Norma Solomon sat in her car with a friend at the Trinity Assembly of God Church located in Lanham, Maryland on a damp, cloudy April 12 morning along with scores of other people in their vehicles. Solomon and the other patient DMV residents were waiting to get their monthly distribution of nourishment from The StoreHouse, a Black-run food distribution network.
While she had waited patiently for an hour for the food distribution to start, Solomon, an 80-year-old Lanham resident, was in good spirits on the wet and chilly April day — thankful for the program.
“This food program is open for everyone to get something,” she said. “It is hard sometimes to get help. I am in a household with two seniors and with all of this talk of cutting Social Security and things like that, we need all the help we can get. When someone is giving away food, I get up and get out and get it.”
Solomon was a recipient that day of the largess of The StoreHouse, managed by Mel Johnson, also a Lanham resident, who was motivated years ago to help people in need. Johnson, a stroke and sexual abuse survivor, founded The StoreHouse in 2012, as part of her Mel Johnson International Inc., nonprofit in the county.
“These are challenging times for many people,” said Johnson, 42. “I believe that people should have access to healthy food.”
StoreHouse provides food to residents in Maryland, Virginia, the District and South Carolina. The website reports that over 2,000 families per month are served, with the emphasis on those facing food insecurity.
Data compiled by the organization shows that 68% of those who receive food from The StoreHouse live in woman-led households and 47% of recipients are African American families. Most recipients are Latino families (52%), and the overwhelming majority (89%) consist of households with children.
The StoreHouse data also reveals 37% of recipients are veterans, 46% senior citizens, 41% unemployed and 23% are returning citizens.
The organization has distributed over 1.03 million pounds of food and served over 38,279 families, as of April 1.
“[Families] may not have easy access to a grocery store,” Johnson told The Informer,” so this is one of the ways for them to get the vegetables and produce that they need.”
Volunteers Give Back: Making ‘People’s Lives a Little Easier’
On April 12, Solomon was eighth in a long line of cars that extended from the beginning of Trinity’s sidewalk on its west side to Good Luck Road.
“There are times when the line of cars extends all the way to Doctor’s Hospital,” said Johnson, speaking of the medical facility in Lanham that is located three-tenths of a mile east of the church.
Normally, food distribution takes place on the third Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. but for April, due primarily to the Easter holiday, Johnson decided to move it to the second Saturday.
The volunteer corps includes residents and members of the Prince George-County based Kappa Epsilon Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha and the Hyattsville/Landover Maryland Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities. The volunteers perform a variety of duties that include helping to direct traffic, packing bags of food and loading them into vehicles.
“This is an all-volunteer operation and is self-funded,” Johnson said, “so we appreciate any support that is offered and received.”
Kappa Epsilon Lambda had several of its members manning the volunteer stations during the April 12 distribution.
Bryce A. Gaylor, president of the Kappa Epsilon Lambda, said volunteering for The StoreHouse is in line with his chapter’s program for community service.
“The chapter has five pillars: brotherhood, collaboration, service, innovation and education and volunteering for The StoreHouse hits four of those pillars,” said Gaylor, 52. “We have participated in food distributions before, but this program helps to expand our impact. The impact here is much greater than what we have done before.”
Fafa Monu is a faithful volunteer and does the work because she believes in what Johnson is doing.
“People have asked why I do this, and I respond, ‘why not?’,” Monu, 38, said. “I have the time, and this is a good effort to work for. A lot of people don’t have jobs, and they have families to feed. Those who can give back should.”
As each of the cars rolls up to the distribution site, the volunteers ask how many families are to be fed. The rule is two bags of food per family.
During the April distribution, bags consisted of sweet potatoes, potatoes, cabbage and onions.
After getting their food, the recipients are directed to the next station to give a donation to the program.
To support The StoreHouse, Johnson is having the 2025 The Service Ball gala at Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Maryland on May 25.
“We want people to come out to the gala and support the work that we do,” she said. “There is a lot of economic uncertainty, and we want to make people’s lives a little easier.”