CATONSVILLE, Md. — A local nonprofit in Catonsville is fighting food insecurity with a summer food drive, and it's already yielding impressive results.
Catonsville Emergency Assistance's "Christmas in July" initiative has collected thousands of pounds of food, and counting, during what's typically a slower donation season.
Take a look at how Catonsville is giving back
"Our pantries get pretty low in the summer," explained Caitlin Kirby, executive director of Catonsville Emergency Assistance, in a Tuesday interview with WMAR-2 News. "A lot of times, people are on vacation, they're not thinking about donating to the food pantry."
"Having a Christmas in July event keeps the fact that food insecurity really has no season - hunger has no season - it keeps that in the back of peoples' minds," Kirby added.
The donations are organized and integrated into the pantry, ready to help the roughly 700 people the organization serves annually from their Bloomsbury Avenue location.
Kirby told WMAR-2 News that 33 percent of neighbors in the area live with food insecurity.
"Once one of our neighbors is determined to be eligible for food services they are provided with one weeks' worth of food per month. And that does include the nonperishable items that many of our community members donate, but we also have partnerships with the Maryland Food Bank," Kirby said.
Many community members follow the organization on social media and respond to their "What We Need Wednesday" call-outs with donations from home.
"I have three children who will be at Catonsville High School this coming year," Kirby added, "So they are sitting in class with some of the people who, maybe, we're serving."
The nonprofit has received significant community support for the Christmas in July effort, including 3,500 pounds of food from the LDS Church and 850 pounds from the Charlestown Community, Kirby said.
Kirby said she is the organization's only full-time employee at the nonprofit, which also has two part-time assistants and several volunteers.
The organization also has an Amazon wishlist and accepts monetary donations, all of which is accessible on its website.
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