COLUMBIA, Md. — "It's always like this. It’s a little bit like Grand Central Station."
April Lee is referring to the hustle and bustle inside Columbia Community Care's (CCC) headquarters in the Long Reach Village Center. About a dozen volunteers are either sorting and organizing food and toiletries or packing up bags of groceries to be delivered.
"Nothing could be done without these amazing volunteers," said Lee, the non-profit's director of pantry operations. "It takes an enormous amount of food to serve the number of people that we do. We give it out as fast as we get it."
Each Saturday, CCC holds food distributions at three sites in Howard County. For those with limited or no transportation, they will deliver groceries. Lee said they will serve 300-400 people a week.
This group had grassroots beginnings, started by Erika Chavarria while she was working as a teacher at Wilde Lake High School. In March of 2020, when it looked like schools would close because of rapidly increasing cases of COVID-19, she put out a plea on Facebook, asking for food donations for students and families in need.
"I thought this was going to be a two week operation and had no idea it would turn into years, a massive organization and really it’s a movement. An organic movement by community, for community," she said.
Both Chavarria and Lee said hunger and food insecurity in Howard County can often be overlooked because the county is considered to be one of the wealthiest in the nation.
"The pandemic did not cause the problems with poverty and injustice and hunger that we see," said Chavarria. "It exacerbated it, but this issue has always existed in our county and it’s easy to not see or to ignore if you don’t have to live it."
"We end up serving a lot of people who fall through the cracks and don’t end up qualifying to use other food banks," said Lee. "You shouldn’t have to choose between medicine and food, yet this is a decision they have to do, so then they come to us."
CCC also offers youth service and mentorship programs and workshops for women and mothers. They are looking forward to moving all of their operations under one roof, at a new community center called The Source. County leaders joined CCC to break ground on the project Tuesday, which is on the site of former Columbia Flier building.
The center will also have healthcare, recreational and communal spaces.
"I think the resilience of our community and the strength of what I see people face every single day and still have the motivation to keep going, gives me motivation to keep going," she said. "To know there are good people in this world and people who truly care about their neighbors, inspires me to keep going."
CCC's food distribution sites are Long Reach Village Center, Wilde Lake Interfaith Center and The Barn at Oakland Mills. The sites are open on Saturdays from 9:30-11:30 a.m., or until the food runs out.
CCC does not ask for identification or proof of need. For more information on grocery deliveries, click here.
