Activity: Food Pantry Program, Our Daily Bread, Vienna, VA (November 18, 6 participants, 1.5 hours of service)

Our Daily Bread is a non-profit organization that began its activities in 1984. The organization has many successful programs that aim at mitigating hunger in northern Fairfax County, Virginia. The Food Pantry Program provides emergency delivery of food and basic household hygiene items to families that have been identified as needing immediate assistance. Our Daily Bread relies heavily on donations from individuals and private organizations. The Community Funding Pool of Faifax County also provides partial funding.

Our duty was to assemble packages with non-perishable food items and hygiene supplies for 15 families. The packages were immediately delivered to the families by another group of volunteers. We also spent some time restocking the pantry with newly arrived food donations.

Activity: Clean-up of Lake Elkhorn Park, Howard County, MD (June 16, 3 participants, 2 hours of service)

Lake Elkhorn Park is a 37-acre park and arboretum in Columbia, Howard County, Maryland. The park has a collection of 42 identified native and exotic species of trees and shrubs, including four different types of Oak trees. Lake Elkhorn Park is home to private residences but has been designated by Howard County as a recreational area for the entire community.

Our goal was to provide "fine tuning" cleaning of the area. The regular cleaning crews service the park pick up trash and wash the paved ways. We picked up small debris and trash items that are usually left behind by the cleaning crews. As a result of our work, about 20 gallons of waste were removed from the park grounds.