Community forum to discuss trauma response in county
The Charles County Service and Advocacy Network will hold a community forum on Oct. 8. Called “Building a Trauma Response Network in Charles County,” the event will start with reviewing the current state of local trauma services and go on to identify ways of collaborating more effectively to meet the needs of trauma victims.
The forum will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored as a public ser vice by the Charles County Charitable Trust, the co-sponsors are the Charles County Department of Social Services and the Good Samaritan Presbyterian Church, where the free event will take place. To register, go to bit.ly/ TraumaResponsiveness. Therese Wolf, director of the Department of Social Services, will make the opening presentation and serve as moderator. An eight-person panel drawn from public agencies and nonprofit organizations will provide a picture of the range of trauma services in the county. They will also describe how trauma-response systems are functioning and how responders and caregivers are affected by their involvement with trauma victims.
Trauma occurs when a person experiences a physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening event that leads to lasting effects in terms of the victim’s loss of a sense of well-being. It is commonly accepted that large-scale events such as war and natural disasters can engender lasting effects on those exposed to them. However, as the forum will demonstrate, a wide range of other adverse experiences can produce a similar outcome. Serious accidents, criminal assault, child abuse, domestic abuse and gun violence all fit into this category.
Additional information is available by contacting the Charles County Charitable
CSM hosts food drive for food insecure students
Since 2017, the College of Southern Maryland has offered micro-food pantries, named Hawk Feeders, at each of CSM’s four campuses to help address the shortterm basic food needs any student may be experiencing. Built by a CSM faculty member, the Hawk Feeders are stocked through individual donations by faculty, staff and students as well as through food drives, under the adage, “Give what you can, take what you need.”
Throughout October, CSM will hold a food drive to fill the Hawk Feeders for the semester ahead. According to the Maryland Food Bank, there are 650,200 food-insecure people in the state of Maryland.
Donation boxes to collect nonperishable food items to assist students who lack reliable access to sufficient quantities of food will be set up at three of the CSM campuses. Items being requested include individual portions of cereal, Chef Boyardee pastas, mac and cheese, Cup O’ Noodles, fruit cups, granola/cereal/protein bars, peanut butter, tuna fish/ chicken lunch pouches, and ready-to-heat soups, stews and chili (in individual portions with flip-top cans). Donations can be left at the La Plata Campus, 8730 Mitchell Road at the CC Building Lobby at the Student Association Office.
Volunteers needed for Christmas Connection program
Christmas Connection is a volunteer and interagency partnership providing holiday cheer to seniors and families in need. The Charles County Department of Community Services leads the “Adopt-a-Senior” portion of the project and is seeking volunteers to prepare and deliver holiday food baskets to senior citizens who have been determined to be financially in need and without support of family at the holiday time.
Individuals wishing to volunteer should call the Aging and Human Services Division at 301934-6737 or 301-609-5712 by Friday, Nov. 15.
Sorority is holding a breast cancer forum on Oct. 7
The local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. is sponsoring an educational community forum from 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 7 commemorating Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The forum, Early Detection Matters, will be held at Lighthouse Baptist Church, at 3150 Middletown Road in Waldorf. The featured speakers are Noel Brathwaite, director of the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and Linda Barnes, Charles County’s cancer programs coordinator. In addition, a panel of local physicians will be available to respond to questions from the attendees.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is an international organization committed to service with a membership of nearly 300,000 college-educated women. Over 1,000 chapters of AKA throughout the world are scheduled to celebrate a Global Impact Day on Oct. 7 that specifically focuses on early detection through mammograms to improve the survival rate of women diagnosed with breast cancer
RSVP to nzomegaearlydetectionmatters. eventbrite.com.