Feeding the Hungry
The Lions of District 22W have been made feeding the hungry a priority since 2013. Most of the clubs within the district support their local food banks.
During the pandemic, pop-up food pantries, working in food banks, holiday food baskets allowed Lions to remain active, safely, and to provide a much needed service to their communities.
In May 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the employment of some of our fellow citizens, the Freedom District Lions Club (FDLC) began a new service project of conducting a weekly Pop-up Food Pantry. Every Sunday for two hours (11:00am-1:00pm) a group of FDLC members & their children provided free food to those in need from the Sykesville/Eldersburg community by loading boxes and/or bags of food into people's cars arriving at our set up area in the Eldersburg Commons shopping center. We provided food to 30-50 cars each Sunday serving approximately 90-150 people. The boxes/bags were packaged by the FDLC volunteers earlier in the morning and contained items such as eggs, milk, fresh vegetables, pasta, various canned goods, cereals & breads and even sometimes food for their pets. The club was fortunate to get donations to assist with this project including a truckload of canned goods & other food items from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; fresh vegetables from First Fruits Farm; breads & rolls from a nearby bakery; and milk from a dairy farm in Carroll County. A project that the club thought would only be needed for a few weeks continued for 21 Sundays before ending in October 2020.