A Garden for All Seasons: Help Us Continue to Grow at Freetown Farm
We need your help to continue the growth of our Community Garden at Freetown Farm!
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Community
Service Year Spotlight: David and Zakariya Keep the Pantry Stocked
Before Columbia Community Care’s food pantry opens each morning, David Carothers might already be filming a “Behind the Bite” reel for Instagram, showing off the types of food that CCC keeps in stock. Meanwhile, Zakariya Jaweed is likely walking the aisles of a grocery store, purchasing items that need to fill the shelves. Both found
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5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Hunger in Howard County
Howard County is one of the wealthiest in the U.S., yet families are still going hungry. Columbia Community Care is closing the gap with no questions asked
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It Takes a Village: How Columbia Community Care and the Columbia Action Council of Howard County Work Together to End Hunger
It was March 2020, the world had just stopped, and Carrie Ross had just moved back to Howard County from Seattle with no job and no clear direction. Like a lot of people that spring, she turned to Facebook, scrolling through community groups, trying to get a feel for the place she’d landed. That’s where
We Asked. Here’s What Our Community Told Us.
Our first multilingual visitor survey reveals what it means to face food insecurity in Howard County — and what CCC’s role looks like from the inside. There’s a question that only people who experience food insecurity can actually answer: What does it actually feel like to depend on food assistance in Howard County? What difference
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Rooting and Growth: How Circles Help Women Bloom
“The winter is a time when we feel like everything is dead, but plants and trees are actually rooting and taking in nutrients to prepare for growth,” she explains. The circle focused on this through conversation and meditation, with participants crafting small bundles of cedar branches. “In a lot of indigenous cultures, cedar represents protection and resilience because when everything else is dying, it stays green and strong,” Roxana says. “That’s a way to become inspired.”
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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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Breaking Down Barriers: Understanding Food Access Challenges in Howard County
“Food insecurity isn’t just about hunger – it’s about deeply rooted systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing the nutrition they need,” explains Erika Chavarria, executive director of Columbia Community Care (CCC). “Even in an affluent area like Howard County, we see how these barriers impact our neighbors every day.” While Howard County appears prosperous
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Miller’s Grant Opens its Hands and Hearts to Columbia Community Care
Once a month, a group of volunteers from Miller’s Grant, a retirement community in Howard County, head to the Columbia Community Care food pantry to volunteer. “We started out with volunteers helping at the distribution site in Long Reach,” said Monica Fortner, who coordinates the Miller’s Grant volunteers and serves as a liaison with CCC.
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Service with a Purpose: Delta Days at CCC
Every second Saturday, the Columbia, Maryland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. can be found at Columbia Community Care’s (CCC) headquarters, sorting, packing, and distributing essential items for local families. The partnership between the sorority and CCC began in 2022 when Samantha Phillips-Chester, then serving as the Community Outreach Chair for the Columbia
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