By JALEN WADE
A non-profit food delivery service will take up residence in Flats at College Park by the end of the year.
Food 4 Maryland, also known as Food4MD, will move from Beltsville location to the street level of Flats, a new, 317-unit affordable apartment building that partially opened in May at 9113 Baltimore Ave.
“We were just focused on having a nonprofit in there that was going to create a beneficial impact to the community, and we weren’t going to charge them any rent,” said Danny Copeland, vice president of RST Development, which is building the complex. “We were going to give them the space for free, so long as that’s what they did, was create a positive impact. So it turned out to be Food 4 Maryland.”
Meals on Wheels of College Park, another food delivery service, was slated to move into the 3,000-square-foot space with a grant from the city. But that organization found the space “would not be a good fit for us,” Chapter Chair Lisa Eally told College Park Here & Now in December.
Meals on Wheels of College Park is located in Riverdale Park.
Food 4 Maryland, which has no clients in College Park yet but is collecting applications from seniors and residents with special needs and disabilities, has delivered food in Greenbelt and Montgomery County since October. Clients can receive breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with frozen entrees and groceries, including perishables like milk and produce, and pantry items like spaghetti and soup.
The meals range from bacon-and-egg breakfasts, to hot dinners with meat or fish, vegetables and starches, to cold sandwiches and pasta salad.
“We’re just trying to make an impact, to exceed expectations and put smiles on people’s faces that never really know how they’re going to survive this economic disaster, or how they’re going to be able to feed them or their families,” Mark Boulis, who is in charge of partnership development for Food 4 Maryland, said.
Clients who qualify for Medicaid or have other forms of health insurance are eligible to have meals delivered to their homes. The insurer determines the frequency of deliveries, Boulis said.
The service also receives funding from the Montgomery County government and Medicaid.
Food 4 Maryland, whose board chairman, Phil E. Sardelis, co-founded Sardi’s Peruvian Chicken, relies on the restaurant chain and others, like Gordon Food Services in Aberdeen and Spectrum Foods in Landover, for food donations. Sardi’s, along with local nursing homes and churches, arranges for drivers and meal assemblers.
Sardis and Food 4 Maryland are separate entities.
Because of those partnerships, Boulis said, the service relies on volunteers recruited from the community “sparingly.” He said the group does not have any paid employees.
“We’re figuring out ways to partner up with apartment complexes, churches, methadone clinics, any place that there’s vulnerability, and have them help us deliver the meals,” Boulis said, “because, you know, when you’re looking at the cost of groceries on what food is, you know, and trying to find volunteers that are committed and stay reliable, it’s a hard bar to get, so to speak.”
Jervado Carrington, general manager of the Sardi’s restaurant in Bowie, makes deliveries for Food 4 Maryland.
“We interact with who we’re handing the food out to,” Carrington said. “I think that’s the beautiful part of what we do.”
College Park City Councilmember Susan Whitney (District 2), an affordable housing advocate, said Food 4 Maryland will be “a huge asset to the city. … Even if food prices stay reasonable, it’s possible that, you know, tariffs that are in place make other things that people need more expensive and take money away from their food budget.”
