Milford Advocacy for the Homeless (MAH) announced that speakers for their monthly meeting, Together We Serve, will be Melissa Campino of the Food Bank of Delaware and George Meringolo of Little Living, LLC. The speakers are designed to spotlight organizations and individuals making a positive impact on homelessness, housing insecurity and human services throughout Delaware. The July session will be held on July 11 from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM in a virtual format.
“We normally hold these meetings on the first Friday of the month, but because July 4th falls on the first Friday, we moved the session to the following Friday,” Martha Gery, founder and president of MAH, said. “These two dynamic speakers will be able to provide additional insight into homelessness.”
Campino began with the Food Bank of Delaware in September 2024 as the Community Engagement Coordinator, a new position funded through an Arsht Cannon Fund grant that can be used for educational projects serving Hispanic communities. Her focus at the Food Bank is to assist Hispanic members of the community, many of whom are reluctant to seek outside help when they suffer food insecurity.
“It’s about creating a foundation of trust and engagement,” Campino said in a recent interview. “Latino and Hispanic communities are varied and just because we are similar, doesn’t mean we are the same.”
Maringolo is the president of Little Living, LLC, an organization working to address the affordable housing crisis in the area. A health crisis led Maringolo to begin cooking meals for families who were struggling.
“I did this in service to others base on my faith and to repay the Lord for giving me my life as well as to show people that God loves them,” Maringolo said. “Since then, a number of individuals being fed grew to about 80 people, all of whom were facing housing issues.”
Seeing first-hand how the housing crisis was impacting families, Maringolo and his business partner, Ken Lloyd, began working toward addressing the need for affordable housing. They recruited friends Joe Aquilla and Tom McElroy to assist with finding a solution to the problem.
“We began to formulate a plan to build and provide affordable housing to low-income families so they could start to move toward a better life for themselves and their children,” Maringolo said. “We built a prototype, fully furnished “little living” home and have designed a community of 22 homes with four different floor plans that would accommodate all family sizes, couples, seniors and singles. The community includes play areas, a community center, gardens and open space. It would also be self-contained with its own septic, water and solar farm.”
Little Housing LLC is a 501(c)(3) agency, raising funds through donations and grants to build communities in Kent and Sussex County.
“We are so excited to keep building bridges between service providers, local residents and advocates through Together We Serve,” Gery said. “The program allows us to elevate the work of so many local heroes while also informing and inspiring the public to take part in meaningful community action.”
All are welcome to attend the monthly meeting. Join with your phone or computer. Open the Google Meet and join the virtual meeting at https://meet.google.com/cjo-ajcw-euh?authuser=0.
