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CQL staff use Social Capital Service days to volunteer at Maryland Food Bank

At CQL, we are committed to enhancing the quality of lives for people with disabilities. We are experts at educating organizations on ways they can integrate the people they support into community life and increase their social capital.

In 2004 we realized it was time for us to step back and evaluate our own social capital. In doing so, we recognized that every staff member could be a valuable resource for social capital ideas. So, at that time, CQL made the commitment to helping our employees increase their own social capital by offering paid days off to participate in volunteer activities.

On January 23, 2007, donning their best aprons, Jim Gardner, Sylvia Nudler, Holly Morrison, Tammi Odom, Jeanne Beach and Melanie Fender sorted donated food at the Maryland Food Bank to give Food Bank members (soup kitchens, shelters, pantries and similar community programs) a more organized “shopping” experience.

The group was oriented to the ways the food bank receives its goods: bulk donations, food drives, purchases and salvage. This day the group sorted the salvaged items, deciding which food should be kept. The next step was putting the items into large bins by category.

The group hopes to recruit more Maryland CQL staff to particpate in their next volunteer day to the Food Bank.