Dickinson Jewelers in Dunkirk and Prince Frederick will host its first-ever jewelry auction, “Get It or Regret It!” to benefit End Hunger in Calvert County.
The auction runs for three days only, beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, and bidding ends Saturday, Aug. 3, at 2 p.m. Stores will be closed Wednesday, July 31, to prepare for the event.
The jewelry store is partnering with EHCC by giving customers the opportunity to win one of six prizes with a total value of more than $5,000 while helping the local community. Throughout the sale, 10 percent of all auction sales will go directly to End Hunger in Calvert County, as well as the $5 from each bidder registration and all food donations, according to a press release. Customers will receive one entry ticket for each nonperishable food item donated. A new prize drawing starts each day, so participants may stop by daily with food donations and to update bids.
“Last year, we were able to give six carts of food to EHCC and we loved it,” Alison Setzer, Dickinson’s marketing manager, said. “Everything stays in the county, and we’re able to support the community that makes us a success.”
“We couldn’t be any more appreciative of our wonderful community,” Kathy Dickinson, owner, said in the release. “It’s amazing to see all of the love and support that comes from our customers.”
Starting at 10 a.m. Aug. 1, visit either store to purchase a bidder registration card, all proceeds of which will be donated directly to End Hunger in Calvert County, and the purchaser will receive one entry ticket for that day’s prize drawing. Opening bids will start at 40 to 60 percent off the retail prices. The highest bidder at 2 p.m. Aug. 3 must come into the store before 5 p.m. to pay for the purchase. At 5 p.m., the item will go to the next highest bidder, the release states.
Dickinson Jewelers is located in Prince Frederick Market Place at 916 Costley Way (410-535-4338) and in the Dunkirk Market Place at 10286 Southern Maryland Blvd. (301-855-8770). For more information, go to www.dickinsonjewelers.com.
Vendors of homemade goods sought for PRAD
The Calvert Marine Museum is seeking vendors who produce homemade or homegrown goods that celebrate the “bounty of the Patuxent” for the upcoming Patuxent River Appreciation Days Festival on Saturday, Oct. 12, and Sunday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Goods may be fresh fruits or vegetables, cheese, wheat or cornmeal, fresh seafood, wine, cider or non-edible items such as soaps, scents, creams or beeswax candles. Vendors must be in compliance with all Maryland State Health Department regulations for sale and distribution of goods. To apply to be a vendor for Patuxent River Appreciation Days, call 410-326-2042, ext. 41, or email mccormmj@co.cal.md.us.
Operation Hope on the Chesapeake coming next month
The seventh annual Operation Hope on the Chesapeake will be Saturday, Aug. 17. Between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., there will be a bus escorted by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office from the county line to the Rod‘N’Reel parking lot in Chesapeake Beach. Passengers on the bus will be wounded veterans from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
Join others in honoring fellow Americans who have risked their lives to protect U.S. freedom. Bring flags, banners and signs for the arrival of the heroes at the Rod‘N’Reel Marina, or gather along Route 260 at any of the following intersections: Route 2 at Calvert Arundel Medical Center, Woodlawn Way at Quince View Neighborhood, Wesley Stinnett Boulevard at American Legion Post 206 and Route 261 at Veterans Memorial Park.
To learn more about Operation Hope on the Chesapeake, contact Mary Mathis at 410-610-2710 or marymathis502@comcast.net. Tax-deductible donations should be made payable to Operation Second Chance: Tax No. 20-2624345, CFC No. 93327. Checks may be mailed to Operation Hope on the Chesapeake, c/o Mary Mathis, P.O. Box 993, Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732. Checks may also be directly deposited at any PNC Bank to account No. 5570744004.
