By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(Oct. 23, 2025) With Halloween just around the corner, the service group Ocean Pines Get Involved is gearing up for their holiday drives to give back to community members in need.

Esther Diller, a former Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors member, founded Ocean Pines Get Involved, which hosts charitable events throughout the year. This holiday season, the team will hold its annual Toys for Tots drive, a food drive in collaboration with Diakonia, and, for the second year in a row, Senior Helping Hands, which aims to provide gifts to elderly folks who live alone.

These fundraisers have begun, or will begin, before the end of the month. Diller, whose husband is Stuart Lakernick, a current OPA board member, said that boxes for the food drive will be set up at the community’s Administration Building at White Horse Park the weekend of Oct. 31.

The OP Get Involved representative said that the group is looking for non-perishable foods like dry goods and canned goods. All the food will be donated to Diakonia, to benefit families and individuals on the Eastern Shore struggling financially this winter.

Furthermore, Ocean Pines’ Toys for Tots has already started. According to Diller, boxes to drop off the playthings are now at the community’s Administration Building, the Yacht Club, and the Clubhouse. A local representative for the Toys for Tots effort will periodically visit the sites to empty the baskets to make room for more goodies. That program will run through mid-December.  Diller added that toys must be new and can be intended for any age group, from little kids to teenagers.

Children won’t be the only priority for Ocean Pines Get Involved this Christmas.

Returning is the Senior Helping Hands program, an initiative started last year to give presents to the Ocean Pines’ elderly population who may not have much family nearby. Diller said this dive is one of her favorites.

“We focus on collecting names of seniors who are by themselves,” she said. “They may have lost a loved one or have no family in the area. Last year, I believe we got 15 names, and went around delivering bags of presents to them. I realized last year that Christmas is always about the kids, but what about the seniors who have lost a significant other and are by themselves? It’s really sad, and everyone kind of forgets about them. So, it’s really wonderful to get to do this.”

Gifts include large-print crossword puzzles, fuzzy socks, gloves and scarves, treats like candies and cookies, and reading glasses.

“We try to think of things they would use on a daily basis,” Diller said.

The Ocean Pines Get Involved founder noted that last holiday season, Senior Helping Hands’ inaugural year, she got to witness the impact a program like this can have on its beneficiaries. Diller said that she went to deliver a bag of gifts to an older OPA resident, who, when she opened the door and learned the nature of the visit, cried and said, “I didn’t think I would have anything to open this year.”

“I said, ‘Well, you do now,’” Diller added. “When she said that, I was stunned. She was so cute. I remember getting back in the car, and I said to my husband, ‘This is why we do this.’ She was just beaming. It was really lovely.”

Another man expressed his appreciation for the goodies but asked that they be given to someone who may need them more than he does. Diller said that the effort moved him so much that he will be involved in its organization this year.

Diller is now seeking information on seniors who can benefit from the project.  Anyone who knows the names of older folks living in Ocean Pines and who will be alone this holiday season can email Diller at esmatt4@aol.com. In addition to a name, the nominated person’s address and any specific interests they may have should be included.

Ocean Pines Get Involved is hoping to grow Senior Helping Hands and kickstart some projects for other times of the year, not just Christmas.

Diller said that her group is also hoping to again host its coat drive in January, in collaboration with local shelters in Berlin. That initiative was skipped last year due to a lack of time, but it will likely be back up and running in early 2026. Diller said that the previous time the event was held, almost 200 winter jackets were donated.

More information on the coat drive will be available as the date approaches. Diller added that any donated jackets should be brand-new.

While some people may be struggling financially themselves this year, any size contribution to the holiday giving-back programs is helpful. Ocean Pines Get Involved hosts fundraisers throughout the year, and noticed during a recent summer food drive that it was harder than ever to collect items. Organizers maintain that any little bit helps, even if it’s just one can.

“One of the other problems that we’re dealing with, and we saw it with the summer food drive, is economically speaking, people are very tight right now with the cost of everything,” Diller said. “It’s very, very difficult for a lot of people… I think people are financially strapped, but we look at it this way: even if you can do a little bit, I don’t care if it’s one can of food or a pair of gloves for Seniors Helping Hands, everything is appreciated and matters.”

Ocean Pines Get Involved hopes that their efforts will encourage community members to help those less fortunate than them this season and come together in the spirit of giving.

“[These programs] bring the community together,” Diller said. “Ocean Pines has a reputation for its politics. By doing these drives, you show the other side of Ocean Pines that’s not political. You know, neighbor helping neighbor. I do believe it brings the community together, and it just gives you a good feeling.”

Diller added that OP Get Involved’s projects are successful every year, and during a previous food drive, they collected an impressive 1,000 pounds worth of goods.

“When we have done these drives, you have to give Ocean Pines a lot of credit,” she said. “We have done so well. Ocean Pines definitely gets involved. It’s really nice to see.”