Katie

a group poses with a banner announcing the launh of the pocket pantry initiative in howard county maryland

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball Launches Impactful ‘Pocket Pantry’ Partnership

Columbia Community Care is proud to partner on this inititiative. “Columbia Community Care is thrilled to team up with the Howard County Food Bank, Roving Radish, DCRS, the RLG Community Foundation, and Glenelg United Methodist Church to launch and sustain community refrigerators that will remain stocked with nutritious food for families in need. This collaboration […]

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2 volunteers with bags of food at a CCC pantry

As Federal Shutdown Threatens SNAP Benefits, Hunger Crisis Looms for Maryland Families

“My mom did everything she was supposed to do, and we still struggled,” said Jessica Nichols, a Maryland educator and chairperson of the Board of Directors for Columbia Community Care, and hunger relief nonprofit in Howard County, Maryland. “Paydays were great because we had food, but somewhere around five or six days before the next

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The Holiday BonBon Bash is Back!

Kick off the holidays, feed local families, and party with Grammy-winning hip hop icons Pete Rock and Treach of Naughty By Nature! Sponsored by the Jonathan Johnson Community Coalition, benefitting Columbia Community Care The BonBon Holiday Bash is Columbia’s biggest holiday party and one of Columbia Community Care’s most important fundraisers of the year. All

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photo of Erika

Meet Erika Strauss Chavarria, Columbia’s Community Organizer

For more than five years now, thousands of Howard County residents have been able to access healthy, fresh, and delicious culturally-diverse cuisine for free thanks to Columbia Community Care Inc. (CCC), a nonprofit organization founded by Erika Strauss Chavarria during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, Strauss Chavarria was a high school Spanish teacher at

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Why We Need the Food Insecurity Report Now More Than Ever

As someone who works on the front lines of hunger relief every day, I was deeply troubled by Saturday’s announcement that the USDA would cancel the decades-long Household Food Security Report. This critical annual survey tracks how many Americans struggle to put food on their tables, providing essential data that shapes our understanding of food insecurity nationwide.

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The Daily Record Announces 2025 Most Admired CEOs

The Daily Record has named Erika Chavarria, executive director of Columbia Community Care one of Maryland’s 2025 Most Admired CEOs. Most Admired CEOs honors talented business CEOs, higher education leaders and nonprofit executive directors throughout Maryland whose leadership and vision are admired by those around them. A panel of judges selects these honorees based on

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Summer Youth Program Prevents Crime and Strengthens Self-Worth

While many Howard County families have a local community association membership or they can afford to send their young people to camps, the county’s working-class families—some of whom are working multiple jobs and still struggling—continue to face financial barriers that make it more challenging for their children to have a place to go in the

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