Museum hosts Lore Oyster House Day, sail aboard Dee
The J.C. Lore Oyster House in Solomons will brim with activity July 27 and Aug. 10 from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors will get a taste of what life is like for a Chesapeake waterman and the people who worked in oyster processing houses. There will be ongoing activities all afternoon, both in the oyster house and out on the dock. Try oyster tonging; learn to tie a towline and coil a rope; measure oysters and follow the path an oyster takes through the processing house from the loading dock to the shipping room. Tie on a work apron, stand in a stall and become a shucker, or take on the role of the skimmer and decide how many pints have been shucked and what the shuckers should be paid. Studying giant, soft sculpture oyster Rock-E-Feller is a great way to learn oyster anatomy.
For more information, go to www.calvertmarinemuseum.com, or call 410-326-2042.
Compensation Review Board to meet
The Compensation Review Board will meet Monday, July 29, at 6 p.m. in the Courthouse Square Conference Room, lower level, 205 Main St. in Prince Frederick.
The board meets to perform those duties set forth at Section 9-405 of the Public Local Laws of Calvert County, including the review of and making recommendations regarding the salaries of Calvert County officials, including members of the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners, whose salaries are set through law by the Maryland General Assembly.
For more information on the meeting or the Compensation Review Board, contact Lisa Viverette, executive administrative assistant to the county administrator, at 410-535-1600, ext. 2201, or email viverelm@co.cal.md.us.
Food pantry donations sought
Food donations are now being accepted at Home Place Hair Studio, 2580 Hallowing Point Road, Prince Frederick, for St. John Vianney Interfaith Food Pantry in Prince Frederick.
Hub and Spoke Task Force to meet
The task force to study the implementation of a Hub and Spoke Program in the Southern Maryland Region, otherwise known as the “Hub and Spoke Task Force,” will hold its initial meeting on Wednesday, July 31, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC) Office at 15045 Burnt Store Road in Hughesville, and is open to the public. The purpose is to begin identifying the most effective ways to distribute fresh, local foods to the working poor in Southern Maryland (St. Mary’s, Charles and Calvert counties), a press release states.
To attend the meeting, RSVP to Mindy Waite at 301-274-1922, ext. 1, or mwaite@smadc.com. For notification of future meetings, check SMADC’s News and Announcements page at www.smadc.com.

Chesapeake Bay Events is pleased to announce that 14 year old Blues/Guitar prodigy “KINGFISH” has been added to the Sunday September 8th lineup of the 2013 Southern Maryland Blues Festival which is being held on September 7th and 8th at the Calvert County Fairgrounds in Barstow, Maryland. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram will be a featured guest of the Daryl Davis Band.
Kingfish was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi which has gained much notoriety as the birthplace of the Blues. It’s reputation is well known the world over for spawning such notable legends as Muddy Waters, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Gospel and Soul singer Sam Cooke, Ike Turner, and many others. The magical and legendary town of Clarksdale, where the Crossroads of Highway 61 and Highway 49 meet, has once again produced another Blues innovator
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram was born to Princess Pride Ingram and Christopher Ingram in 1999. Exposed to the rich Gospel music emanating from his family’s church, combined with the Blues he heard being played by musicians in his Delta neighborhood, and being a cousin to the great and legendary Country music singer, Charlie Pride, Kingfish became a natural sponge of musical talent.
At the tender age of 8, Kingfish began playing the drums. A year later at the age of 9, he took up the bass guitar. At the age of 11, he began playing lead guitar. By the age of 14, he had mastered all three instruments and has added vocals to his ever growing list of talents.
Kingfish’s guitar influences run the gamut of the Blues from the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters to the electric Blues of B.B. King, Albert King, and Freddie King, to the Rock Blues of Chuck Berry and Eric Gales and so many others. Surprisingly at such a young age, he can play just like his idols and mentors and possesses the additional ability to create a Blues sound entirely his own.
Even though he’s from the Delta, surrounded by all of its plantations and he travels Highway 49 and Highway 61 on a regular basis, unlike many of his musical predecessors from Mississippi, Kingfish never had to pick cotton or sell his soul to the devil at the infamous Crossroads. Yet, this child prodigy’s soul is possessed with the feeling, passion and fire of the much older men who created the most important genre of American music, the Blues.
