Tag Archives: groceries

Happy April!! Here’s the New Pantry Item of the Month!

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April is here and this new month hopefully means we’re out of the grasp of Old Man Winter and can finally be excited for all the beauty that spring brings!!

The new month means we have a new Pantry Item of the Month and for April we’re asking for donations of PASTA SAUCE!!

We’ll gladly accept any brand or variety of pasta sauce. The pasta sauce will be used by our kitchen staff for the daily meals served to the community. The pasta sauce is also a very popular item at our Community Grocery Giveaways and a staple product in our food bags.

If you’d like to donate, please drop off to our Administrative Office during business hours Mon – Fri. If those hours don’t work for you, please call 301.739.1165 or email info@hagerstownhopecenter.com to arrange a better time.

If you prefer shopping online at AmazonSmile or another vendor then please use 125 N. Prospect St, Hagerstown, MD 21740 for our delivery address.

Any donation is a huge help as we work to end hunger and food insecurity in our community! Thank you for caring & sharing with your neighbors!!

For more info about our food programs or any other programs & services at The Hope Center please visit hagerstownhopecenter.com.

Another Successful Food Giveaway!

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Our 3rd Community Grocery Giveaway was a huge success!!

We hosted the quarterly event on February 26th as a way to help anyone in the community in need of grocery assistance. While we hand out food bags to anyone in need each month, we’ve started hosting these large grocery events to help give more people access to food. This event is basically a build-your-own-food-bag type of activity. We provide the bags and then allow each person to decide the items from each table they’d like to take. This way we’re making sure people take the foods they love and want.

And at this Community Grocery Giveaway we added personal care items like soap, shampoo, lip balm, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, and hand soap.

In the 2 hours of the event we gave food to over 245 people!

Our guests so were happy and thankful for the grocery assistance. We want to thank all the individuals, families, groups, churches, and schools who’ve been donating food to our pantry. Your donations make a huge difference each and every day but they were especially beneficial at our giveaway. Your generosity not only provided important food assistance to so many people but it also provided hope and made a lot of people very happy!

An event like this couldn’t be so successful without the help and support of so many of our staff and volunteers. We want to thank everyone who helped in one way or another to make this event happen. There’s a lot of work that went into this event including moving boxes upon boxes of food. Thank you to everyone who served our community during this giveaway! We are so thankful and proud to have such wonderful staff and volunteers!!!

We’re planning on hosting another Community Grocery Giveaway in the spring. But until then, if you are in need of grocery assistance please call our office at 301.739.1165 to reserve a food bag for pickup. We will continue to offer bags of groceries each month so please do not hesitate to get a bag of food for yourself or family. Also, if you’re in need of hot meals and friendly company then please join us each day for our community meals. For more info on our daily meals please call 301.739.1165. And remember, we serve meals every day of the year including holidays and inclement weather.

If you’d like to donate food or learn more about our community food programs please call 301.739.1165 or email info@hagerstownhopecenter.com.

Who’s Ready for Turkey?

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Halloween is just a week away which means the holiday season is upon us!

We’re kicking off Thanksgiving month with our second Community Grocery Giveaway! We’re opening the doors of the Trinity Center on Friday, November 13th from 9-11am (or while supplies last) for anyone in the community who needs food assistance. Our first Community Grocery Giveaway in the summer was a hit so we’re happy to give out more food to those in need in November. Reservations/tickets are not required for this event but masks must be worn. Each person will be able to choose from a wide selection of various non-perishable items and an assortment of breads and pastries. For more info please call 301.739.1165.

And with Thanksgiving just around the corner we’re happy to announce that our annual Great Hagerstown Thanksgiving Feast will take place this year! With that being said, it’s going to look a little different. We will be providing meals for carry-out and delivery this year. There will not be a service nor kids activities this year.

The menu for our feast this year will be exactly as you remember it from the past. You and your family can enjoy roast turkey, mashed potatoes, our crowd-pleasing stuffing, sweet potatoes, succotash, sauerkraut, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and more!

The Trinity Center doors will open at 11:30am and each person will be able to receive a delicious meal to take home. Reservations are not required for carry-out. Doors will close at 1pm or while supplies last. Please remember to wear a mask.

