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Nonprofit Spotlight
Nonprofit Spotlight
End Hunger In Calvert County
Our name is our mission!
Some people dream big. The congregants of Chesapeake Church of Huntingtown surely do as they launched End Hunger In Calvert County, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, in 2008. With a name like that, you never have to ask, "What do they do?"
End Hunger In Calvert County (EHCC) is a community-based initiative working with 73 partner organizations such as food pantries and Farming4Hunger to address hunger head on. EHCC is a distribution hub for the Maryland Food Bank but so much more. Statistics from EHCC’s website show that the nonprofit supplies approximately 1,951,633 lbs. of food to 25,000 people in need with the assistance of over 1,700 volunteers every year.
By all measures, Calvert County is among the wealthiest counties in the state so it’s hard to imagine children and others living there going to bed hungry. However, Rev. Robert Hahn, senior pastor of Chesapeake Church stated, “People don’t understand rural hunger,” he said. “It’s hidden.”1 Rev. Hahn explained, “some of our neediest kids are from homes where both parents are still working.”2
Data issued by the Maryland Food Bank estimates that 1.5 million Marylanders are food insecure.3 Food insecurity touches every county and the city of Baltimore.
This past year, in addition to EHCC annual food distributions, the nonprofit has been feeding 1,300 of the county’s children who were no longer in school to receive breakfast and lunch. “That’s a total of 430,292 meals since schools closed,” said Jacqueline Miller, communications director for Chesapeake Ministries.
Being a dependable and year-round source of food for so many people requires a lot of space. Since its inception, EHCC has leased a 12,000 sq. ft. warehouse located in one of the county’s industrial parks.
This past year, however, with financial support from Calvert’s Board of County Commissioners, the state, and a vast number of private donors, they broke ground on a 21,915 sq. ft. warehouse co-located with the church’s new building in Huntingtown.
The added footage and lofting ceilings of the warehouse will allow EHCC to install two commercial kitchens to support their ServSafe culinary training program, provide collaborative space for other nonprofits, and store and distribute their food supplies more efficiently. The End Hunger Warehouse as it’s officially known is projected to open in spring 2022. Take a virtual tour of the warehouse.
To date, EHCC has graduated nearly 200 people from its free, year-round, eight-week culinary training program for unemployed or underemployed residents. These inclusive classes are designed to accommodate people with intellectual or developmental disabilities as well.
EHCC strives to eliminate food insecurity in Calvert County so that families don’t need to dream about a full belly, they’ll have one every day. For more information, visit the End Hunger In Calvert County website or follow on FaceBook. You may also call 410-257-5672 or send an email: info@endhungercalvert.org.
1 Reid, Michael. "Coronavirus Forces County Schools to Shut Their Doors." 18 May 2020, www.somdnews.com.
2 Madden, Marty. "Students, Adults Mobilize to Fight ‘Distance’ Hunger." 20 March 2020, www.somdnews.com.
3 Maryland Food Bank. "Redefining Hunger in Maryland, Maryland Hunger Map." www.mdfoodbank.org
Accessed 4 April 2021.
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