Christ Church Outreach News: September 26, 2024
Help Your Neighbors on Saturday, Oct. 5, during Our Fall Food Drive at Dorsey’s Search Giant Supermarket to Aid Two Food Pantries
Christ Church will hold its Fall Food Drive at Dorsey’s Search Giant supermarket from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, engaging shoppers to collect non-perishable groceries for the Howard County Food Bank and its partner, SAFE Food Pantry (SAFE).
Please join in this heartwarming, family-friendly, hands-on activity! Sign up on a clipboard in the Narthex to take a shift of an hour, or more outside the Giant at 4715 Dorsey Hall Drive, Ellicott City, Md., 21043. Walk-ins and children are welcome!
Christ Church held its Spring Food Drive at a Giant store in Clarksville, last April when shoppers enthusiastically responded to our requests to buy suggested items on a list. The yield was 1,440 pounds of non-perishables for the Food Bank and 120 pounds for SAFE. Let’s do even better at the Fall Food Drive!
The Community Action Council of Howard County (CAC) operates the Food Bank, using a client-choice model just like a grocery store to help low-income residents. People can fill their shopping carts without having to use up their federal food assistance benefits, known as SNAP, making a slim household budget go much further. CAC tells us demand is greater this year than before, so please do your part to help fill the gaps.
The Food Bank’s partner, SAFE, provides free gluten-free and allergy-safe foods to eligible households. It celebrates its 10th anniversary in October as a volunteer-run nonprofit whose full name says it all: Supplying Allergy Friendly and Emergency Food Pantry. SAFE distributes through the Food Bank and at its own site and maintains a donation bin at Christ Church at the rear of Parish Hall.
Donate a Used Bike on Saturday, Oct. 5th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during Free Bikes 4 Kidz Annual Collection Day at Howard County Fire Stations
Please help Free Bikes 4 Kidz Maryland (FB4K) on its annual collection day, Saturday, Oct. 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at every fire station in Howard County. No matter how dusty –or rusty – FB4K wants your used child- or adult-sized bikes. As the organization says on its Facebook page, “We take bikes in any condition--even if your bike can't be fixed, we'll take usable parts off of it and correctly recycle the rest.”
Volunteers for FB4K will refurbish the bikes and give them away to local children in need and to nonprofit organizations in December. Since 2019, FB4K has given away 9,000 bikes, including adult bikes last year and in 2022 at the request of Christ Church. A bike went to one of the Afghan refugee families who are supported by the Interfaith Refugee Ministry and another went to St. Luke’s Youth Center (SLYC) for a college-bound youth as described in the Outreach Blog of Sept. 22, 2022.
Columbia Community Care Needs Diapers, Asks for Help Harvesting Produce
Columbia Community Care (CCC) requested gardeners and others to help harvest the remaining produce from its Community Garden outside the former Columbia Flier Building at 10750 Little Patuxent Pkwy in Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Check for updates on the CCC Facebook Group.
CCC continues to need baby-care items and diapers. Sizes 4-6 are in the greatest demand. It currently has an inventory of pull-ups, thanks to a generous individual donor. Also, consider collecting sanitary and personal care items and adult diapers. Put them in the yellow bin, marked “CCC,” inside the Parish Hall. Drop off items on weekdays when the church office is open or on Sundays. The Christ Church point of contact is Leigh Smith, who monitors the bin and delivers its contents.
Those who need groceries and other necessities can find information by going online to the “Get Help” section of CCC’s website. Or learn how to volunteer at CCC’s distribution sites or as a translator or a shopper at its pantry, located at 8775 Cloudleap Court, Suite 107, in the Long Reach Village Center.
Look for the FISH Bin on the Breezeway near the Parish Hall
FISH of Howard County requests non-perishable foods and toiletries, which we collect in the basket at the altar or in a marked yellow bin on the breezeway between the Parish Hall and Old Brick. FISH provides committed support to select families in need. The neighbors you help give thanks for all you do in their support.
In general, if you have suggestions about ways to help the community, if you want to get involved, or if you need assistance, please email Christ Church Outreach at outreach@christchurchcolumbia.org. Your help is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thank you.
