Edging Out Hunger in Edgecomb: Catherine’s Youth & Family Services

B. Slater and her friend Glenda had been waiting more than seven hours at the entrance of a quarter-mile long line to choose food, toiletries, and other household items from Catherine’s Youth & Family Services

While a wait like that may frustrate some people, Miss Slater shared a very different point of view.

“We love it here! We love the people, the workers, especially Miss Valarie,” shared Miss Slater.

“Yes! She makes sure we get the things we need—and not just good food and toilet paper—see that van over there? I’m going to get my heart and kidneys checked, right here!” Glenda added.

Since 2015, Catherine’s Youth & Family Services has been helping neighbors in the Edgecomb neighborhood of northwest Baltimore get the food and other services they need to stay healthy and thrive.

During a visit to Catherine’s nearly two years ago, some of the 100 neighbors in attendance who were finding relief at this community partner told us about their experiences picking up produce, carrying catfish, and having health checks.

Catherine’s Youth & Family Services is located in Baltimore City, which has seen the child food-insecurity rate grow from 26.4% to 31.5% over the last five years.

And while a lack of income is still the primary root cause of food insecurity for most neighbors, a wealth of data shows the challenges that families face in making their limited budgets stretch far enough. With the knowledge of continued higher prices on healthy food at local stores and this new data, we went back to Catherine’s in April and found that while the number of neighbors visiting has nearly doubled, so have this partner’s wraparound service offerings.

More Holistic Relief Through Increased Wraparound Services

“I am very concerned about this community,” stated Valarie Matthews, Catherine’s founder and executive director. “We have almost twice the amount of people since you were here last time, and all I hear about is cuts – cuts to produce, more cuts to SNAP, right? But we’re still here, and with more vendors than ever before!”

In addition to tables teeming with shelf-stable goods, boxes brimming with carrots, cabbage, and other fresh produce, the event featured diapers (for neighbors of all ages), clothing and other household goods, the Maryland Food Bank’s SNAP Outreach Team, plus connections to critical health services (like Sage Health, the Maryland Pride Center, and Maryland Physicians Care) as well as the Access Care van Miss Slater was eager to visit.

“We’re doing lots of checks for the community today—kidneys, liver, cholesterol, blood pressure—a little bit of everything, and then people get a $45 gift card for getting screened on site today,” said Darryl Gray, the organization’s Community Engagement Coordinator.

Mickey, a neighbor who has been visiting Catherine’s for the last three years, shared her experience after exiting Access Care’s van.

“I am thrilled with the convenience of the health screenings, which they did right here—I thought it was just going to be a sign up, and I’d have to go somewhere else to go do it—this is pretty convenient!” she remarked.

Mickey, Miss Slater, and Glenda are three of the growing number of neighbors accessing resources from Catherine’s, which Valarie Matthews attributes to both the current economic situation, and increased communication to her community.

“With this line getting longer, we had to do more. Most of the dry goods you see here are from Aldi and Target through the food bank’s Retail Recovery Program, and all this fresh produce, that’s the food bank too – and we still need more,” Valarie said.

Since becoming an official community partner in June 2022, Catherine’s Youth & Family has distributed nearly 562,000 meals, an average of more than 187,000 each year.

“Catherine’s must be seeing more neighbors. After nearly doubling their order from 2023 to 2024, they are on pace to distribute nearly 375,000 meals in 2025,” said Tracey Ivison, Manager of Partner Operations for the Maryland Food Bank.

Breaking Down Barriers, Building Community

When asked to describe what Catherine’s means to the local area, one neighbor, affectionally known to most in the neighborhood as “Grandma,” started smiling. “This may sound strange, but I actually I love it because it brings us together as a community,” Grandma shared. “It’s all about being family-oriented, and your neighbors are all here. You get to talk to them, find out a lot about what’s going on, how they feel about what’s going on,” she continued.

And just after offering her experienced point of view, another neighbor walked by, and they exchanged a quick hug:

“Hey, Grandma!” “Hey, baby, how you feelin’ today?”

About 15 feet away from this cordial exchange, Roger Hughes, who serves as the Community School Site Specialist for Park Heights Academy, was seeking feedback from neighbors on how they feel about the school serving as a community resource.

“The idea is for the school to be the hub for many things, whether it’s medical, whether it’s social, emotional; and we’re hearing that families are very happy with the services here, but think that even more can be done,” he said.

Akewi Barnes, community engagement manager for Divine Counseling, feels inspired to be part of that community hub.

“The most beautiful thing about coming out here and being part of the community is that we’re able to connect with people in need, and equip them, so that when they walk away, they are fully loaded with everything they need – and Divine is here giving complementary services to help with mental health.”

Barnes continued discussing the neighborhood, juxtaposing Catherine’s with the rest of the area.

“This community has two different reputations. This particular part is a peaceful zone that’s pretty much surrounded by all of the madness that’s happened in Park Heights. People don’t usually hear about that, but they should!”

Time for Families

When asked why she thought her neighbors were so understanding and patient about wait times, Valarie stated, “Everyone needs access to quality food, and families tell me they don’t mind waiting because they know they are going to be able to choose from an abundance of food – anywhere between 25-45 pounds, plus meet with one of the health service vendors that are here.”

If she were granted one wish for Catherine’s Youth & Family Services? “More people volunteering! That way, we could ask people what they want and then have enough people to gather those things, so people don’t have to be here so long each time.”

And just like food-insecure Marylanders have the best opportunity to thrive is when multiple support systems are available, community partners like Catherine’s can best help lift up their communities when supported by a variety of donors.