For 80 years, there was a building with 57 beds, open 24 hours a day, on the 1100 block of North Calvert Street. But the Booth House Emergency Shelter by The Salvation Army will finally close its doors on July 2.

Roughly 15 families housed at the shelter have been relocated in shelters and low-income housing throughout the area, according to Maj. Gene Hogg, the commander for the Central Maryland division of The Salvation Army. The decision to move away from temporary housing was a few years coming, he said.

It was the result of “a culmination of things,” Hogg said. After losing government funding in 2016 and falling short of the budget, The Salvation Army no longer felt that the Booth House was accomplishing its mission.

“We had been operating on a pretty stagnant budget since then,” Hogg said. “The Salvation Army began to take a look at moving toward more [long-term] programs.”

Originally, The Booth House, like most other Salvation Army housing programs, was designed to help the homeless population help themselves. It provided not only warm beds and three meals a day, but also services like job assistance, financial advice, and classes in parenting and nutrition.

“I think we’ve accomplished a great deal—we changed many lives,” Hogg said. “But when focuses change and funders change we have to be willing to adapt to that as well.”

Adapt they had to, when in 2016 the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) started to direct funds toward permanent housing programs instead. After losing $155,000 of HUD money, the Booth House could no longer mandate their additional services.

“People were opting out of all of those programs,” Hogg said. “We felt like that wasn’t accomplishing our mission. Our mission was to bring people to self-sufficiency, not just to warehouse them.”

The funding diversion also led to an initiative called Pathway of Hope, which places stronger emphasis on taking action to break the root cause of poverty, offering long-term solutions instead of temporary fixes. For the Booth House, it became all the more clear that money dedicated to operating the shelter would be better spent helping families in Baltimore become financially stable for years to come.

“Over the next couple of years we’re going to be working with the city to answer, ‘What’s the next step? How should we do it?’” Hogg said. “Those are questions that are going to take a long time to answer. But eventually we’re going to have a place where people can call home.”

On March 7, the Salvation Army opened its first-ever, full-service, grocery store on the corner of 29th and Barclay in Northeast Baltimore. DMG Foods, named after the nonprofit’s promise of “doing the most good,” has a goal of providing local residents with affordable, nutritious food options, meal planning, and job training.

The impetus for the neighborhood grocery store came when Major Gene Hogg, the Salvation Army’s Central Maryland area commander, was out with the organization’s mobile units providing food to protesters and first-responders following the Freddie Gray uprising. The mobile units were supplying roughly 150 bags of food every day to the Barclay neighborhood, but Hogg believed he could do more. 

“We knew that we could not sustain that,” he said. “We thought about revamping our food delivery platform, but one day, God woke me up at 3 a.m. and said to open up a grocery store.”   

Hogg hopes that this store will make a difference for the residents in the neighborhood, who would typically have to travel a minimum of seven miles to shop. Before heading over to DMG Foods, here are five things to know.

The prices are right.
Compared to other major grocery stores in Baltimore, DMG Foods has some of the lowest prices in the area. Although it is not considered a supermarket, the corner grocery store has prices that are comparable to big box stores like Sam’s Club and Costco.

“Because we are a nonprofit, our goal isn’t to make money,” Hogg said. “We can get wholesale items at a cheaper rate and sell them at affordable prices. Our goal is to help the people in the community, not make a profit.” 

DMG Foods is partnered with the Maryland Food Bank.
On top of having an on-site butcher, deli, and bakery, the partnership with the Maryland Food Bank provides prepared meals for a family of four, salads, cooking demonstrations, and nutritional assistance.

“We have a professional staff of chefs who do our catering and our meal production and so we saw this as an opportunity to grow a new revenue stream,” said Tim Regan, VP of programs and network relations for the Salvation Army. “We’re also taking a leadership role in a way for what they’re going to do for cooking demonstrations in the store. Our Food Works staff will be involved with helping them coordinate the cooking demos as well as other nutritional training.”

There is also on-site job training.
In addition to providing affordable groceries, DMG Foods also provides workforce development program to train prospective store employees. Hogg has been working on partnering with other grocers in Baltimore to provide employees for their stores.

“They have expressed challenges finding quality employees,” Hogg said. “We are going to give these individuals the skills they need, and the grocers promise to hire them once they complete our program.”

The Red Shield Card has special offers for members.
Just like every other major grocery store, DMG Foods has a customer rewards program called the Red Shield Card. Inside the store there is a kiosk where customers scan their cards to collect coupons and deals before shopping. There are also special perks for customers who receive government assistance like food stamps or WIC—think 10 pounds of free chicken and energy-saving light bulbs from BGE.

“The cards look exactly the same for both types of users,” Hogg explained. “Many people who receive assistance experience insecurities about that. We want them to feel just like everyone else and still help them whenever we can with special deals.”

If they make a profit, at the year of the year all money will go to charity.
Because DMG Foods is a nonprofit, the organization is not permitted to keep any profit from the store should it make any this year. In the event it does, all money will go to an organization called Catherine’s Cottage, a home for sex trafficking rescues.

