I don’t think it was accidental that I stumbled upon Baltimore Hunger Project one day while scrolling through my Facebook news feed. My friend and colleague, Alice Dearing, had just posted about her second week volunteering at the new BHP location, and it caught my attention. Maybe it was the colorful logo, or the mention of helping 470 Baltimore City/County children, or the fact that I was looking for a service activity to do with my ten-year-old daughter and her 5th grade Girl Scout troop, but something, or maybe everything, drew me to the organization.
As a former teacher in Baltimore County, it was hard for me to think about the fact that so many children receive meals during the week at school, which means that they may not have much, or anything, to eat on the weekends. These are hungry children- not across the ocean in another country- but in my city, my back yard. These could have been my students.
It was just about perfect timing, because a few days later, my team leader, Claudia O’Hara, and I were discussing ideas for “Giving Tuesday.” I knew we had to give to Baltimore Hunger Project, so I proceeded to tell my team about the BHP mission, and how there are still hundreds of kids on the waiting list, and how a donation of $250 allows BHP to support one additional student for an entire school year. Of course my team was on-board, so we created a fundraiser on our social media sites and decided to match all donations that came in on Giving Tuesday.
The O’Hara Group will continue to support Baltimore Hunger Project, not only because what they do is wonderful, but also because the organization is 100 percent run by volunteers. We were all pretty shocked to find out just how much BHP has helped the Baltimore community in just four short years. The results are tangible, they are meaningful, and we want to continue to be a part of that positive change.