Most of the Maryland Momentum team (Carolynn Blagmon, Dennis Webb, Sherron Fulton, Jose Gonzales and Alka Mital) spent their day on April 30, 2019 volunteering at the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore.  Momentum also made a monetary donation of $500 to the food bank that was highly appreciated.  Each $ contributed results in 3 meals!! Maryland is one of the richest states in America but there is still a large population that is food insecure and depends on institutions like these to supplement their food supply. The MD Food Bank delivers over 37 million meals a year.

We elected to do both the morning and afternoon shifts working in the warehouse portion of the Food Bank.  Our morning shift consisted of checking over the counter (OTC) medications for expiry dates, discarding those that were less than 3 months to their expiry and packing the remaining in boxes.  We also packed Meal Replacements boxes (ready to drink shakes and protein bars).  We ensured that each box weighed between 4 – 4.5 kgs. (approx. 10 lbs) or 11 – 11.5 kgs. (approx. 25 lbs), depending on product and that each had a variety. The boxes were sealed and labeled and placed on palettes in readiness for delivery.  The afternoon was the fun part, where we stood at stations around a conveyor belt (think I Love Lucy) and packed boxes of items pertinent to our stations (Snacks, dry foods, breakfast, coffee & tea, paper goods, baby products, Misc., cleaning supplies, OTC, topical, female products). Dennis manned seven stations all by himself in addition to trashing things that were un-distributable!!