conflict of interest. Perhaps, though, volunteering will provide a little more self-respect for our clients, and be just a little bit more helpful than bringing by a box of food from time to time.

Germantown HELP will be going out in the next few weeks and interviewing some of our regular clients (and some new ones, too), to see what their views on our organization are. We will be asking our many excellent and loyal volunteers their input, too. It's time, as we go into our worst-funded and busiest time of year, for a positive outlook and appreciation for everyone's potential contribution.

Best wishes,

Cindy Majane

Here it comes... !

The Emergency Food Program is usually very busy in August and September. This year looks to be no exception: Today, we had 24 requests for help, which is way more than we can serve. We will probably be having some delivery marathons to catch up, it worked really well last year. We are seeing a lot more new households that have never requested help before, as well as more older adults raising their grandchildren on fixed incomes.

A Winter's Tale

Intrepid volunteer Raya McCree writes:

Winter blues are finally over…..This winter proved to be a challenging one as it relates to the blizzards…. Germantown HELP drivers Raya and Treava were determined to deliver during the 1-week blizzard. They were fighting the storm, resolved to bring food to clients, not allowing the weather to keep them from their goal. They were suddenly brought to a halt and became stuck in the snow………Fortunately, Raya’s son Dezmond (Seneca Valley High School Student) was able to flex his muscles along with Super Strong Treava, and they proceeded to push the car out of the snow up a hill and to a main road, while navigator Raya guided the car to smooth road…. Determined to finish the job they set out to do, they were able to complete two additional deliveries, pushing the car two additional times, turning the driving delivery into a pushing delivery. It was a true mission impossible that was interestingly yet successfully, pleasant.

Feinstein Foundation Will Contribute If YOU Do!

The Feinstein Foundation will provide at least $250 and up to $40,000 in matching funds for money contributed to Germantown HELP between March 1 and April 30th. Spread the word!

www.feinsteinfoundation.org

Recent Food Donations

We thank United Church of Christ, Seneca Valley; Fox Chapel Elementary School; St. Nick's Episcopal Church; Victory Christian Church; and Neelsville Presbyterian Church for their recent food drives! It's been very helpful, we've been very busy, especially for February and March, which are traditionally slower. Not this year!

Souper Bowls

We've been working on the Facebook page a lot, not many posts lately, but much has been happening... Although we were closed for over a week during the snowstorms, we seem to have caught up with requests (knock on wood). We picked up $1,000 of spaghetti sauce, cereal, tuna and size 4 diapers from the Bishop's Storehouse in Upper Marlboro this week, thanks to the efforts of Eileen Larson and the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (Seneca Stake).

Bravo to both Great Seneca Creek Elementary School and Boyds Presbyterian Church for collecting food in their Souper Bowl events. Rev. Merritt Ednie stopped by the pantry yesterday to drop off a fine collection of much-needed items. At GSCES, students could vote for their favorite team by placing a soup in the appropriate bin - see the picture above for their progress chart. They collected 472 items (up from 333 last year). Great!!

Food Drives

Thanks to Messiah Lutheran Church, the Boys and Girls Club (Germantown) and Ronald McNair Elementary School (seen above) for collecting food for Germantown HELP! And thanks to Sarah Burkholder, Judy Brodbeck and Toni Woods for bringing it in...

We will be moving some of our food storage to a trailer at Greenridge Baptist church next week; we had hoped to move the food in our storage unit (aka, "The Auxiliary Food Storage Facility") before the end of January, but between the weather, end-of-the-year stuff, the CFC application and student exams (we rely on student power for the big moves!), it took longer than we thought. We hope to move food over next week and start sorting it.

Our first delivery to our HOC partner went very well yesterday, thanks to Yuen Lee, who stepped in at the last minute to help. 17 households signed up for a delivery to their community center yesterday at 5:00pm - we pulled in at 4:58 - couldn't have done it without you, Yuen! Fortunately, the kids in the after-school homework program ran out to help us carry it all in, great kids!! 17 households was pretty good, considering it was the first time we tried it and our maximum is 20. We will be sorting food and delivering it there the fourth Tuesday of every month.

Box Monster!

We did almost 1,700 deliveries this year and served over 1,000 in the Holiday Giving Project. There are a LOT of loose ends to tie up in January; more details soon.

While breaking down the cardboard boxes in the pantry this afternoon, I came across this picture in the bottom of one of the boxes; it must have been from a school food drive or youth group. It says "Feed me canned food (and maybe people)." Pictures on the outside depicted people running away from the box. Pretty funny!