Our Daily Bread Employment Center serves warm nutritious meals to over 700 individuals and families every day. It takes a lot of help and support to make sure that each and every one of our clients is served daily and treated as respected and welcomed guests. This means that dedicated regular volunteers and donors are vital to the work that we do.
A wonderful example is the Corriere family.
For the past seven and a half years, Dominic and Concetta Corriere have supported the work of Our Daily Bread. While Dominic serves in the kitchen and dining room as a volunteer on Fridays, Concetta is an advocate. “For 21 years, we hosted an annual Christmas dinner for friends at Turf Valley that had grown to include 300 people,” says Concetta. “It dawned on me that the money we were spending to feed people who weren’t in need could be used to feed people who were.” She wrote a letter to former attendees explaining the work of Our Daily Bread and her intentions to be a supporter in lieu of a hostess and encouraged their support of the program as well.
Since 2006, the Corrieres have been a major sponsor of the annual ODB Dinner fundraiser. When the couple receives invitations to celebrations that stipulate not to bring a gift, the Corrieres inform the celebrant that a monetary donation to Our Daily Bread has been made in their honor. Making gifts in memory of friends and loved ones has also become a habit and has prompted many to emulate their actions.
For the Corrieres, their efforts fulfill Jesus’ mandate to feed the hungry. “I know that my family has been blessed,” Dominic says, “and we want to do what we can to help those who are in need.” It is the dedication and caring of individuals, families, and groups like Dominic and Concetta, that help make Our Daily Bread Employment Center such a safe and welcome haven to the impoverished Marylander’s that come there seeking support.