Trucks with hams, vegetables and other groceries rolled up one after the other to the offices of The Upcounty Hub on Thursday morning.
The nonprofit provides weekly food distributions to families in need in Germantown, Gaithersburg, and other locations in northern Montgomery County, Maryland, and founded at the height of the pandemic when many government offices were shut down and families in need found themselves facing added hardships.
Grace Rivera-Oven, founder and CEO of the Upcounty Hub, explained that the organization works to provide links to vital services, but that their “main goal is to make sure that our community in the upcounty — they don’t go hungry. Especially our children.”
Rivera-Oven said the Hub works to deliver the groceries to families who often depend on public transportation. “Anybody can come and line up, no questions asked,” she said about the food distributions.
Stephanie Rodriguez, a case worker with the Hub, was busy assisting clients with some of the other forms of help offered at the site.
“I help clients with rental assistance, Medicaid or SNAP applications,” she said referring to the federal food assistance program.
Rodriguez said working with the clients at the Upcounty Hub is rewarding. They have often struggled to find the assistance they need, and sometimes the applications process can feel like an insurmountable barrier.
“You can see the alleviation of the stress that they’ve been through” when they are finally linked to the correct program for help, said Rodriguez.
But on the Thursday afternoon before Christmas, there were some extras headed out the door with the bags of food: toys.
Montgomery County Police Lt. Kathy Estrada arrived and unpacked a carload of toys to be added to donations for an afternoon event with Santa. As she walked into the offices, Rivera-Oven commented on the assortment of toys, sounding like a little kid herself. Holding up a package of art and craft supplies, Rivera-Oven exclaimed, “I would have died for one of these!”
Lt. Estrada held up a box of four Barbie dolls and said, “Look at this! This is so cute!”
Talking about the Montgomery County Police Department’s participation in the Upcounty Hub’s food and toy distribution event, Estrada said, “I think this is why we got involved in public safety to begin with, because we wanted to go out there and help the community.”
She said packing up the toys made her feel like a kid again. “Because I love toys, I think we never outgrow that feeling, and with Christmas, we can give to other families,” who may not have the means to provide toys to their children at Christmas.
Later, police Chief Marcus Jones showed up, and little children waited to greet Jones’ guest: Santa Claus.
As children raced up to greet Santa, one flinging her arms around Santa’s neck, Jones beamed and helped hand out specially-made wooden toys for the children.
“This is the best event of the year, when you get to see the smiles of children,” said Jones. “There’s just nothing else like it.”
From the Upcounty Hub location in Germantown, Jones and Santa followed a police motorcycle escort to the distribution event at the Germantown Soccerplex. As the motorcycles revved, Santa waved from the back of a truck, wishing everyone happy holidays.
