Germantown HELP News

Best Practices? Time to Review...

2010-08-18T09:30:00.005-04:00

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... !

2010-08-03T14:17:00.002-04:00

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

2010-03-17T09:14:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-03-11T10:24:00.002-05:00

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

2010-03-11T10:22:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-19T09:49:00.006-05:00

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

2010-01-27T15:09:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-01-04T16:46:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-12-22T23:35:00.002-05:00

Shivali Seoni had a birthday party last week! In lieu of presents for herself, she generously asked people to bring gifts for the Holiday Giving Project, which her mom Kim dropped off Monday, just in time to get sorted into the toy pickups. They were beautiful gifts and much-needed! Thank you for your generosity!

Maldens and Majanes Dig Out the Pantry

2009-12-22T23:25:00.003-05:00

The snowplow kicked up some mounds of snow in the way of the Pantry driveway - not as much as in the amazing, 14-foot-tall ice mounds of several years ago, but enough to be in the way - and didn't plow our driveway. Christopher and Robert Malden (and their dad Michael's snowblower) came to help Kevin, Abby and Carolyn Majane shovel out the pantry this morning and pack some boxes, too. They knocked it out in an hour, but it was a tough hour! Hard workers and good neighbors... Thanks for your help!

Hughes Network Systems Reaches Out...

2009-12-20T16:29:00.004-05:00

We would like to thank many organizations and individuals who have stepped forward this holiday season to help with the Holiday Giving Project in Germantown. One of the biggest contributors this December has been Hughes Network Systems. Not only have they contributed hundreds of toys and hundreds of gift cards; they have delivered them and sorted them, too! We wish we had thought to take pictures of them and their piles of gifts as they scurried about, but we have been racing to beat the snow AND the clock. What a wonderful group, so generous with their time, as well as their donations!

Thanks, Hughes!!

Here's their really neat online holiday card:

http://www.hughes.com/HUGHES/Doc/0/CT22IPOEBN74V86GJBB97U8H34/seasons_greetings_2009_121009.swf

Julia Nonnenkamp Holds Art Mart

2009-12-20T16:15:00.002-05:00

Ms. Julia Nonnenkamp, age seven, recently set up a holiday craft boutique and sold art to her relatives. She raised $37.80, which she presented to Germantown HELP when she and her mom, Karen Stohr, came by to help alphabetize bags and sort toys. Thanks, Julia! That was a very kind and creative idea!

The Toys Come Pouring In...

2009-12-20T16:03:00.003-05:00

Toy donations are coming in from all corners of Germantown; we picked up 150 from William Gibbs Elementary School on Friday! Victory Christian Church is striving to collect 350, but 20+ inches of snow is real problem. Hopefully, some people will be able to drop them by the church Monday the 21st, so we can get them Tuesday, sort them immediately, and get them out the door. Tuesday is looking like a real bruiser of a day!

The picture is of some wonderful Northwest High School students who collected money and went on a toy-buying extravaganza at Toys R Us! They brought their wonderful toys over on Wednesday...

The Zarates Work Hard!

2009-12-07T21:58:00.003-05:00

After Scouting for Food and a bunch of other food drives came in, the pantry was a MESS! Silvina, Carolina and Diego Zarate came in and spent SIX hours in the pantry, knocking it into shape! Not only did they go through tons of stuff and throw out the expired items, they went through the baby food cabinet, too! Thank you, Zarates!

William B. Gibbs Jr. Elementary Collects Food!

2009-12-06T16:06:00.002-05:00

Last week, Judy Brodback and Cindy Majane picked up the Gibbs Elementary School food drive. It's a good thing Judy has a big truck, because they collected over 1800 items! It was hauled into the storage unit, where Ching Ingalla, her daughter and a couple friends sorted a bunch of it on Sunday. They packed some bags to bring to the Salvation Army, too, thanks very much!

It's a little dim in the storage unit, but they have sharp eyes! Thanks for your help!

Kids Town Wins!

2009-12-01T16:52:00.001-05:00

And the winner of the most creatively-decorated food collection box of 2009 is... Kids Town! It got a little squashed on the trip to the pantry, but still worthy of the prize!

Clarksburg High School Honors Spanish Club

2009-12-01T16:51:00.003-05:00

What nice kids! And they are lucky to have Marisol Maldonado as their teacher, too...

The Food Comes Pouring In...

