By Dick and Linda Kirschten

Saturday, Oct. 27, is the culmination of Montgomery County’s Community Service Week, an effort to get residents involved in an array of volunteer activities—economic, social, environmental and so on. If your busy schedule hasn’t given you and your family time to take part in any of the planned events, there’s still an opportunity to give back.

On Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Village of Martin’s Additions will conduct a food drive, the proceeds of which will go to Manna Food Center, the county’s central food bank. Through its regular distribution program, Manna provides supplementary food to nearly 3,300 families each month at 14 locations throughout Montgomery County, as well as to institutions serving low-income elderly, the homeless and residents with disabilities.

Drop off shelf-stable donations—soup, cold or hot cereal, pasta, rice, canned fruits and veggies, tuna or canned meats, juices, granola bars—at a table in front of the Brookville Supermarket at 7027 Brookville Rd., Chevy Chase. Don’t have time to shop? You may also contribute cash, and the Martin’s Additions team of volunteers will shop for you in the next week and deliver the proceeds to Manna’s central warehouse in Gaithersburg.

Despite the county’s relative wealth, hunger is in our midst. One in four residents is at risk of hunger and one in three children in the county public school system qualifies for free or reduced-priced breakfasts and lunches. So, please join with us in this worthy cause and help your neighbors in need.