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Volunteers at ODBEC on Feb. 12
Baltimore has achieved the distinction of being the major U.S. city with the largest amount of snowfall! We've had around 80 inches of snowfall now and counting. Catholic Charities welcomes and serves a major portion of the City's poor and homeless people and we certainly take our responsibilities to the women, men, and children who need us to heart. They depend on us…this is the reason Catholic Charities exists.
With the region at a virtual standstill, our staff, our volunteers and our food supply quickly became a real concern. Catholic Charities' Our Daily Bread has never, ever closed since it opened in 1981. Our record is 29 years now and still going strong. Even these multiple blizzards weren't going to stop our work!
How did we keep on feeding all who came to us for warmth and a hot meal? ODB's staff depends on casseroles and other donations as well as volunteers (35-40 every day) to serve the hundreds of individuals who come to us every day for the hot lunch. Needless to say, a great many of our kind and generous volunteers and casserole providers were unable to get to ODB and My Sister's Place Women's Center to deliver or serve food. We were also in growing piles of snow, blizzard conditions, and impassible streets ourselves.
So, our staff at these two programs just stayed for days and days. The men in residence at Christopher Place Employment Academy, housed at the Our Daily Bread Employment Center, began to shovel…and shovel. They cleared the parking lot, the alley beside the building, the Dog House Restaurant next door, the sidewalks and some of the streets. Then they cleared the sidewalks on all sides of My Sister's Place. And they did it again and again with each succeeding storm.
Staff from other Divisions who could get in prepared and served food for days. Our executive director, Bill McCarthy, and his son Ryan were some of the first to arrive. Everyone pitched to do whatever it took so that nobody was ever turned away for lack of food or people to help. When the weather became so extreme that many homeless people stayed all day in the City Code Blue shelter, Our Daily Bread shared our casseroles with them so they would have enough food there.
Last Thursday, February 12, we issued a call for help through the media and email. We desperately needed volunteers and certain food items. Within the first hour, we had 27 volunteers! The next day, we had nearly 50 people to serve the noon meal to 450 hungry folks! The picture is above. Classic Catering even drove right down with a large donation of breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods that made the Valentine's Day weekend very special for our guests and staff alike.
Since then, we have had a tremendous outpouring of compassion and assistance from people who genuinely care that there are people suffering right here in Baltimore. This economy has pushed many people into a state of poverty they could never have imagined. Equally as important, there is a greater understanding that we can all do something about it by offering a little of our time to volunteer or to get involved by donating certain food items or funds to cover the expenses of providing nearly 300,000 meals every year. To help, please call 443-986-9000 to volunteer or donate needed food items and 410-547-5490 to donate funds. Thank you from Catholic Charities!
Our Daily Bread Hot Meal Program
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