Council President Young, CHAI and PHR Partner to Combine Food Drive with Traditional Passover Ritual

BALTIMORE, MD – On Friday, March 30, City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young will join Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc. (CHAI), Park Heights Renaissance and members of Baltimore's Jewish community to begin the Passover holiday with a traditional chometz burning and the collection of nonperishable items to be distributed to local food pantries in Southern Park Heights.

Chometz is the Hebrew word for leavened foods that are forbidden during the Jewish holiday of Passover, which this year begins after sundown on March 30 and continues through April 7. On the night before Passover, Jewish families collect all the chometz in their houses and burn it the following morning in a formal ceremony.

Council President Young said that he saw an opportunity to help Baltimoreans in need while observing the important Jewish ritual.

“Friday’s event is a wonderful way to pay respect to the Jewish traditions surrounding Passover and also to help the local communities in need,” Council President Young said. “Families can come burn some of their food products and donate some to those who are less fortunate. This is about two communities coming together to help one another and forge a lasting relationship.”

The chometz burning will take place in the Pimlico Race Course Clubhouse parking lot (5201 Park Heights Avenue) from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. A squadron from the Baltimore City Fire Department will be present to oversee the burning. 

CHAI Executive Director Mitchell Posner also praised the partnership and aim of today's event.

“At the opening of the Passover Seder we declare, ‘Whoever is hungry - let him come and eat!’” Posner said. “What better way for the Jewish community of Baltimore to approach the holiday than by sharing of our bountiful food resources with our neighbors in need? CHAI is proud to play a role in facilitating this collaborative 'mitzvah' project."

The donated food will be given to Neighborhoods United, which is a grass roots organization made up of over 20 neighborhood associations and groups in the Park Heights/Pimlico/Reisterstown area with the main purpose of addressing community problems throughout the Northwest Baltimore, Maryland area.  Each Monday they hold a food pantry with food donated from the Maryland Food Bank.
 

WHAT: Chometz burning and food drive

WHO: City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, Council Vice-President Middleton, Councilman Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer, CHAI CEO Mitchell Posner, Park Heights Renaissance Executive Director, Marcus Pollock, and members of the local Jewish communities

WHEN: Friday, March 30, 2018 from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Pimlico Race Course Clubhouse parking lot, 5201 Park Heights Avenue