“Not only are you getting your food at a decent price when you’re shopping at the store,” Hogg said. “But you’re also helping people who have been rescued—you are helping to change a life.”   

Devastation hit the city of Houston, Texas hard on Friday as Hurricane Harvey made landfall. The rains lasted for three days, leaving 30,000 victims displaced and more than two feet of rain across the city. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Brock Long said “this is a landmark event for Texas. 

On a local level, Chas Eby—communications director for Maryland Emergency Management Agency—emphasized the importance of being prepared as a tropical storm offshoot of Harvey travels up the Atlantic Coast.

“Having a preparedness plan is extremely vital,” he said. “We do not expect to experience impacts like Houston, but we will get a significant amount of rain.” 

While many Houstonians are being rescued and evacuated, forecasters say that more rain is coming. Recovering from a disaster of this magnitude could take years, according to FEMA, and any assistance is useful. As emergency crews, charities, and aid groups in Texas gear up to help the victims of Harvey, here are some ways you can help from Baltimore.

Monetary donations

You may not have $25,000 to donate like comedian Kevin Hart, but small donations can make the difference in providing food and shelter for one person. Donors can text HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross. Catholic Charities USA, the relief agency for the U.S. Catholic Church, is accepting donations online and by phone by simply texting CCUSADISASTER to 71777.

NFL star and Houston Texan JJ Watt created a crowd-funding campaign to raise money for the victims of Harvey.

“Hurricane Harvey has taken a catastrophic toll on our great city, while leaving many stranded and in need of assistance,” Watt wrote. “We must come together and collectively help rebuild the aspects of our community members’ lives that were damaged or lost. Any donation that you can spare, no matter how large or small, is greatly appreciated. We will come out of this stronger than ever. We are Texans.”

Watt kicked off the efforts with a personal donation of $100,000 toward the $500,000 goal.

The mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, has also established a Hurricane Harvey relief fund with the Greater Houston Community Foundation (GHCF).  The GHFC will accept tax-deductible donations for the victims of the recent flooding in Houston. 

GoFundMe has also started multiple campaigns to raise funds for victims and animal relief in the wake of the devastation.

Local dining establishments have also recently vowed to support the cause. On Sunday, September 3, Pikesville’s La Food Marketa will be donating 50 percent of all brunch sales to relief efforts in Houston. 

Volunteer

Donating your time can be instrumental in assisting the relief efforts. Organizations like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army deploy volunteers to disaster areas to assist in numerous capacities like offering food to rescue workers and survivors or providing emotional and spiritual support to victims. 

Eby says that Marylanders should consider volunteering to “known” organizations as a means to get involved.

“There is a website that local residents can go to, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, to find a list of groups that are participating in the efforts in Houston,” he said. “The organizations listed are reputable and will be more than happy to accept help from anywhere they can get it.”

Check in with family and friends

Social media platforms like Facebook have allowed users to check in and share their “safe” status with friends. But if you happen to have family and friends that live in the Houston area, Eby says it’s best to check on them directly to ensure they are safe.

“We encourage local residents to reach out to anyone they may know in the disaster area,” he said. “If they have experienced power outages or are injured and can’t get help, you may be able to assist in reaching out to first responders even from Baltimore.”

Supposedly we are the “selfish generation,” but you wouldn’t have known it this past Saturday at the Salvation Army near Hampden, as a group of more than 50 twenty-somethings scrambled around the warehouse trying to find the perfect Easy Bake Oven or Razor scooter to fill boxes for families in need.

Ugly sweaters abounded, Mariah Carey Christmas music blasted out of a stereo, and everyone’s energy (in part because of the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee) was on high.

This was just the latest event put on by Volunteering Untapped (VU), an organization that sends volunteers to an area nonprofit on the second Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. before an afternoon at a local brewery or bar. The idea is to make volunteering fun and accessible—and nothing does that quite like throwing some booze into the mix.

“I recognized that young professionals around Baltimore wanted to get involved in their community, but didn’t know how,” says VU founder Seth Franz, 31, a Federal Hill resident. “I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to give back. But we hope this also encourages volunteering outside of the program. That is at the core of our mission.”

Counting our Salvation Army excursion, VU has put on 11 events and tallied up 875 hours of community service since its inception in February. The nonprofit has worked with organizations like Habitat For Humanity, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Maryland Food Bank, and Village Learning Place.

And then there’s the second half of the events, of course, where volunteers network at a local watering hole. This past Saturday, while still dressed in holiday garb, we found ourselves belly up at the bar in Union Craft Brewing‘s taproom. We imbibed in delicious pints of Snow Pants Oatmeal Stout and partook in hourly brewery tours. All the while, The Green Bowl food truck was parked outside for necessary sustenance. (Few things hit the spot after a couple of strong beers quite like a pork-and-Sriracha-riddled rice bowl.)

“Young professionals are looking for a way to meet people without having to play kickball,” Franz says. “And if you give three hours of your time on a Saturday morning to make your community better, you deserve a beer.”

Still in its first year, participation increases with every event that VU puts on. Keep a look out for upcoming ones, like mosaic making at Art With a Heart in January, a neighborhood cleanup in Oliver in March, and an event with Blue Water Baltimore in April.