2009-12-01T16:33:00.004-05:00

THANK YOU to Novovax, Neelsville Presbyterian Church, Kids Town, DRT, Clarksburg High School Honors Spanish Club, and the Boy Scouts of Matsunaga Elementary School! We have LOTS of food (although still low on peanut butter and cereal, it's always something!).

Here are some pictures from the Boy Scouts, Scouting for Food on November 14!

810 Families for Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T16:26:00.003-05:00

We had 810 households for Thanksgiving in the Holiday Giving Project this year! A lot of people called in to say their caseworker hadn't gotten them into the database before the cutoff, so I know the number will be much higher for December. Thanks very, very much to the school guidance counselors and caseworkers who helped with the distribution of over $16,000 worth of Giant cards! We couldn't have done it without your help! Also, thanks for the help of many volunteers and friends, who turned up the days before Thanksgiving to deliver gift cards and food. In the four days before Thanksgiving, we delivered 30 boxes of food and over 70 envelopes of gift cards! Wow!

MoCo Infants & Toddlers Program Helps!

2009-10-30T09:39:00.003-04:00

Mary Toohey, of the Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers Program in Germantown, very kindly dropped off a good collection of food collected at the office. Lots of nice things, a good variety! And just enough peanut butter to keep us from having to buy more this week...

We did, however, purchase over $600 of canned veggies, tuna and cereal yesterday, to keep us going a couple more weeks. The Emergency Food Program has been REALLY busy this week; we're running a day behind on phone calls right now.

The Flu Hits Germantown

2009-10-22T10:25:00.002-04:00

It seems like almost half our Emergency Food clients have the flu! We're delivering to a lot of people unable to get out because of illness lately... Some are "regular" clients, others are new and desperate for help. We're hearing tales of entire neighborhoods coming down with the flu at the same time! Of course, people are unable to work when they're ill, so it's even harder to make ends meet.

Germantown HELP is looking into purchasing fresh oranges and apples to (at least temporarily) deliver with our usual food, to help bolster everyone's immune systems. We're also looking for some caring people interested in helping on a "Special Care" committee to check up on our most disabled, homebound clients from time to time.

The Fendrick Family Donates Half a Steer!

2009-10-22T10:21:00.002-04:00

The Fendrick Family purchased a 4-H steer and donated half of it to Germantown HELP! After being expertly processed and sealed into sturdy vacuum bags by Mt. Airy Locker, it now fills our freezers with beautiful roasts, steaks, stew meat and 168 pounds of ground beef in one-pound tubes. What a huge treat for our clients to have such premium meat! You don't find marbling like that on meat at the supermarket, goodness. Thank you very much, Fendricks!

Brady Gebhardt's Chivalrous Act

2009-10-15T17:19:00.003-04:00

As a Kingsview Middle School 7th-grader, Brady Gebhardt was required to perform a "chivalrous act." Instead of mowing a lawn or babysitting, he decided to take on a bigger project. So he sent a letter out in his neighborhood that he was collecting food for Germantown HELP and collected over 170 items! He and his mom Stephanie dropped them off at the pantry this afternoon. Thanks for thinking of us, Brady!!

Food donations

2009-10-07T12:51:00.002-04:00

No posts for weeks, now three in one day! We're playing catch-up around here...

Thanks so much to Mother Seton Parish, for doing another great September food drive! Thanks to Sarah Burkholder of Messiah Lutheran Church, for bringing in Messiah's excellent food donation last week and staying to put it ALL away. Darnestown Presbyterian Church packs boxes the first weekend of every month; they bring a nice pile of food with them and tidy the pantry beautifully, too! Judy Brodbeck hauled in another donation from Victory Christian Church a few weeks ago, thanks as always.

Despite all this excellent donating, we are buying a lot of food, as usual for this time of year. We need it all: Spaghetti sauce & pasta, soups, veggies, fruits, cereal, peanut butter, tuna, and rice. We are also collecting food specific to our Emergency Services outreach: Soup, ravioli, veggies and fruit in pop-top cans; breakfast bars; and other easy-to-eat nonperishable snacks and foods that can be used with no refrigeration and minimal cooking facilities.

Holiday Giving-specific requests are: New toys; Giant gift cards ($10 and $20); and Target gift card ($15-$20). Referrals are already pouring in, it will be Thanksgiving before we know it!

Germantown Community Coalition

2009-10-07T12:21:00.002-04:00

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!

