General

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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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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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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Jocelyn and Sophia restock the shelved at the CCC food pantry

Service Year Spotlight: How Jocelyn and Sophia Found Purpose at Columbia Community Care

In the quiet moments before Columbia Community Care’s food pantry opens each morning, Jocelyn Ball and Sophia Smith are already hard at work. They might be arranging fresh produce deliveries, picking up items from Costco or Trader Joe’s, stocking and sorting items onto the shelves, or assisting volunteers who shop and deliver groceries to local

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Statement from Columbia Community Care on Recent Executive Orders

From Executive Director Erika Chavarria and CCC’s Board of Directors At Columbia Community Care, we remain steadfast in our mission to create authentic connections and community partnerships and to listen, and respond by providing resources and programs, while respecting the inherent dignity of every person.  Since the Executive Orders issued in January, we have heard

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