Food Sunday volunteer Bob McGregor works with a client who stopped in for groceries.
Written By Anne Blue, Photos by: Phil Grout
Almost every Saturday morning for the past 25 years, when most people are enjoying an extra hour of sleep or a second cup of coffee, Joe Wade rises early to direct volunteers at Carroll County Food Sunday (CCFS) on Distillery Drive in Westminster.
Wade and his volunteer team, which includes his wife, Willanna, and son Kevin, sort cans of food, check in clients, pack food and hand out grocery bags filled with items to feed a family nutritionally balanced meals for three to four days.
Pasta, canned spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, dry cereal, canned meats, vegetables and fruits fill most bags.
“Have you ever been food-insecure? No one in my family has, so it can be hard to understand,” says Ed Leister, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the non-profit CCFS.
Leister is a Carroll County native and retired banker. When he talks about hungry people in Carroll County, he looks directly into your eyes and bluntly says, “These people are our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends. People like me want to think all the hungry people are homeless and lazy, but that just isn’t true.”
According to the Maryland Food Bank, there are 14,000 food-insecure people in Carroll County, but Food Sunday Clients, said Leister, are predominantly people who are underemployed at full or part-time low-wage jobs, middle income people who lost their jobs in the current recession, or people who are over 65 or disabled and living on a fixed income.
Many CCFS clients who need food are the children of a working single parent.
“Most of these families just can’t stretch their incomes quite far enough to meet all of their basic needs,” said Leister. “Food Sunday helps to ensure that they won’t go hungry.”
In 1982, Dominic “Dan” Jollie knew there were many people living in Carroll County who were hungry and he was determined to change that. He approached Sylvia Canon Haines, who at the time was in charge of Emergency Services for the Carroll County Department of Social Services, and together they hatched a plan to ask churches to sponsor a Food Sunday, a Sunday for parishioners to collect non-perishable food donations for the hungry.
“That first Food Sunday was quite successful,” remembers Haines. “We gathered all the donations in the parking lot of Social Services, then sorted all of it and stored it in an office. My specialty was giving out the food, filling bags with whatever donations we had, and giving them to hungry people.”
Encouraged by their initial success, Jollie and Haines set out to make a sustainable program. They recruited volunteers and board members, drafted by-laws and formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which they named Carroll County Food Sunday.
Now, CCFS operates out of a large warehouse adjacent to Human Services Programs of Carroll County. The space includes a waiting room for clients and lots of storage space and shelving for pallets of canned food as well as a walk-in refrigerator and freezer. CCFS also operates two satellite locations in Eldersburg and Taneytown.
CCFS functions with many dedicated volunteers like Joe Wade and only one paid part-time employee who manages day-to-day operations. Donors include annual food drives by the Boy Scouts and the Post Office, and Runnymede Elementary School’s annual walk-a-thon.
Recently, the demand for services has significantly increased as food prices have gone up and donations have gone down. However, for each dollar donated to CCFS, Leister is proud to tell anyone that 94 cents is actually spent on purchasing food for hungry people.
In 2011, CCFS distributed 4,350 pounds of food each week; this year, that number has almost doubled to 8,000 pounds given to more than 400 families each week.
“In March, I had to go to the board and tell them that we were cutting out eggs and vouchers for milk,” said Leister. “We also stopped purchasing and distributing beef stew, canned tuna, peanut butter, and canned fruit. The demand is so high, I would rather cut out these items and make sure our doors are always open.”
“I would like nothing better,” he said, “than to go back to my board and tell them we are in a better financial position and are putting all of those menu items back.”
Despite the current challenges, after 30 years, Carroll County Food Sunday continues to fulfill Dan Jollie’s 1982 vision: “For the sake of human decency, feeding the poor and the hungry people of Carroll County must be a concern for all of us who are not hungry.”
For More Information:
Carroll County Food Sunday
10 Distillery Drive, Westminster www.ccfoodsunday.org
410-857-7926 ¥ Email: ccfs@qis.net
Food Assistance
Anyone residing in Carroll County who needs assistance with food may come to CCFS. Clients must provide proof of residency and a Social Security Card for each family member to verify family size. Locations and hours of operation:
Westminster: 10 Distillery Drive
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10 – 11:15 a.m. and 1 – 2:15 p.m.; Saturday 9 – 11:15 a.m.
Eldersburg: St Joseph’s Catholic Church,
915 Liberty Road
Wednesday 10 a.m. to noon
Taneytown – St Joseph’s Catholic Church,
44 Frederick Street
Thursday 9:30 to 11:15 a.m.
How and What to Donate
CCFS accepts monetary and non-perishable food donations. All donations are tax-deductible and should be delivered to CCFS during hours of operation.
Suggested food donations include:
Canned Fruit ¥ Hot or Cold Cereal
Canned Vegetables ¥ Plain Rice
Canned Tuna, Chicken, Salmon
Canned Soup ¥ Tomato Sauce
Spaghetti in one-pound boxes
Macaroni & Cheese
Peanut Butter, Canned Beans
