Mother’s Day Giving

At-Large County Councilman Hawkins, Patriot Technology And G.S. Proctor & Associates Lead Business And Faith Leaders, Local Farmers And Community In Grocery Giveaway Ahead Of Mother’s Day

Next Grocery Give Away: District Heights, May 30

This video is a single-day, compilation coverage of the Mother's Day Grocery Give-Away, part of the We Rise Together campaign that includes At Large County C...

By Raoul Dennis 

Photography By Raoul Dennis and Carol Day // Prince George’s Suite Magazine & Media

The line of cars pulling up to the parking lot at the Technology Training Center in Seat Pleasant May 9 had to stop one additional time after the drivers picked up the meals and the dessert and placed them in the back seat.

They were asked to slow down on the way out and pick up the Mother’s Day Begonia plant – still in its infancy.

“We don’t do flowers,” said Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene Grant with a broad smile. “Flowers don’t last. Flowers may die. But plants don’t.”

Grant’s city played host to the latest effort on the part of Prince George’s County Council Vice-Chair and At-Large Member Calvin S. Hawkins, II to continue providing food and groceries to residents to address the challenges brought about by the spread of COVID-19. Click here for photo gallery.

Hawkins partnered with local municipalities, service organizations, corporate citizens, and government agencies, to host the Mother’s Day Grocery Give-Away. The effort aimed to distribute 500 boxes of shelf-stable food and fresh produce.

 The food was provided in part by Miller Farms, a Prince George’s County farm and the farms owned by Gilbert O. Bowling of Charles County.

Hawkins got the idea over a month ago.

“What better way to serve the people than to be out in the heart of the community giving away 500 meals?” Hawkins said after seeing what Pastor Lee was doing at Community of Hope AME at Iverson Mall just ahead of Easter Sunday. The councilmember has made the community work a large part of his agenda (“In It Together,” click here).

“What you’re witnessing today with the community coming together to help support and bolster the community is the poster child of what we can be,” said Steve Proctor of G.S. Proctor & Associates of the interagency cooperation, efficiency, and impact of the grocery distribution effort. Proctor, whose firm is the largest African American owned lobby in Maryland, served as more than a donor to the event, he was personally on hand assisting and delivering food to those who were not ambulatory. “Prince George’s County is the epicenter in the state of Maryland [with regard to COVID-19] but the leadership has been phenomenal.”

Many of the county’s leaders were in attendance at the event. They included Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland State Senator Joanne Benson, Prince George’s County At-Large Council Member Mel Franklin and Prince George’s County Council Member Rodney Streeter (D - District 7).

Mother’s Day Grocery Give-Away partners include Patriots Technology Training Center, G.S. Proctor & Associates, City of Seat Pleasant, City of Glenarden, the Town of Fairmount Heights and Capitol Heights, Miller Farms, Newport Valley Farm, PEPCO, Northrup Grumman, Bank of America, T-REX Solutions, Werrlein Properties, Hunt Real Estate, C. Brown & Associates, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc (Gamma Pi chapter), Phi Beta Sigma (Zeta Chi Sigma Chapter), Blythewood Landscape Management, Prince George’s County Police Dept., McNamee Hosea Law Firm and Comcast.