Doing the Work: HoCo Holler

Coffee in, blog out. That’s how it works most days. Not today. I’ve been up for over an hour and I keep falling asleep sitting up.

What I would like to be bringing you today is a small, hometown story that you couldn’t find anywhere else. What keeps running through my head is this, from NPR reporter Steve Inskeep:

Preserving this miracle of a country is the work of armies abroad and the rule of law at home. It is also the work of free citizens, supported by the free press. I’m grateful to those who made this country and will do all I can to pass it on. Happy Independence Day.

I’d like to give a HoCo Holler to the free citizens who bring the Food for Tomorrow initiative to the Longfellow Fourth of July parade here in Howard County. Here’s an article from a while back to give you some background on its beginnings.

Food for Tomorrow

Although others are involved, for me the face of Food for Tomorrow is Dylan Goldberg. If you come to the Longfellow Parade today you will see him doing his annual Independence Day thing, pushing a shopping cart full of food donations over a rather grueling parade route. It is a workout where the intensity level increases every few feet until the end.

It takes determination and just plain physical stamina to make this happen year after year. It takes combining an intellectual desire to feed hungry neighbors one doesn’t even know with the persistence and grit to do the thing that needs to be done. In the heat. And up that killer hill on the parade route.

Frankly it is kind of amazing that this is something that Mr. Goldberg looks forward to every year. And yet I know for a fact that the Fourth of July is his favorite day of the year. Perhaps that is because he is driven by that special kind of joy that knows that patriotism without works of mercy is hollow.

From Food for Tomorrow:

Can't wait to see you next Wednesday!

If you are away for the holiday, please consider donating to the Community Action Council of Howard County at www.cac-hc.org. Monetary donations go towards providing fresh dairy and meat products to those in need.

If you are going to the Longfellow Parade, here’s what they need:

Preserving this miracle of a country is...the work of free citizens...

Happy Independence Day to you and yours. And a special HoCo Holler to this guy:

(Photo from Food for Tomorrow Facebook page)

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