In every community, they usually include a specific committee of people looking to help and provide for everyone, and Mason Dixon is no exception. However, not every single community can provide the amount of support and dedication that Mason Dixon Community Services delivers.

     Executive Director Cynthia Abbott gave her thoughts on the people who give their support to the services. “The community supports Mason-Dixon Community Services (MDCS) in many ways. They give us financial donations which are deeply appreciated as that allows us to direct the funds to where they are needed most. Also, the community holds food drives to supply our food pantry which we greatly appreciate,”

     Abbott notes that “the food drives often include personal care items as those items are sometimes difficult for our clients to purchase as they cannot use their SNAP (food stamps) benefits to do so,” and gave some insight on the different programs that the services provide. “MDCS has several programs throughout the year that the community supports as well with donations of school supplies, toys, coats/hats/scarves/gloves, blankets, etc. The community also lends its support through volunteering at our agency, helping clients, packing bags of food, moving inventory, helping at our pop-up food distributions, etc.”

     Abbott also explained their social media influence, stating “many people share our social media posts on their social media accounts and that helps spread the word about what is going on at MDCS.”

     Abbott talked about the different actions the MDCS have done to support the community. “MDCS has staff and volunteers who are passionate about helping people who are struggling with poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness. For over 35 years, MDCS has served as the premiere community safety net for the low-income population of northern Harford and southeastern York counties. We provide services to more than 25,000 individuals each year.”

     She went on to explain in-depth the different services. “Our services include homelessness prevention services, client choice food pantry, mobile food pantry, energy assistance, emergency financial assistance, etc. Case management; information and referrals to agencies and other programs, application assistance, budget preparation, job hunting assistance, computer lab, etc. Youth programs; three-week summer camp in Delta, assistance to attend Camp Hidden Valley, an after-school mentoring program at North Harford Middle School, and school supplies, [as well as providing] holiday programs during Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.”

     Abbott ended the discussion by showing how you can apply to MDCS or to at least contact them. “MDCS is led by a board of directors that currently consists of 15 individuals. MDCS has one full-time employee and six part-time employees. We also have approximately fifteen volunteers currently. The easiest way to sign up to help is to contact one of our offices and speak with the center manager of that office. We have an office in Street, Maryland, and the phone number there is 410-452-9025. We also have an office in Delta, Pennsylvania, and the phone number there is 717-495-0292.”