Kingfish is a living phenomenon, soon destined to be a living legend!
About the festival:
The Southern Maryland Blues Festival is a two day festival featuring 12 national, international and local bands. There will be Arts, Crafts, Kids Activities, a variety of food, beer and craft beer tasting by local hosted breweries, wine and wine tasting hosted by local wineries. We fully expect this first year event to become a Southern Maryland tradition gaining notoriety on a national level.
The festival will benefit the less fortunate of Southern Maryland through a contribution of ALL net proceeds to End Hunger in Calvert County.

I am compelled to send out a huge thank you to the nearly 2,500 people who were a part of the first annual End Hunger In Calvert County Dragon Boat Festival, held June 22 in North Beach.
Not only did we net more than $25,000 (that’s after expenses) all to go directly to help end hunger in our county, but we did it together and we had fun doing it. To see pictures of the event, please visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/EndHungerDragonBoatFestival.
Special thanks must go to our underwriting sponsors: Constellation Energy Nuclear Group/Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Pepco and NRG Energy — your early belief in our cause was the power behind our success. Please be assured people will long remember your support.
Other sponsors include Audio Plus, Crowe Entertainment, Comcast, Southern Maryland Blues Festival and Chesapeake Church — thank you for making this great event happen.
To all the media outlets that wrote pre-event coverage and free advertising, thank you for helping to get the word out.
To the hundreds of volunteers who put this together — you folks were an awesome team working under the steady leadership of Jacqueline Miller, Brian Weiler and Ahna Turley. You were the heartbeat of our success, where no request was too small or too big.
To the 360 paddlers who raised money, came to practice, dressed in insane costumes and competed your hearts out, you are all true champions, and your compassion for the needy was evident in everything you did.
To the vendors who truly made the event a festival, thank you for bringing out your businesses, making ad hoc donations and raising the spirit of generosity.
To Mayor Bruce Wahl of Chesapeake Beach, you were gracious and supportive and a joy to work with. To Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s), thank you for handing out the championship trophy — you made that moment special for everyone.
To ABC 7’s chief meteorologist and Calvert’s own Doug Hill, your five solid hours of commentary and announcements made each race exciting and compelling and kept us engaged.
To the Bay Business Group, your early support and enthusiasm fueled us forward and led the business community.
And to Mayor Mark Frazer of North Beach, your vision and belief in what we could do together set the tone. Your amazing staff (Dawn, Stacy and Richard, especially) could not have been more professional and accommodating. Mr. Mayor, you and your town went above and beyond to launch what we believe will become an annual North Beach/End Hunger event.
And finally, to all of Calvert County, thank you.
Five years ago, we latched onto a dream that, together, we could end hunger in Calvert County. And we are making a difference. That vision, that a community could rise up within itself and begin to meet people’s most basic need — food — is now becoming a reality. Thousands of our neighbors, from all walks and ages, will eat this summer because together, we, the citizens of Calvert County, have rejected petty, low-value living and, instead, have embraced the simple beauty of what happens when one neighbor reaches out to help another neighbor. And for that, we are all the better. It is an honor to serve among you.
May God bless you and those you love, and please remember to #givewhereyoulive.
Robert P. Hahn, Huntingtown
The writer is the chairman of End Hunger In Calvert County and the pastor of Chesapeake Church.

Some of the aspects of End Hunger in Calvert County could be implemented in Honduras in the near future after a chance meeting between a diplomat from the Honduran Embassy and the organization’s chairman.
On June 27, the counselor for private development assistance for The Embassy of Honduras, Pablo Mario Ordóñez, toured the End Hunger in Calvert County warehouse in Prince Frederick.
“End Hunger has crafted a unique combination of community ownership and involvement with the issue of local hunger, coupled with some innovative solutions to the problem, all the while maintaining both personal accountability and the dignity of those in need,” Ordóñez said in an EHCC news release. “This is definitely something that could work in the more rural areas of Honduras.”
End Hunger in Calvert County is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization partnering with area churches, charities, schools and businesses with the goal of ending hunger in Calvert County.
