Filling the Gaps
A few miles from KPC ’ s temple is the town of Poolesville . It ’ s surrounded by pastoral fields , multi-generational farms and abuts Montgomery County ’ s 93,000 Agricultural Reserve , the nations model for farmland preservation . This rural treasure sits in one of the nation ’ s wealthiest counties . Like many rural farm communities , dotted with horse farms and vineyards there are families that work the land or simply have roots in the area , and who live on the margins . Tucked away and mostly out of sight they often have little resources and need help . Unfortunately this area of rural Montgomery County ranks last in health outcomes . Katie Longbrake , Executive Director of WUMCO Help , Inc ., talks about Poolesville , with no grocery store , being a food desert . KPC ’ s Buddhist Relief , working alongside WUMCO is doing something about that and having an impact .
WUMCO was established some 50 years ago with a mission to : improve the quality of life for the most vulnerable residents of Western Upper Montgomery County by providing them with direct assistance to meet their basic needs , connecting them to other resources , and advocating on their behalf with the goal of helping them achieve and maintain self-sufficiency .” When the pandemic hit , feeding those at risk became mission critical for many local and regional organizations , including WUMCO . KPC Buddhist Relief with its humanitarian food outreach kicked into high gear in 2023 . The flood of government funds that got folks through the extremely challenging months of the pandemic were coming to an
Tashi Dorje , who passed away suddenly this fall , will be greatly missed by our KPC community , as well as by our food relief partners . He brought a joyful energy , spirit and willingness to his many Buddhist Relief activities . Tashi is standing with Katie Longbrake of WUMCO and Khenpo Karze , KPC ’ s new resident teacher .
end . Katie mentions a client whose “ monthly SNAP benefits went from $ 280 to $ 23 . At the same time the food needs for those being served by WUMCO increased by 50 % last year .” Translated , that means a lot of pain , physical , psychological and emotional when food becomes scarce for families and especially children in their vital formative years . Katie joined WUMCO just before the pandemic and has seen the client needs shift year to year . “ One thing I love about WUMCO is that we are able to offer holistic care — health clinics , emergency financial assistance , and food from our pantry . We can look at someone and their needs as a whole person . If someone is diagnosed as pre-diabetic we can offer fresh produce to help in that journey . When Buddhist Relief comes with that fresh food , it allows us treat people as human beings with dignity
HELPING OUR POOLESVILLE NEIGHBORS
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