Germantown Oktoberfest 2009

2009-10-07T12:09:00.005-04:00

Carrie Kim & Abby Majane staying cool in the shade.

Well, we didn't collect too much food at this year's Oktoberfest, but the first year is usually slow. We very much appreciate JK Moving and Storage bringing a truck, tables and chairs, so we had a free "home base" during the event. They dropped off our food, too! Great guys.

Thanks to Carrie Kim, Marissa Tukpah and Abby Majane, too, for keeping watch over our little area and being generally helpful to the fair-goers.

Paul's Excellent Question

2009-09-08T17:36:00.002-04:00

One of our volunteers Paul asked if most of the drivers for Germantown HELP were motivated by Student Service Learning hours. Why different people volunteer to take on various volunteer positions has always been an interesting question! Here's my answer.

Peace,

Cindy
---------------

Very few drivers go because of SSL hours. Probably three that I know of... Most SSL-hour-students go with their parents doing the driving, or at least with them. Some drivers bring their children, but a lot are too young to collect SSL hours. Parents like to have their children help do something meaningful and realize how fortunate they are. Students do collect a lot of food for us, at school, swim team, etc. It's very helpful and they do a great job! Most of the box-packing groups include students.

Most drivers want to help out in their community, but they don't have too much time. An hour and a half, once or twice a month and AFTER work, is all the time they have. That's enough for us! Some are challenged by their church/synagogue/etc. to work in the community, so they help for that reason. Some people have been in need in the past and want to give back; others decide that they're darn lucky to have a job, good health and family, so they want to support those not as fortunate.

What motivates volunteers is an interesting subject. I run three nonprofits, with probably 100 regular volunteers among them, but they are quite different and different things motivate different people.

What makes you volunteer?

September ALREADY?

2009-09-02T08:50:00.003-04:00

We've been buying a lot of food (as usual for this time of year), but contributions from Messiah Lutheran Church and Victory Christian Church have been a big help!

Cindy recently met with some very nice folks from Hughes Network Systems, who have a large facility in Germantown and others nearby in Gaithersburg. They helped us considerably last December with the Holiday Giving Project, collecting, delivering AND sorting a lot of toys. They are looking into ways to be more active in the community, which is great!

We held our third pickup yesterday at Trinity United Methodist Church. As always, thanks Trinity UMC for letting us borrow the front hall! The weather was so pleasant that we brought the boxes outside and waited there.

A very large proportion of Germantown HELP's clients don't have transportation and/or are disabled and can't get to a pickup. This is becoming more clear as we continue trying out the pickup idea, so we're actually rethinking it a bit. If we had our own location, where clients could come to the same place every time, it would be helpful. But, since we don't yet have one, we will go out to area organizations (I'm thinking the Boys and Girls Club, maybe some churches, and the three senior communities in Germantown) and try to partner with them.

The Germatown Oktoberfest committee has agreed to let JK Moving and Storage bring a truck to this year's festival, to collect nonperishable food for Germantown HELP. I'm not sure how many people will remember to bring some, but the timing is great. September and October are our busiest months!

If you have any ideas, please let us know!

Bobbing Along into August

2009-08-11T14:18:00.003-04:00

Neelsville Presbyterian Church's Vacation Bible School collected food for us, so we deployed Brian, Cory and Tucker to pick it up, bring it to the pantry, and put it away. Then, while they were there, they got four boxes of food and delivered them! They are three hardworking guys!

Cindy went to visit some offices for rent along Wisteria Drive today... None of them quite fit the bill, but we might be getting closer. We really need to find space clients can visit. If at least half of them can come to pick up food, we will be able to help a lot more people! The problem with having pickups at a church has been that sometimes we aren't swamped, especially in the middle of the month. We line up some people to transport food and wait for pickup, but then the need isn't there that day. We just don't know ahead of time!

Clopper Mill Marlins Help!

2009-08-03T14:32:00.003-04:00

Last week, some friends from the Clopper Mill Marlins swim team brought in food they collected during the summer swim season. They put it away, then packed twelve bags of nonperishable food and brought them over to Emergency Services, too! Thanks!!

We're buying a lot of food lately; donations are always down and we get our busiest in August and September. We've found that many of our clients don't have transportation, so they can't make it to pickups. Some can, though, and that helps relieve some of the backup. Our second pickup is tonight!

Friends from Asbury United Methodist Church Help Out in the Pantry!

