Christmas in April celebrated their 20^th anniversary with a party at the Old Waldorf School.  Their slogan was “Its time to Kick Off to Rebuild for 2010.” Christmas in April is dedicated to keeping elderly and disabled homeowners living in warmth, safety, independence, dignity and decency through home repair and rehabilitation services.

Skilled and unskilled volunteers work together on projects of painting, carpentry, plumbing, cleaning, and gardening.   This program depends solely on the contributions of money, materials, equipment and labor by local companies, organizations, churches and individuals.  If you are looking for a place to make a difference, please consider Christmas in April.

Joe’s Place scheduled their Volunteer Appreciation Spaghetti Dinner this evening.  Joe’s Place was started by Joe Plemons with the aid of Father David MacDonald at Christ Church Durham.  Joe solicited volunteers to rehab space owned by the church and then recruited volunteers and supplies to open a food bank.  Joe’s Place doesn’t stop there; they have not only provided enough food for 250,081 meals, but also 5,904 articles of clothing, 712 toys for children, and 708 personal hygiene and 415 paperback books to the residents at the Maryland Veterans home in Charlotte Hall.  Generous hearts attend Christ Church.

I took my grandson, Bryce, and we both had spaghetti.  Bryce says that Joe’s Place is a “good restaurant.”

My first bill this year, HB796 – Property Tax Credit for Homes Formerly Owned by Habitat for Humanity of Charles County, passed the House of Delegates today and is headed to the Senate for hearing and passage.  This is a good bill and has the support of everyone who reads the provisions.

There is a severe shortage of homes in Charles County that are suitable for those with disabilities.  Hopefully, this will encourage groups to try to make more of this type of housing available.

Farmers from around Maryland came to Annapolis for their annual briefing on bills that are being considered which will affect agriculture in our State.  I was glad to see several farmers from the Southern Maryland Region attending the function.

The Farm Bureau urged the General Assembly to restore the nutrient management budget to meet the funding mandates of the 1998 Water Quality Improvement Act and to support the Chesapeake Bay Restoration effort.

The Ways and Means Hearings this week have been running long.   We start at 1 pm each day and review 14 to 16 bills each day.  This makes the hearings run until 6 or 7 pm.  The Chairman groups bills on the same subject together and today Educational issues were scheduled.

Today 14 bills were scheduled and the hearing for three bills ran over one hour each:  HB176 –Student Information Availability to Military Recruiters; HB334 –  Physical Education Facilities; and HB1160 – Safe Schools Act of 2010.