Volunteering at Baltimore Hunger Project
Yesterday, on Giving Tuesday, a group of 15 Michele’s Granola employees spent the morning volunteering with one of our Baltimore-based 2022 grantees, the Baltimore Hunger Project (BHP). Alongside a few of the organization’s regular program volunteers, we started off by sharing our personal and community experiences with food access, and our motivations to volunteer. It was grounding to hear firsthand about family members and other people we know without reliable access to food. We also learned that more than 70% of Baltimore City students and nearly half of all Baltimore County students are considered food insecure. As one of our teammates said, “In a country so rich in resources, it is astonishing that so many don’t have enough to eat.”
"Nourishing Bodies and Minds"
With an established shared passion for eliminating hunger and ensuring equitable access to healthy foods, we were ready to get to work! We quickly formed an assembly line in the chilly but well-organized warehouse packed to the 30-foot ceiling with non-perishable food items sourced primarily from the Maryland Food Bank. In an hour and a half, we packed nearly 600 weekend 
bags of food for students in Baltimore City and Baltimore County who receive free meals at school during the week but may go hungry over the weekend. The bags included thoughtfully selected items to “nourish bodies and minds” including easy-to-prepare canned goods, cereal, milk and snacks, utensils for easy serving, and a handwritten note to offer hope and encouragement to each recipient.
The bags we packed will discretely be slipped into the backpacks of children in need this Friday by their guidance counselors, helping to ensure they are well-fed and return to school on Monday ready to learn. BHP will host 2 more volunteer-led packing sessions this week, for a total of 3 every week, to serve nearly 2000 children throughout the Baltimore region.
To learn more about BHP’s mission to nourish food insecure children in the Baltimore region, sign up to volunteer, or make a donation, please visit their website here. We also invite you to learn more about Give One for Good Food, our charitable giving program.
