Get A Tax Deduction In Patch Holiday Food Drive In Harford County

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — The Patch Holiday Food Drive is raising money for Feeding America and the food banks, pantries and meal programs in Harford County.

The cumulative effect of 39 weeks of historic joblessness and business failures because of the coronavirus pandemic is as plain as the bare cupboards in millions of kitchens across America: As many as 50 million people, including more than 30,000 people in Harford County, don’t have enough to eat.

You can help by giving to Feeding America in Patch’s Holiday Food Drive.

Contributions are tax-deductible, so if you give now, you’ll be able to include your donation in your 2020 tax return.

The food drive runs through Dec. 31. For every $1 you give, Feeding America is able to supply 10 meals.

Many of the families experiencing food insecurity don’t qualify for federal nutrition programs, and they need to rely on their food banks and other hunger relief organizations to have enough to eat, according to Feeding America.

Patch and Feeding America teamed last summer to address the growing hunger crisis in America, connecting readers with the organization’s 200 member food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, and providing an easy way to donate money to help their neighbors.

Some of the places in Harford County that may benefit are:

• Bel Air UMC Emergency Pantry, 21 Linwood Ave., Bel Air, MD 21014. Drive-thru program from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month. Make sure the trunk is empty. Soup kitchen operates from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Wednesday.
• Centre United Methodist Church, 2409 Rocks Rd, Forest Hill, MD 21050. Food pantry is open 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays.
• Harford Community Action Agency, 1321-B Woodbridge Station Way, Edgewood, MD 21040. Those who meet 200 percent poverty guidelines can pick up once a month from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
• Oak Grove Baptist Church, 2106 Churchville Rd., Bel Air, MD 21015. Open 9 to 11 a.m. every third Saturday. Stay in your car.
• Salvation Army, 300 Seneca Ave Havre de Grace, MD 21078. Call 410-939-3535 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mondays, leaving a message with a name, county, number of people in the family and reason for food need. The Salvation Army will call back with an appointment.
• Saint Johns Cupboard, 114 N Union Ave, Havre de Grace, MD 21078. Open every Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 1200 E Churchville Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014. Open Thursdays 6 to 7:30 p.m. and Fridays 10:30 a.m. to noon. For assistance at other times, call the church office at 410-838-3178 or e-mail office@smlc.org. Participants must show photo identification and are eligible for help once every 30 days.
• Tabitha's House, 112-D Connolly Rd., Fallston, MD 21047. Call 410-877-9730 to schedule an appointment in advance; open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Once clients arrive, they are asked to remain in their vehicles, and food will be brought to them.
• Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1100 Philadelphia Rd., Joppa, MD 21085. Open 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursdays; and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays.

Feeding America predicted last summer that 50 million people, including 17 million children, could face hunger by year’s end because of the pandemic.

To put that into perspective, about 35 million people in the United States struggled with hunger in 2019, according to the latest report on household food insecurity by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Households with children are the most vulnerable to food insecurity. Before the pandemic, more than 10 million children lived in food-insecure households.

Feeding America projects the food insecurity rate in Harford County will rise to 12.3 percent in 2020, up from 9.3 percent in 2018.

Feeding America says that 80 percent of its food banks — or 4 in 5 — are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. With the pandemic worsening during the holiday season, many people who never before worried about how they’d pay for a holiday meal are turning to food banks for the first time.

From the beginning of the pandemic in March, Feeding America distributed 4.2 billion meals — enough to provide every U.S. resident with breakfast, lunch and dinner for just over four days.

In the first four months of the pandemic, 4 in 10 people were first-time visitors to food banks, according to Feeding America.

How To Support The Patch Holiday Food Drive

Patch has teamed with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 50 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.