Stores, churches, students, and volunteers donate both time and food to the cause. Located at the Good Samaritan Outreach Center in Elkridge, we are open on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month, 4pm - 8pm. Volunteer Opportunities:
On Fridays:
On the nights we are open (second and fourth Friday of the month, from 4-8pm) we rely on a team of volunteers to keep things running smoothly. Volunteers can
expect to help with signing people in, stocking shelves, bagging groceries, and generally assisting our customers with their selections. Most of our volunteers are high school students, but we welcome everyone who is interested (although we do ask that you are 13+ years old). If you would like to be put on the volunteer mailing list, please email [email protected], and we will email you the week before we are open to see who is available and to schedule volunteers. During the week:
We also have a number of people involved in behind the scenes work, preparing us to be open each week. These jobs involve a variety of things, from unpacking and stocking donated food and cleaning, to going to stores to pick up donations. We need more volunteers with weekday availability to help us pick up donations from a variety of places, including Green Valley, MOM’s organic market in Jessup, the Herr’s warehouse near the Elkridge library, and Kathryn’s Kloset- an organization that supplies toiletries. If you are looking for a volunteer job that will take up only a few hours each month, and are available during the weekdays, please feel free to email [email protected] for more information. Food Drives:
If you are part of a group such as a church, scout troop, or company that is interested in holding a food drive, please contact us with any questions you have. This is a great way to get involved in the community! Dinners:
We also have a hot meal available for our customers to enjoy whenever we can. Groups have brought in everything from simple sandwiches to complete spaghetti dinners, and are welcome to either stay and serve or just drop off the meal at the beginning of the night. If you are involved with a group that might be interested in preparing a meal one night, please email [email protected] for more information and to set up a date. Donations:
We rely entirely on the support of the community! All of the staff are 100% volunteer, and every donation we receive goes back into the community to help our neighbors in need. We accept any nonperishable items, but if you are not sure what to get, here is a quick list of items we specifically need:
peanut butter & jelly
tuna
cereal
pancake mix/syrup
mac and cheese
spaghetti o's/chef boyardee
canned fruit or vegetables (15oz size)
cake mixes/icing
canned soup
We also accept donated toiletries, such as:
shampoo
tooth brushes/tooth paste
soap
deodorant
shaving cream
razors
Small donations can either be dropped off in the donations bin located at Green Valley near the exit, or brought directly to the pantry on the Friday evenings we are open. Every little bit helps! All items need to be the regular sizes not the large Costco sizes. The reason for this is in order for us to stack the cans in an efficient way it is best for them to be the same size. Space is extremely limited.