2009-07-22T11:09:00.003-04:00

Our friends from Asbury United Methodist Church (Germantown) came by to shelve food and pack boxes yesterday afternoon. Despite the heat and humidity (it's finally summer in Maryland weather again!), they worked hard for two hours and got the job done. Thanks, ladies!! (From left to right in picture above: Vernice E. Carney, Jr., Amesha Carney, Angela Tolliver, and Leslie Tolliver).

Messiah Lutheran Camp Collection, Mystery PB and Other Happenings

2009-07-20T18:45:00.000-04:00

Some friends from Messiah Lutheran Church dropped off some food collected by the attendees of this year's camp. Lots of good stuff, including cereal, peanut butter and spagetti sauce, hurray! There was a "mystery dropoff" of peanut butter and jelly that showed up recently, too... Our guess is that it's from longtime supporter Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gaithersburg. They collect PB and J every summer. Came in just in time, too, since the peanut butter we ordered from Shoppers didn't come in on Saturday!

Speaking of Saturday, thanks go to Karen Stohr for helping us pick up the food that DID come in!

First Pickup a Success!

2009-07-07T09:32:00.002-04:00

Germantown HELP had its first "pickup event" yesterday at Trinity UMC and it went great! Thanks to our new volunteers, Abigail Sawyer, Gabriella Levy and Jennifer & Elizabeth Paul, the bags were packed, hauled to the pickup area and distributed efficiently. Packing the perishable items together easily kept everything cold for two hours, since a lot of it is frozen. The big paper bags left over from last year's Holiday Giving Project, however, are somewhat prone to ripping; we will have to get some large plastic bags.

Yesterday, we also hauled 15 bags of nonperishable food to Emergency Services in Germantown, to distribute directly to their clients; we hope they don't have too many problems with those bags, too. Thanks to Abby Majane for helping and the Upcounty Center for use of the carts, phew.

Latest news...

2009-07-06T09:26:00.001-04:00

Judy Brodbeck very kindly picked up the food collected by Victory Christian Church last week, thanks to both! We will be having our first food pickup today at Trinity United Methodist Church, so it will come in handy. We're excited to have some new volunteers joining us for the pickup, too!

Asbury United Methodist Church Food Drive

2009-06-29T15:56:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, Asbury United Methodist Church (Germantown) did a food drive at the Germantown Safeway. We appreciate those who volunteered their time, and Safeway, too! Not all grocery stores will allow food drives these days... The fine folks from Asbury collected a big SUV-load of excellent nonperishable items, brought them to the pantry and put them away. Great job! We're ready for another week now...

Germantown HELP is also testing the referral email system caseworkers will use to refer their clients to the food pickups... So far, the simple system set up with Google docs seems to work pretty well. We hope to "go live" Wednesday.

Support for DHHS Emergency Services to Begin Soon!

2009-06-23T15:29:00.002-04:00

Germantown HELP will be providing bags of nonperishable food to caseworkers at DHHS/Emergency Services/Housing Stabilization, to be distributed to those clients presenting themselves in extreme need of food. Of course, if they are Germantown residents, they can also call Germantown HELP for a food delivery, but they may not have a phone or be able to wait a day or two for a delivery. Dried milk, canned meats/tuna, and fruit juice concentrate in a can are especially needed.

Homeless clients don't have an address for us to deliver to, so we can't usually serve them. We are happy to provide special bags for Emergency Services to distribute for them, containing food with pop-tops or pouches that can be easily eaten and don't really require heating. Packs of tuna and crackers, breakfast bars, small individual cans of juice, small packets of fruit, and other shelf-stable meals and snacks are needed for this effort.

Thanks to St. Nick's for bringing some food by this week! Every bit helps.

Updates

2009-06-19T08:22:00.002-04:00

A lot has been going on at Germantown HELP recently... Messiah Lutheran Church, Neelsville Presbyterian Church and Greenridge Baptist Church all collected food for the pantry, which is a big help! The pantry is in pretty good shape; we still need peanut butter, rice and spaghetti sauce, but we're holding our own on everything else for the time being.

Executive Director Cindy Majane met with representatives from the Montgomery County Volunteer Center and Montgomery County Homeland Security last week. Since Germantown HELP has a great network of volunteers, congregations and helpful businesses - and we know who some of our most at-risk residents are - it makes sense to coordinate some disaster pre-planning. For instance, after a hurricane wipes out the power for a few days, could the county borrow the church parking lot to distribute ice? Land a helicopter? Store some supplies for a few days? Things go much more smoothly when there is a point of contact and an agreement in place BEFORE disaster strikes. If your congregation or business would like to help the community in a disaster, we want to know! The Volunteer Center also offers a great Continuing Operations presentation, providing a lot to consider for ANY organization, big or small. More on this later...

