HUGHESVILLE, Md. — Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative recently distributed $12,000 in matching funds from CoBank to four organizations focused on Southern Maryland hunger relief and community support. Each group received $3,000 to aid their work in providing meals, groceries and assistance to residents in need across Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert counties.
The contribution, awarded through CoBank’s Sharing Success program, supports local nonprofits that SMECO sponsors. The recipients include Our Place Waldorf Soup Kitchen, St. Mary’s Caring Soup Kitchen, Community Harvest Network — formerly End Hunger in Calvert County — and Clements Cuties Foundation.
“Many thanks to SMECO for supporting Our Place Waldorf Soup Kitchen in our mission to serve nutritious meals with compassion and dignity,” said Deanna Gerhart, executive director of Our Place Waldorf. “The generous donation from SMECO will help us strengthen the fabric of our community by providing a welcoming space for those in need.”
Our Place Waldorf Soup Kitchen, established in 2012, serves Charles County residents by offering hot dinners four days a week at various locations, starting at 5 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The organization emphasizes a friendly environment to reduce hunger and poverty’s effects, having provided more than 100,000 meals since opening. Volunteers assist with meal preparation, serving and cleanup, contributing to broader Southern Maryland hunger relief initiatives.
Since 1993, St. Mary’s Caring Soup Kitchen has offered free breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. six days a week at its Great Mills location. The kitchen serves children, families, seniors, people with disabilities, the homeless, unemployed and working poor. Beyond daily meals, it distributes groceries for immediate shortages, summer dinners for at-risk youth and weekly food supplies for families. In 2024, the group received the Bubby Knott Non-Profit of the Year Award from the St. Mary’s County Chamber of Commerce for its impact on local quality of life.
“In the face of today’s challenges, SMECO’s generous grant allows us to feed those who are struggling the most,” said Kristine Millen, St. Mary’s Caring’s executive director. “Your support is life-changing for those who have nowhere else to turn. Thank you, a million times over, for partnering with St. Mary’s Caring Soup Kitchen to feed our neighbors in need.”
Community Harvest Network acts as a redistribution partner for the Maryland Food Bank, supplying over 50 food pantries, soup kitchens and backpack programs throughout Southern Maryland. In 2024, it distributed more than 1.6 million pounds of food to address food insecurity. The network also runs a free culinary training program teaching workplace skills to individuals with learning differences, aiding employment in hospitality and promoting self-sufficiency as part of Southern Maryland hunger relief strategies.
The Clements Cuties Foundation, founded in the 1970s by a group of male softball players who dressed in women’s clothing for fundraising games, raises awareness about childhood cancer and supports families with severely ill children. Activities include annual softball events and golf tournaments, with funds covering medical expenses, wishes for youngsters and memorial scholarships. In 2025, the foundation assisted children such as 3-year-old Adrien Hall and 4-year-old Sunny Thornton, both battling B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 6-year-old Joe Bartodziej with chronic myeloid leukemia. Donations are accepted online at clementscuties.org/donate.
“Concern for community is a core principle of electric cooperatives like SMECO, and we’re proud to support local organizations that provide essential services to Southern Maryland residents,” said Natalie Cotton, SMECO government affairs and public affairs director. “We are committed to championing local charities that improve the lives of families in need, and these organizations have earned the privilege to benefit from CoBank’s generosity.”
CoBank’s Sharing Success program allocates $6 million annually to match contributions from cooperatives like SMECO to charitable causes. Since 2012, CoBank and its customers have donated a combined $92 million to nonprofits nationwide.
This donation aligns with SMECO’s ongoing community involvement. In 2024, SMECO distributed a similar $10,000 CoBank grant to four organizations, including Clements Cuties Foundation, for disaster relief, medical equipment, housing and child support. Earlier in 2025, SMECO employees raised $60,000 through a golf tournament for local hospitals and delivered over 3,000 pounds of food to the Southern Maryland Food Bank.
Food insecurity affects significant portions of Southern Maryland’s population, underscoring the need for such Southern Maryland hunger relief efforts. In Charles County, 9 percent of residents lived below the poverty level in 2023, with 16,075 average monthly SNAP participants in state fiscal year 2024. St. Mary’s County reported 8.8 percent poverty, with 12,216 SNAP users, while Calvert County’s poverty rate stood at 3.1 percent, with 6,843 SNAP participants. Statewide, nearly 825,000 Marylanders face hunger, including one in six children, according to Feeding America data.
These statistics highlight how donations like SMECO’s bolster Southern Maryland hunger relief by enabling organizations to expand meal services and programs. In Charles County, food insecurity impacted 6.1 percent of residents in 2023, affecting about 10,120 people. Similar challenges in St. Mary’s and Calvert counties include limited access to affordable nutrition, particularly in rural areas where transportation barriers exacerbate the issue.
SMECO, a customer-owned cooperative serving 180,000 members in Southern Maryland, has a history of supporting education, environment and health initiatives. Past efforts include $47,642 in employee donations to environmental groups and scholarships for local students.
As economic pressures persist, contributions from entities like SMECO and CoBank play a key role in sustaining Southern Maryland hunger relief networks, ensuring vulnerable residents receive essential aid.
