As Thanksgiving approaches, volunteers from the 爆料公社, Baltimore (UMB) have been hard at work stuffing more than 100 boxes with food donations for all of the families involved with the UMB CURE Scholars Program.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really special that we got volunteers who are available and willing to help make this a great holiday for our families,鈥 said Stephanie Alphee, operations manager for UMB CURE and the point person for the program鈥檚 Thanksgiving food drive. 鈥淚 think this year is special because given everything that鈥檚 happening in the world, we still got people to rally around this, and that really means a lot to us and our families.鈥
Stephanie Alphee, operations manager for the UMB CURE Scholars Program, sorts donations for the annual Thanksgiving food drive.
The donations were purchased with money from the UMB Staff Senate鈥檚 Thanksgiving food drive. Normally, the Staff Senate would collect food donations, but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group only accepted monetary donations to purchase food for community members in the West Baltimore area.
From Nov. 17-19, volunteers came in small shifts to UMB鈥檚 new Community Engagement Center (CEC) to sort the food donations and distribute them into individual boxes. Each donation box included canned vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, boxed mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pasta noodles, chicken stock, corn bread mix, and pumpkin puree.
鈥淓ach family will get a box so they have all the essentials for a Thanksgiving meal,鈥 Alphee said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e basically giving them everything they need but the turkey.
Every volunteer was equipped with a face mask and gloves while handling the donations. They also were required to get COVID tested before signing up for a volunteer shift. The volunteers consisted of UMB employees, CURE staff members, and CURE mentors.
鈥淰olunteering for this food drive is really important to me because I used to be on the other side of this,鈥 says Jeff Inen, a CURE mentor who is studying neuroscience in UMB鈥檚 (STAR-PREP). 鈥淚 was born and raised here in Baltimore and grew up living in poverty, so I know what it means and how important it is to give back.鈥
In addition to the boxes being assembled at the CEC, Rev. Al Hathaway organized an additional 25 food baskets from Union Baptist Church that included gift cards for families to purchase additional food for the holiday.
To distribute the donations safely, the CURE team set up a drive-by pickup system at the CEC on Nov. 20-22. Families drove up to the CEC and a volunteer put the box of donations into the trunk of their vehicles.
鈥淲e had our social work interns reach out to every CURE family individually to make sure they would be able to come and pick up the donations,鈥 said Gia Grier McGinnis, DrPH, MS, executive director of the CURE Scholars Program. 鈥淎ny families that have mobility issues or are unable to drive will have their boxes delivered to them.鈥
To accommodate all of the families involved with the CURE program, several volunteers, including Inen, signed up as 鈥渄rivers鈥 to deliver the donations directly to their doorsteps. The deliveries were contactless to maintain safe COVID-19 protocols.
In addition to the Thanksgiving food drive, the CURE Scholars Program has organized an emergency fund to assist families that may need assistance with rent, grocery bills, and electric bills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone can donate to the at any time on the CURE website.