Jake Hoffpauir Has a Birthday

2009-06-19T08:19:00.002-04:00

Mr. Jake Hoffpauir turned 8 years old on June 15th. Like many kids, he had a nice party to celebrate. Unlike most, however, he decided to accept contributions for Germantown HELP in lieu of birthday presents. Thanks to generous friends and family, he collect $520! He brought the checks to the pantry earlier this week. Thanks, Jake!!

2009-06-05T19:49:00.002-04:00

We got a thank-you card from one of our clients...

Women Who Care, The Merchandiser, Trinity UMC all HELP!

2009-06-01T17:45:00.005-04:00

The Merchandiser held their company picnic recently, and collected food for us, too. A nice variety of items and a new friend to have in the community. Thank you for your support!

We picked up food from Women Who Care Ministries today... as always, a pleasure to see Executive Director Judith Clark. Lots of nice food, especially all that mac & cheese! Thanks, Judith!

Germantown HELP is seeking to expand by bringing food to pick-up sites and having it picked up by clients, rather than delivering all of it. Of course, we will still deliver to as many people as we can, and always to people who are unable to get to a pickup location. However, having pickups will increase the amount of food we can distribute to our neighbors requesting help. Clients will have to call to request food at a pickup, so we have a package available for them; we can't serve walk-ups.

Trinity United Methodist Church, a longtime sponsor and friend of Germantown HELP, has offered us the use of the front hall to conduct our first "pilot" pickup (we're kind of putting this together as we go along). We appreciate their support very much! We will need volunteers on the first Monday of the month, probably from 6:00-8:00pm, to pack bags, hang out for a couple hours and wait for people to come pick up. Can you help? If so, please email info@germantownhelp.org.

As always, best wishes and thanks for your interest!

Diapers! Hurray!

2009-05-18T13:41:00.008-04:00

While Germantown HELP doesn't buy diapers when we're out of them, as we usually focus on food, many of our clients really appreciate when we have them available. Just when we ran almost completely out of diapers, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School collected a pile of diapers and wipes for us! Our intrepid volunteer Silvina Zarate brought them into the pantry over the weekend. Thank you!!

Final Count

2009-05-14T07:18:00.005-04:00

We swung by and picked up the "late" food from the post office yesterday, bringing this year's tally officially to 102 boxes of nonperishable food. Thanks very much, Amy Campain and the letter carriers! You rock.

Here's the site from the food drive: http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/thankyou.aspx.

United Church of Christ Seneca Valley also had some beautiful cereal yesterday; it's so much nicer to have donated cereals. When Germantown HELP buys it, we get the cheapest and most boring cereal for the buck (that isn't loaded with sugar). (Usually, generic corn flakes). The donated cereals run the gamut from Kashi to Captain Crunch, so people will get some great variety and bigger boxes, too.

Thanks to Yuen Lee, technically a Meals on Wheels volunteer, for stepping in to help fill some of the gaps in the Germantown HELP schedule this month. It's a big help!

Stamp Out Hunger

2009-05-11T15:20:00.003-04:00

Phew! You know those white bins that the post office uses to sort and carry mail? The Letter Carriers Association's "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive was this past Saturday; our intrepid Germantown letter carriers hauled in 100 bins of food! Germantown HELP rented a truck to transport all that food to the pantry. Howard Lichtman, Steve Maselko, and Suzanne Krall and son Sean came to load the truck. Around 6:30, seven boy scouts, eleven adults and a few other helpers sorted it all and squeezed it into the pantry. It was a big effort to pull it all off in a couple hours, thank you everyone!!

I meant to take pictures, I really did, but I just forgot. There was so much going on! I'm getting pretty good at driving trucks (this one was 17 feet, much easier than December's 24-footer to pick up Toys for Tots), but I still won't back one up without constant guidance.

Saturday May 9th is Stamp Out Hunger!

2009-05-01T10:07:00.004-04:00

Next Saturday is "Stamp Out Hunger," the annual Letter Carriers Association food collection. Some years they collect a LOT; other years, they collect even more! This year, we will rent a truck and pick it all up at once (or maybe two trips, depending on the haul). Do you have a strong back? Are you available to help, starting at about 4:45? Please let Cindy know at cindymajane@gmail.com. Thanks!