The Rev. Robert Hahn, chairman of EHCC and senior pastor of Chesapeake Church in Huntingtown, said during a phone interview that he and Ordóñez met in May when Hahn set up a meeting with the Honduran Embassy to discuss the church’s missions in a city in Honduras. Hahn said the church currently has a staff member and his family living in the city working with a medical clinic.
He said that after the meeting, Ordóñez was looking on the church’s website, saw something about End Hunger in Calvert County and thought the EHCC model could work for rural Honduras.
“Chesapeake Church has a strong commitment to doing ministry in rural Honduras so we figured meeting with Embassy officials was a good idea,” Hahn said in the release. “We never imagined that they would make the link that the End Hunger model could work for them as well. That’s what we call a God-thing.”
In the release, Ordóñez said what “struck” him about End Hunger was its philosophy that “if they don’t move the food out, God can’t refill the shelves. That thinking keeps their operation vibrant.”
Ordóñez said in the release he noticed End Hunger also collects candy and pet food to help people maintain “a sense of normalcy and dignity, that life is not hopeless.”
End Hunger’s “life skills and jobs programs give people who really want to change lives the opportunity to do so. It’s simple, but clearly effective,” Ordóñez said in the release, adding that charities in Honduras “give to the people but never expect anything back — this creates an unhealthy culture of dependency. End Hunger urges and trains people to be productive — becoming givers not just takers.”
Although End Hunger is known for it’s work with 11 partner food pantries in the county, the organization also sponsors job training and personal finance programs throughout the year. In September, the electrical training program will begin for the year and, in October, End Hunger will launch its first culinary classes.
“What he really appreciated was the 360-degree approach,” Hahn said, adding that End Hunger works on restoring normalcy to people’s lives so “they are more likely to become productive and not just stay in a cycle of dependence.”
Later this month or in August, Hahn said he is thinking of traveling to Honduras with Ordóñez.
Although there are no set plans for how any of EHCC’s aspects could be implemented in Honduras, Hahn said there are “serious talks” about what could work.
“It was pretty exciting. It was exciting to see … even in our problems, we have commonality,” Hahn said. “They have the exact same problems.”
ascott@somdnews.com

Bank of America Funds will support 2013 Electrical Training Program.
End Hunger In Calvert County received a $15,000 grant from The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc.
Last summer, in partnership with the JATC IBEW Local 26 Electricians Union and Southern Maryland Tri-County Community Council, End Hunger In Calvert County launched their Electrical Training Job-Training Program to get Calvert County residents back to work. This grant money is designated to fund the programs second year.
“The Bank of America Charitable Foundation is dedicated to providing opportunity for all in its commitment to our communities,” says Jeannan Peterson, Senior Vice President of Market Development of Greater Washington. “Providing support to organizations like End Hunger In Calvert County, which provides opportunity and improves the quality of life in our communities, is key to our strategy to build capacities that truly make a difference.”
Over 80 applicants attended the first information session (which was mandatory for admission) on Monday July 8 at Chesapeake Church. Of those eighty, thirty will be admitted and classes begin in September. Last year, the program graduated 24 individuals.
“Because of The Bank of America Charitable Foundation, we will be able to provide the Electrical Training Program completely free to our students, including tuition and tools,” says Rev. Robert P. Hahn chairman of End Hunger In Calvert County. “Our mission at End Hunger is to help move people from dependency to self-sufficiency. Because of the Electrical Training Program, individuals who were once not able to provide for their families now can. Real life change, that’s what it’s about for us.”
The fifteen-week course is a combination of classroom lectures, taught by certified instructors at the Calvert Career Center, as well as hands on practicums. Students receive 90 hours of training experience and became certified in OSHA, CPR, and basic first aid.
Graduates join the residential program through the Electrician Union and are qualified for above entry-level positions with electrical companies. Many begin pursuing a career with the Electrician Union’s apprenticeship program.
Visit endhungercalvert.org/works for more information.