Good Neighbors

I met with Bita Dayhoff today. Bita is the acting President of the Howard County Community Action Council. In that role she oversees the operation of the Food Bank. In case you hadn’t heard, the Food Bank is having a tough summer. I wrote a column about this problem back in July. Last month, in the Howard County Times, Janene Holzberg reported that in the “first six months of 2009, the Food Bank distributed 200,000 pounds of food to 3,500 households. During the same period last year, 160,000 pounds were handed out to 2,850 families.”

The problem is that while the need has increased, donations have decreased.

“Meanwhile, about 90,000 pounds of food were collected from January through June of this year compared to 100,000 pounds during the same period in 2008.”

The good news is that this publicity about the Food Banks plight has resulted in a surge in donations. Last month the food bank received over $6,000.00 in donations. According to Bita the donations came in large and small amounts indicating a broad spectrum of community support.

To keep this in perspective, summer is typically the slowest time of year for donations. Nice going neighbors!