NWHS, Seneca Creek Community Church

2009-04-28T13:29:00.008-04:00

These pictures were sent by Kara Lloyd, a Northwest High School student, of the food drive the NW Ambassadors did a couple weeks ago. Aren't they great?

Rebecca Matthews of Seneca Creek Community Church hauled in a vanload of food today... Thanks very much to SCCC for collecting it! And to Rebecca for hauling it in... Looks like there is plenty of spaghetti sauce, cereal and peanut butter, as well as all kinds of great stuff. We're stockpiling food now - a lot usually comes in from Stamp Out Hunger in May, as well - but then donations trail off over the summer and we wind up buying lot of food all summer long. We've been experiencing fairly typical demand for this time of year, so we're keeping up quite well.

"Auxiliary Food Storage Facility" open!

2009-04-27T08:26:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Suzanne Krall's sawhorses and Tom Santucci's doors, we now have a couple sorting tables in our storage unit (or, as Howard Lichtman termed it, "The Auxiliary Food Storage Facility"). And, thanks to the Germantown Athletic Club, both the pantry and the storage unit have LOTS of food in them! Mike Ginsberg did a great job organizing the GAC coaches food drive, it was huge... We really appreciate the efforts of his whole family to organize, collect, and especially deliver all that food. Mike, we hope your back feels better soon!

We're still looking for Rubbermaid-style bins with lids, so we can store boxed items (cereal, pasta, etc.) without tempting mice. Extra Space Storage doesn't have a mouse problem and they don't want to acquire one.

Picture from an elementary school food drive...

2009-04-24T14:38:00.004-04:00

I pulled this off a box from an elementary school food drive... It sounds a little sad, almost: At least a FEW families have some food... They actually collected quite a lot of food, enough to basically cover 40 families or more.

What's going on, April 21, 2009

2009-04-21T08:09:00.007-04:00

Ordinarily, there won't be this much to read, but this is the first one, so we have to catch up!

FOOD DRIVES: Thanks so much to the Germantown Athletic Club, the Northwest High School Ambassadors, Victory Christian Church, United Church of Christ Seneca Valley and Sally K. Ride Elementary School for doing some big food drives in the last month! You collected some great food, thank you so much!

STORAGE ROOM: Yesterday, we rented a 10x20 storage unit to store our overflow food. We need sawhorses and a counter (to put on the sawhorses), to set up a sorting table with storage underneath. We also need a LOT of Rubbermaid storage bins with lids, to keep boxed items in (cereal, pasta, etc.). It would be great to have some "stick up" lights, too. There's only one little bulb in there, it's a little dark.

We had to rent some space, as we can't use part of the current pantry any more and storage was getting really limited. The pantry will still be the spot volunteers pick up their deliveries, we just needed overflow storage.

DRIVERS NEEDED: We're looking for April drivers on the 24th or 25th, 27th, 29th and 30th. If you've got some time, let Cindy know!

FUNDING UPDATES: We've gotten a number of grants last quarter to help us buy food. Our clients have really been enjoying the chicken, juice and butter we've been able to add to our deliveries! Mary Baney is working on some prescriptions grants to enable us to raise the amount of our assistance to $150 per client, perhaps more if they come through Emergency Services. The bank account was very low during parts of 2008 - in fact, we had to close the prescription program for 2 months - so we're being a bit cautious this year. Summer is a slow time for donations, food and funds in the best of economies. But we're hanging on and planning for the summer now.

CURRENT FOOD NEEDS: Rice (or rice mixes), mac & cheese.

WEBSITE UPDATES: Thanks very much to Suzanne Krall, Laura Totis and Abby & Carolyn Majane, who went to Baltimore to sit in a computer lab and have their volunteer process analyzed for some new website ideas. Lisa Harper and her team from Baltimore University even had a neat machine that measures how your eyes track when you look from one thing to the next onscreen. Hopefully, a new website and database will emerge from it all. We appreciate your patience, phew.

New Blog!

2009-04-21T08:06:00.002-04:00

Hi, friends and volunteers!

We've started this blog to keep volunteers, donors and anyone else who might be interested up-to-date on the status of Germantown, HELP. Positions we need help with, financials, all that! So please subscribe to our feed, or bookmark us and check back now and then.

Thanks!