PARKVILLE, MD – Once a month, a dedicated group of people gathers in the Renaissance Gardens Terrace Dining Room of Oak Crest Village. Instead of watching television or going home after work, they are donating their time to make sandwiches for the homeless.
Surrounded by dozens of loaves of bread and Ziploc bags, and equipped with a healthy dose of teamwork, the volunteers prepare more than 700 sandwiches that are sent to the Maryland Food Bank for distribution at the next day’s lunch service.
For an entire year, it has been a labor of love and fellowship between residents, staff and community volunteers. On the evening of January 14, the crew achieved a milestone of sorts. They made the 5,000th sandwich in the history of the program.
“It just goes to show you what a difference a group of people can make a little at a time,” stated Alison Krull, volunteer coordinator at Oak Crest and creator of the program. “It’s been said that ‘we can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.’ That’s what we try to accomplish every month for those served by the Maryland Food Bank.”
Along with staff and residents, Oak Crest partners with a diverse group of volunteers from the business community and youth organizations, namely the Perry Hall Office of Long and Foster (8712 Belair Road) and Boy Scout Troop #146 (Epiphany Lutheran Church).
Sharon Blough, vice president and Perry Hall branch manager for Long and Foster, leads a team of local Realtors and staff who volunteer at Oak Crest throughout the year. They were on hand for the making of the 5000th sandwich.
“Knowing that this effort benefits people in Baltimore through the Maryland Food Bank truly makes the project meaningful,” described Blough. “Collaborating with Oak Crest has been a natural fit since our first community service project at their campus several years ago. Our employees have learned so much from their enthusiastic residents.”
For more information about this and other activities coordinated by the Oak Crest volunteer program, please contact Alison Krull at 410-665-1000.
About Long and Foster: Located at 8721 Belair Road, the Perry Hall office of Long and Foster is the home to a dedicated team of professionals providing real estate, mortgage, title and insurance services. For more information, please contact Long and Foster at 410-529-1900.
About Oak Crest Village: More than 2,200 people live at Oak Crest Village, an Erickson full-service retirement community that promotes a vibrant lifestyle. Erickson Retirement Communities is one of the leading national developers of full-service retirement communities. Headquartered near Baltimore, MD, Erickson has built an innovative network of communities that combine a maintenance-free active lifestyle with an ever-expanding host of amenities, social activities, and wellness and medical centers, proven to improve both physical and mental health. Erickson was named by FORTUNE as being one of the Top 100 “2009 Best Companies to Work For®.”
For more information about this story, please contact Jeff Getek, public relations manager, at 410-882-3262, ext. 3189.
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What a great idea - thank you for sharing it and looks like you had a fun time!