About Giving Back Lindas Legacy

About Us

History

A single act of kindness more than thirty years ago was the spark that started what has now become Giving Back – Linda's Legacy. Linda Greenberg, a resident of Anne Arundel County simply gave her hat to a homeless person who needed it a lot more than she did. Soon Linda was collecting all sorts of clothing from the community and distributing it to the homeless each Christmas, first from the trunk of her car and then from the trunks and vans of many friends. In 2003 the collection of clothes and other items was formalized and the Farmer's Market in Annapolis became the official collection site for the Holiday Drive to Help the Homeless. Here people from all over could drop off gently used clothing, toys and personal items that would then be sorted, packed in boxes, and loaded into trucks waiting to be delivered on Christmas Eve, and the donations poured in.

The other major component of the Drive, and a key component of our Mission, is the involvement of school children is stuffing backpacks with winter clothing which they pay for themselves. This past year GBLL delivered over 1700 of these backpacks as part of the more than 20 truck loads of clothing and other items which were delivered on Christmas Eve. GBLL's 2010 drive involved over 500 volunteers delivering goods to more than two dozen shelters and on the streets, affecting the lives of thousands of men, women and children.
In 2004, as the Drive was getting much too much for one person to handle, Steve Anstett stepped in to help Linda keep things growing and developing. Steve quickly became a major force in Giving Back and took the steps that allowed the organization and its reach to greatly expand. In particular he initiated the backpack program which has become a major component of the organization. He continues to lead the organization and inspire more and more people to get involved with this effort.

In 2009 the organization, which was previously known as Giving Back and operating under an umbrella organization, formally incorporated and received its own 501 (c) 3 certification. To honor the tremendous work done by our founder, Linda Greenberg, the organization's name was changed to Giving Back – Linda's Legacy. An Executive Board of four members was formed to assist and guide Steve in the continued development of GBLL. In 2011 an Advisory Board was formed to get some of our more dedicated volunteers involved in the process.

How it Works

At the current time GBLL's only formal action is the Holiday Drive. This Drive generally starts in September when we receive commitments from various groups to provide backpacks and start ordering the materials. We also start reaching out to the various shelters to find out what materials would be most needed at their facility. In the following weeks volunteers known as shelter coordinators visit each of the shelters to coordinate the deliveries of the appropriate items.

In October and November, Steve and other volunteers meet with dozens of local civic groups, schools, clubs, scout troops and church communities asking them to help with the Drive by purchasing backpacks. We then supply all the materials for them to stuff the backpacks and they become part of our deliveries. Backpack parties are becoming a popular event, not only at the schools which often purchase large quantities, but as part of small neighborhood Holiday parties. GBLL also gets a number of financial contributions from individuals and corporations. These funds are used to both purchase additional clothing items to be distributed and to pay for the rental of the trucks and other expenses associated with the Drive.

For the four days before Christmas, the Farmer's Market in Annapolis becomes the Drive collections site. People from all over different communities come by to donate items which are then sorted by type and gender, and targeted to the specific shelter where they will be needed the most. A great deal of the work of sorting and separating the donated items is done by local high school students who are on Holiday break.

On Christmas Eve the trucks leave the Farmer's Market and make their way through Anne Arundel County, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. They stop at more than two dozen shelters during the day where volunteers following the trucks unload the materials and often meet with the residents of the shelters. There are always memorable experiences on these deliveries. At night several trucks head to the streets of Baltimore where hundreds of people who cannot get into a shelter meet us outside to receive their backpacks and other gifts, often including some food. The last stop is the Code Blue shelter which houses 400 men and women from the streets each night. At each of these night stops there is one-on-one interaction between the homeless person and the volunteer as the volunteer assists each in receiving their items. Again, this is always a memorable experience.

Organization

GBLL's Executive Board direct the business operations and provides the decision making and leadership of the organization. Its members are as follows:

Jeanette Middleton-Sudano

Jeanette Middleton-Sudano Jeanette Middleton-Sudano accepted the position of Executive Director in May of 2015. Jeanette has been a volunteer with GBLL since the late 1990's, has served as an advisory-board member, a transition-team member and leader of the charity’s bingo fundraisers, toiletry drives and shelter luncheons. Jeanette is actively involved in St. John’s the Evangelist Church in Severna Park with Pastoral Council and Youth Ministry activities. She is a past leader of St. Martin’s in the Field’s Boy Scout Troop and Venture Crew Advisor and still helps out when needed. Jeanette is married, has three children and is a long term resident of Severna Park. Jeanette’s generous and giving spirit, along with her keen organizational and people skills, are exactly the ingredients that combine to make a successful leader of an organization such as GBLL.

Michael Wald

Michael Wald is the President and owner of IEI Consulting, a forensic engineering investigation firm located in Annapolis, Maryland. Mike starting working with Giving Back in 2005 and over the years has become more and more involved in facilitating the growth and development of the business aspects of the organization. Mike is continuing as a member of the Executive Board this year heading up our on-the-street deliveries and working to help GBLL continue to expand our services to those in need.

Sandy Dlugonski

Sandi Dlugonski is in her 24th year as a Catholic School elementary teacher. It is through this vocation that she began her involvement in GBLL almost 10 years ago. As a 4th grade teacher at School of the Incarnation, Sandi coordinates the efforts for the students to make donations, pack 1000 backpacks and most importantly, make deliveries to the homeless on Christmas Eve. Sandi became an advisory board member 8 years ago and has now become an Executive board member in the hopes of helping other schools to participate as Incarnation does. She is very proud to know that when you ask an Incarnation student about Christmas, the first thing they will talk about is the backpack program and spending Christmas Eve meeting new friends at the shelters.

