For the thousands of Athens County residents living in poverty, Feed Ohio hopes to make sure that, at least for a while, their local food pantry is guaranteed to serve them a meal.
For the thousands of Athens County residents living in poverty, Feed Ohio hopes to make sure that, at least for a while, their local food pantry is guaranteed to serve them a meal.
Feed Ohio is a three-week statewide initiative endorsed by Gov. John Kasich and his wife, among others, to gather non-perishable food for those who can’t otherwise buy food themselves. Organized fully by volunteers, donations come from faith-based groups, houses of worship, community service organizations and businesses throughout the state.
In Athens County, where the county Department of Job and Family Services tallied almost 11,500 monthly food assistance recipients and 2,001 monthly cash assistance recipients during its last fiscal year, food bank operators are overjoyed at the prospect of more canned goods and supplies.
At the Southeast Ohio Food Bank, director Katie Schmitzer called the annual drive a “major source of food supplies” for her to build the bank’s frequently depleted inventory.
“Our resources are definitely scarce — we just have to be creative with how we spread out our resources,” Schmitzer said. “We expect the Feed Ohio project to make a significant difference as we gather food for some of our busiest months.”
Donations from the campaign will be distributed through regional food banks, including the Southeast Ohio Food Bank, which distributes to 63 food pantries across 10 area counties, Schmitzer said.
She added that 66 percent of food at the bank comes from government-funded programs, putting high importance on the private donations from Feed Ohio.
In 2013, the Southeast Ohio Food Bank distributed 6 million pounds of food, Schmitzer said.
Altogether, she said, the 63 affiliated pantries had an average of 37,000 visitors each month, not including the Meals on Wheels program, which serviced 44,900 homebound residents throughout the year.
Besides normal pantry and Meals on Wheels operations, Schmitzer said the Southeast Ohio Food Bank also hosts a number of other programs that benefit from Feed Ohio donations.
The Athens County Food Pantry serves about 11,000 pounds of food to more than 1,000 Athens County residents per month, making it the largest food pantry in the county.
Jill Doose, chair of the pantry’s board, said she’s not sure her organization could function at that level without support from Feed Ohio.
“Therefore, donations to the Food Bank from projects such as Feed Ohio are extremely important as they ultimately flow through to benefit us and other local pantries,” Doose said. “Without this support, the pantry would not have enough resources to be able to keep up with those in need of temporary food assistance … (so) projects such as Feed Ohio are critical to address hunger in our region.”
Campaign leaders are looking for donations of any personal care items or shelf-stable foods that are not homemade, home-canned, opened or outdated.
Kroger is a leading sponsor of Feed Ohio, and local residents may make their donations in canisters near the entrances of the Athens Kroger, which is the only drop-off point in town. The campaign ends Sept. 13.
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