Delivery will begin at 11:30am also and will be for residents inside Hagerstown city limits. Delivery reservations are required. Please call our office at 301.739.1165 by November 16th to be put on our delivery list. Delivery meals will be the same menu as carry-out.

We are in need of volunteers to help again this year at our Thanksgiving feast. We need people to help serve, prepare delivery meals, and help deliver meals around the city. If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer this year please call 301.739.1165 or email info@hagerstownhopecenter.com immediately. Please help us spread the word! Thank you!

Please remember that our kitchen is open every day of the year to serve meals to anyone and everyone in the community. If you are in need of a delicious meal please join us each day. Also, if you or your family are in need of grocery assistance please call us to reserve a complimentary food bag. For more info about food bags, our daily meals, or any other programs and services at The Hope Center please call us at 301.739.1165 or email info@hagerstownhopecenter.com. To learn more about The Hope Center please visit http://www.hagerstownhopecenter.com.

Day To Serve Prompts Local Food Drive

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Americans are probably the most generous group of people on earth. This is being said without any actual statistics or facts to back it up but we’re just going on a hunch that we’re right about that claim.

But getting people to give or give back is not always easy since Americans are also probably the busiest group of people on earth. Getting involved and helping in the community is high on most people’s “must do” list but often times it is difficult because of all the demands of daily living. And that’s why the Governor created the Day To Serve.

The Day To Serve is an annual program to encourage volunteerism in the State of Maryland. The Governor of Maryland established this day andgo asked Marylanders to get involved in their communities between September 10th and October 10th.

dsc_0074A group of Maryland state employees consisting of Roberta Barkley, Barbara Allen, Amy Miller and Tracy Leb decided to host a food drive at a local grocery store. After contacting several stores, Save-A-Lot allowed the ladies to set up their food drive in front of their store. So on September 23rd, these woman hosted a food drive to benefit The Hope Center at Hagerstown Rescue Mission at the Save-A-Lot store in the South End Shopping Center.

This was the first food drive that they’ve hosted and were very pleased with the amount of food given and support from the community in helping others. In fact, the ladies were able to collect 350 pounds of food for The Hope Center pantry! Roberta, the food drive organizer, chose The Hope Center because she said she liked knowing exactly where the donation would be going and who it would be helping.

At The Hope Center, we feed thousands upon thousands of people a year. We don’t just feed the men who are in our residential rehabilitation program. We feed the homeless. We feed families. We feed anyone who needs a meal. Whether it’s a hot meal served at our daily Soup Line or it’s a bag of groceries given to a needy family, our kitchen and pantry is constantly busy making sure no one in our community misses a meal.

But with all the food that we serve or give out, our panty is in constant need of replenishment. And that’s why food drives like the one that Roberta, Barbara, Amy & Tracy hosted are so important to us at The Hope Center. Food can get costly and feeding thousands could easily break the budget but the generous support of people in our community helps to make sure that we can continue to feed and help people without costing them a cent or using tax money.

In addition to asking for food donations, Roberta contacted local dentist offices asking for donations of toothbrushes and paste. Two generous offices, Robinwood Dental Center & Dr. Toothman’s, gave the toothbrushes and toothpaste for the food drive. Personal care items such as toothpaste, brushes, deodorant and soaps are very important too as we give these items to our residents, overnight homeless guests and anyone who may need them. As simple as these items may seem, they can quickly help restore a persons value.

We want to give a huge thank you to Roberta, Barbara, Amy & Tracy for putting together this food drive and taking time out of their busy schedules to get the community involved in helping others. And we want to thank the Save-A-Lot store for allowing these ladies to host their food drive at that location. Another big thank you to Robinwood Dental & Dr. Toothman for donating the toothbrushes & paste for our guests.

Have you been inspired to host a food drive? Maybe you just want to get your family involved with giving food. If you’d like to learn more about how you can help feed your neighbors in Hagerstown then call 301.739.1165 or email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net.

