All Opinions Are Local - Phone calls from the Great Recession

All Opinions Are Local - Phone calls from the Great Recession: "'I’m hungry.'

This is how the first call to my cellphone began. Until that point, the human toll of the Great Recession was much less immediate.

Two years ago, the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region established the Neighbors in Need Fund to help nonprofits meet the growing demand for services in the wake of the economic meltdown. Working with the foundation, I have written about many individuals and corporations that have supported the fund, which makes grants to groups that provide food, shelter and clothing to the region’s most vulnerable. But until that call, the story had not hit home."