2024 in Review: The Maryland Food Bank’s Top 10

Hi! I’m Carmen Del Guercio. I’m the President & CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, and fortunate to have just celebrated my 8th year here on December 12th, 2024. And as I reflect on this past year, my heart swells with pride. In a year where inflation heightened the challenges families and organizations face, our staff and partners still met the growing need—sharing more than 43 million meals, while opening pathways out of hunger for more Marylanders. I hope you enjoy this retrospective of how you helped us do more in 2024!

10. The MLK Day of Service

This annual event, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, felt even more special to me in 2024 for two reasons: the spectacular sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha, and legendary quarterback Joe Montana, who brought some star power to a hunger awareness event at the Guinness Brewery.

9. Orioles and Ravens Food and Funds Drives

Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews—good teammates that have led the Orioles and Ravens to lots of victories. And for more than 25 years, we’ve teamed up with their organizations to raise food and funds for our neighbors in need.

In 2024, we were fortunate enough to be at Camden Yards from Friday, July 12th – Sunday, July 14th for a four-game series against the New York Yankees, and at M&T Bank Stadium for the December 1st battle against the Philadelphia Eagles.

8. The Perdue Partnership: Delivering Hope to Our Neighbors

Alongside our beloved sports teams, there are few other institutions as significant to Maryland as Perdue Farms. While we’ve recently intensified our focus on partnering with more Maryland-based companies, Perdue has been providing high-quality protein for years. On February 29, we were humbled to be the recipients of more than 3 million pounds of chicken breasts, which were made available to hungry neighbors statewide through our network of community partners.

7. Coffee Talks

We enjoy giving supporters of the Maryland Food Bank an inside look at our programs, operations, and partnerships. And while our newsletter, emails, our website, and other ways we communicate with you are wonderful, our Coffee Talk series gives us the opportunity to take a deeper dive into a topic—something I really enjoy.

In 2024, I hope you were able to join us for two fascinating installments of Coffee Talk. On April 11, Reverend Dr. Heber Brown III of the Black Church Food Security Network and I had an engaging conversation (VIDEO) on building a more equitable food system in Maryland through urban farming.

Then, on October 18, Bukola Daramola, a Public Health Specialist and Coordinator of the food pantry at Maryland Food Bank partner RCCG Mercy Court joined me and MFB’s Director of Nutrition Kate Long for a discussion (VIDEO) about how our Culturally Inclusive Crop program is not only bringing relief and dignity to neighbors in North Baltimore but also helping to create that more equitable food system in Maryland.

6. The MFB Day of Service

Taking our cues from the wonderful work done on MLK Day, April 29 was a day for MFB team members to focus on our own sustainability, ensuring that we continue be the best resource we can for our neighbors in need. Seeing the pride, passion, and dedication as we tackled cleaning and organizing projects in the warehouse, garden, office spaces, and community spaces was inspiring.

5. Elevating Neighbor Voice Through Advocacy

Ending hunger means going beyond food assistance to break down some of the barriers that contribute to food insecurity in the first place—and this year, that included a stronger advocacy presence that we’ve ever had before. We continued conversations with colleagues working to combat poverty and hunger. We connected lawmakers and neighbors with lived experience with hunger to share their perspectives. We combined that with powerful data to vividly illustrate the real picture of hunger for the legislators in Annapolis that have the power to influence the very systems and policies that contribute to food insecurity.

It was moving to witness a neighbor and member of our Speakers Bureau sharing her struggles with hunger and experiences with food assistance with the Maryland General Assembly.

4. One of our Best Years, Thanks to Volunteers

With 1 in 3 of us still facing hunger, it takes a lot of hands to care for our neighbors in need.

An in 2024, you showed up, and showed up, and showed up.

In fact, we saw an unbelievable 40% increase in the number of unique volunteers last year! You made a total of 15,995 visits and gave us an unreal 37,789 hours of your time. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, that would have cost us $1,488,000!

It is an absolute honor and privilege when I get the chance to meet any of the volunteers at our Baltimore Warehouse, but I do want to take a moment to shine the spotlight on Martha Taylor, who has given more than 500 hours since 2020, and was named the 2024 Volunteer of the Year!

3. Symposium: Strengthening the Network

The Hunger Action Symposium is an important opportunity for the Maryland Food Bank team to take a deep dive into hunger solutions, this time with our several hundred of our community partners from all across the state.

Bi-annually, we take a full day to collaborate and ideate on how we can help more Marylanders escape the grip of poverty and shake free of the burden of hunger.

Meeting people, hearing the needs of their local communities and how programs and initiatives are helping more Marylanders thrive is energizing and recharging.

2. Year End Events: Pack to Give Back, Ravens, and GivingTuesday

I’m amazed by your constant dedication to fighting hunger, even when we know that rising prices have squeezed Marylanders of all economic levels. The fact that over the course of three year-end events—Pack to Give Back, the Ravens Food & Funds Drive, and GivingTuesday—you helped secure more than 1,000,000 meals for hungry Marylanders.

(Was it cheating to include the Ravens twice on this list? Maybe a little bit, but it is MY Top 10 list! I encourage you to share your own—join the discussion at the bottom of this post!)

1. FoodWorks, Really, Really Well

Being the Maryland Food Bank, many people still have the misconception that our work begins and ends with distributing food. But hunger does not just appear out of thin air; it has very real and consequential root causes, most often stemming from a lack of resources.

That’s why FoodWorks, our 12-week, intensive culinary training program takes the top spot in my 2024 Top 10 list.

Our two campuses—here at MFB HQ in Halethorpe, and at Wor-Wic Community College in Salisbury, an incredible 67 students started the FoodWorks program in 2024, and graduated as professional, certified chefs ready to start on careers.

I’m lucky to be able to see these hard-working students daily as they complete their culinary journeys and am honored to be a part of their graduation ceremonies.

And next year, I plan on visiting more FoodWorks chefs working in great Maryland places like Smith & Wollensky, the Horseshoe Casino, and Phillips Seafood!

While I could go on and on about the different ways your support allows us to continue finding innovative ways to offer Marylanders the support they need, I keep coming back to 43 million meals. Wow. That’s 82 meals every minute. Think about that.

In the time it took you to read this your support allowed us to distribute 656 meals!

Thank you for being there in 2024,
Carmen Del Guercio