Please consider frequenting these generous local businesses:

  • Robinwood Dental Center is located at 11110 Medical Campus Rd. Suite 148 in Hagerstown. Learn more about their services at http://www.robinwooddentalcenter.com.
  • Toothman Orthodontics is located at 81 N. Edgewood Dr in Hagerstown and 5100 Buckeystown Pike Suite 196 in Frederick. Go to http://www.toothmanorthodontics.com to learn more about their services.
  • Save-A-Lot store is located at 1161 Maryland Ave in Hagerstown. If you’re unfamiliar with Save-A-Lot stores then visit their website at http://www.save-a-lot.com

 

 

 

 

The Good Shepherd Ministries: Joining the Fight Against Hunger

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We’d like to say a big “thank you” to the awesome people from The Good Shepherd Ministries in Hagerstown!

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Recently, The Good Shepherd Ministries hosted a church-wide food drive to benefit The Hope Center.

Andrea Reaves, wife of Assistant Pastor Brad, and grand-daughter of The Hope Center founders Jim & Ellen Resh, organized the food drive for the church.

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The church provided approximately 460 pounds of non-perishable food for our food ministry! We are so thankful for their generous donation to help feed the needy in Hagerstown.

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Our food program is one of the most vital parts of our entire ministry for our guests. From food bags to multiple free meals throughout the day, our kitchen and pantry is always busy, and sometimes short on necessary items.

Food drives, like the one hosted by The Good Shepherd Ministries, are an important resource for our ministry. When you feed hundreds of people a week while also providing families with bags of groceries to supplement their own pantries, you can go through a lot of food. Food drives ensure that our pantry is always stocked and ready to meet the needs of our community.

Since everything we do at The Hope Center is free, and free from any tax money, we rely heavily on the generous support from churches, individuals, civic clubs, Scout programs and more to help keep our facility open, operational and free for anyone who is in need.

Thank you again to The Good Shepherd Ministries for partnering with us to help combat hunger in Hagerstown. If you’re currently looking for a church to attend, visit The Good Shepherd Ministries. For more info about this great body of Believers, go to http://www.mytgsm.com.

If you would like to host a food drive to benefit The Hope Center but just aren’t quite sure how to do so, contact us and we’ll gladly help you out. Call 301.739.1165 or email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net.

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And don’t forget that in April our 2nd Annual Rock the Run: A Race for Hope is taking place at Fairgrounds Park. On Saturday April 23rd, join fellow runners, joggers & walkers as we hit the streets to raise support and awareness for homelessness and hunger in Hagerstown. It’s a simple and fun way to make a difference in the community and help neighbors in need. Go to http://www.rocktherunhagerstown.com to learn more.

Superheroes Come in All Sizes

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Captain America. Iron Man. Black Widow. Spider-man. We all have our favorite superheroes, whether they wield a hammer, are faster than a speeding bullet, or protect humans with their mutant powers, superheroes make for great stories, spectacular movies, and can teach kids great lessons about helping others.

But what exactly is a superhero? According to Webster’s Dictionary, a superhero is, ” a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also :  an exceptionally skillful or successful person.”

Do superheroes truly exist? Obviously they do. From the men & women of our Armed Forces, to firemen & women, police, and more, there are so many people who give above and beyond the call of human duty to make a difference.

It’s refreshing when a superhero comes in the form of a little boy.

DSC_0161Our superhero, Carson, is quite the little guy. For his birthday, like most little boys, Carson wanted a superhero theme. But his superhero birthday proves just how much of a hero Carson and his family is.

Instead of gifts for Carson, he and his family decided to help others by having party guests donate items to The Hope Center.

Included in the party invitation was a list of the items that are always needed in our pantry. From peanut butter, to sugar, coffee, creamer, cans of vegetables, box dinners, and more, Carson’s family wanted to make sure that they could help keep the hungry in Hagerstown fed.

In addition to items for our pantry, the family asked for other necessary items like paper towels, toilet paper, and napkins. They also gave party attendees the option of donating personal care items like soap, deodorant, shampoo, disposable razors, and shave gel for our overnight homeless guests.

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And in the grand tradition of superheroes, every kid who brought a donation received their official superhero cape!

It’s not everyday that a superhero celebrates his birthday in a way that it helps so many people in the community. Carson and his family may never know the full impact of their donation but God sees their generous spirit and we know that He will bless them as much as they blessed us.

We are thankful for parents who teach their kids the importance of giving to others, helping the less fortunate, and showing God’s love to all people.

Happy birthday and thank you, Carson, for being a real superhero! We thank God for you and your family and all the people who helped to make your birthday so special for us!