Rob Miller

Rob Miller is a Computer Security Engineer for the MITRE Corporation. He and his family have been volunteering with GBLL since 2007. They started by sponsoring backpacks through the School of the Incarnation and have been getting more involved every year. The Miller family's Christmas Eve tradition is to jump into a U-Haul to deliver items and cheer to those in Baltimore. They enjoy connecting with others in need. Rob started as a sorter and truck captain, then became a shelter coordinator, and is now on the Executive Board as the Farmers Market Collections Coordinator.

Kara Martinez

Kara Martinez Kara Martinez is a Litigation Support Project Manager for the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Kara starting working with Giving Back in 2011 through her role as the community service co-chair at Magothy River Middle School whose students have sponsored 100 backpacks each year since then. Additionally, she introduced the Sponsor a Backpack program to the Chesapeake Region Porsche Club who has sponsored over 200 backpacks a year since 2012. In 2013, Kara joined the advisory board of Giving Back and began coordinating the Winter Relief Christmas Eve visits in Anne Arundel County. This year, Kara joined the Executive Board and is tasked with coordinating the purchasing of all the backpacks and their contents as well as items such as boots and underwear.

GBLL also has an Advisory Board made up of our key volunteers who oversee specific operations associated with the Holiday Drive. These members are as follows:

Roby Anstett
Zack Anstett
Lindley Bucci
Kerry Chubb
Janice Keating
Ellen Kinsella

Kimberly Lank
Gina Materra
Jack McClelland
Richard Neild

Suzanne Odell
Daina Pack
Jane Powers
Matt Ward
Beth Werner

Our Founder:
Linda Greenberg

Nearly everyone involved in homeless services knew the late Linda Greenberg, the petite energetic woman and philanthropist who founded the Holiday Drive for the Homeless and ran Thanksgiving Dinners at Camp Letts for years in Anne Arundel County, Md.

Born in Pittsburgh, Linda described an “ideal” childhood. “My father always taught me, if you have more than you need, give it away,” she explained. On a winter trip to Washington, D.C., with her mother, Greenberg remembered seeing a homeless man trying to stay warm. Her mother asked her to give the man her coat. “For the first time I was cold,” she said. “It made a profound impression.”

Greenberg moved with her mother and sister to New York, and then to Baltimore when she was 22. She attended the University of Miami and American University, and finally studied in Mexico City. She and David were married in 1972 and then moved to a small farm in Crownsville, Md. They lived there 36 years, relocating to Delray Beach, Fl., in 2008. David ran Greenberg Jewelers in Brooklyn Park, Md., and Linda raised their two sons, Marc and Cory, along with countless domestic and exotic animals.

Over the years Linda took significant leadership roles with the American Heart Association, The National Society of Jewish Women, and the Kidney Foundation. Her recognitions included awards such as Maryland Governor's Volunteer of the Year, Annapolis Junior League's Women Who Make a Difference, and "Maryland Y's Woman of the Year.

Her homeless ministry began when her sons were five and six years old. She remembered watching a program about a child who had his own ministry, and thought about everything she had. “I was filled with guilt. I said, ‘It's not fair that I have this.’ That day my life changed drastically,” she admitted.

At first, Giving Back consisted of the Greenberg family collecting blankets or bag lunches, and spending a day handing them out to the homeless in Baltimore.

As the boys grew older, they took their hockey teammates along, and the word spread. Marc Greenberg describes his mother as a “sort of Santa Claus,” stating, “She really cared about people. Ever since we were little, she instilled that in us.”

Cory Greenberg remembers watching his mother give her own hat, gloves and coat to a homeless person. Meeting the homeless men, women and children motivated him to give back as well. “It's very fulfilling,” he said. “It made me want to give back even more.”

That was one of Linda's primary goals… “That's the whole idea, to get the children inspired; what I want to leave with this whole thing is that you have got to communicate with your children,” she said.

Greenberg passed along the leadership of the homeless organization when she moved to Florida, but continued to faithfully fly back to Maryland year for the annual Holiday Homeless Drive in December. Subsequently the charity was renamed Giving Back, Linda’s Legacy in her honor.

Linda’s most recent effort is a mission called 4 Uganda. “Of course we have tremendous needs here, and we need to help,” she said referring to the disadvantaged in the Baltimore, D.C., and Anne Arundel County area, “But the children in Uganda are the poorest of the poor,” she said. 4 Uganda started in 2007 after she survived a traumatic car accident in Florida. “It was a miracle,” she said.

Philanthropy is a gift that her parents gave her, David Greenberg explained. The Greenberg farmhouse was filled with mementos from their travels, from Africa to Russia, and summer vacations in Jamaica. But Linda did not talk about her travels. “They're not important,” she said, “The only way to really have happiness is to give back. It's a legacy to be proud of. It goes back to the idea that in God's eyes we’re all the same… there but for the grace of God go I.”

Linda S. Greenberg, passed away suddenly on October 23, 2015, in Delray Beach Fl., at the age of 72. Linda was the beloved wife of David for 43 years; the devoted mother of Cory (Nicole) Greenberg and Marc (Nicole) Greenberg; the cherished grandmother of Sabrina, Jayde, and Gwenyth; and the dear sister of Ellen Reiner. In keeping with her spirit of giving, Linda’s family requested that memorial contributions be sent to Giving Back, Linda’s Legacy.

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