Making Connections; Averting Crises

In September 2010, Dante de Tablan, the Community School Coordinator at Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove, faced what was both an opportunity and a challenge: a coalition led by Maryland Hunger Solutions was offering to provide close to four tons of fruit and vegetables to the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay communities, but needed help to reach families in need.

De Tablan and his community resource team stepped in and helped make the giveaway a success, recruiting more than 40 volunteers, including Spanish speakers, to both distribute food and help people apply for food stamps and other social services. A range of government representatives and nonprofit organizations also took part, and the food event was an enormous success for a community that is considered a “food desert,” lacking high-quality grocery stores and access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Having Spanish speakers on hand to help with the large number of immigrant families in
need was also critical to the event’s success.

De Tablan’s team continues to distribute food to struggling families, sometimes taking food directly to a home to save the student from possible embarrassment about receiving help at school. He recognizes that part of his role is to help families deal with crises – such as not having enough food – so that young people in those families can come to school and learn.

“We’re dealing with many families who are living on the edge,” he says. “It’s one crisis after another.”