Photo courtesy of Tracy FIber
Food insecurity is a major concern facing families around the world, and, unfortunately, we don’t have
to look far to see families impacted by it in our own communities. In Ohio alone, more than 1.5 million people struggled with food insecurity in 2019 according to a study by Feeding America. The effects of the pandemic have only heightened that need.
Grove City Food Pantry is doing its best to rise to the challenge and meet the increased needs of community members, especially families with children and older adults.
“We are trying to raise funds to get a new building,” says Tracy Fiber, manager of the pantry, “and then any rehab that we need to do to the building to make it operational for us.”
Fiber says that the pantry’s original plan was to expand upon the existing location to be able to provide more food and services to pantry clients. However, with an increasing need, the pantry’s current home doesn’t seem to be quite enough.
“The expansion that we were hoping to do here on the premises where we’re at is not going to give us enough space,” Fiber says. “We’re looking to move into a newer building or another building that would provide us with enough space that we can expand the offerings that we currently have.”
Some of those potential added services include an evening drive-thru option for those who cannot pick up food during the workday or on weekends and the opportunity for clients to do walk-through pickups in order to select items themselves. Fiber also hopes the new building would include a docking door, walk-in freezers and other upgrades from their current space.
“We’re hoping within the next year that we can find and secure a location to be able to extend those offerings out to the community,” she says. “We want to stay within Grove City, but we need roughly 8,000 to 10,000 square feet.”
Fiber says the most efficient way to get the pantry its new premises is through help from the community.
“Monetary donations are going to be the biggest for us because we are 100 percent donation (funded),” she says.
Holiday Help
Photo courtesy of Tracy Fiber
As Thanksgiving, Christmas and other winter holidays are fast approaching, traditional holiday staples such as canned vegetables, instant mashed potatoes, turkey and ham are big on the pantry’s list of needs.
“Anything that you can think of that you might have for a Thanksgiving dinner, those are the things that we are really going to be in need of going into the holiday season,” Fiber says.
In addition to holiday meal items, the Grove City Food Pantry collects nonperishable foods and daily hygiene products throughout the year.
“We are always in need of personal care items like soap and shampoo – things that you can’t buy with your food stamps,” Fiber says. “The other things that we are always running out of are pancake mix, syrup and jelly.”
Fiber adds that peanut butter is a commodity the pantry can easily attain through its partnership with the Mid- Ohio Food Collective, while other items like jelly are almost always acquired through donations.
“We work very closely with Mid- Ohio,” she says. “We purchase a lot of our food through them because we can get it at discounted rates. Basically, a dollar buys us about $9 worth of food if we buy it through them.”
At the future location, Fiber says the Mid-Ohio Food Collective partnership could allow the pantry to incorporate health screenings and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP.
“The benefit is that, with working with them, we can kind of collectively target a lot more of the people who need to use the food bank but don’t necessarily feel comfortable,” she says.
Currently, Grove City Food Pantry serves four primary areas: Grove City, Galloway, Harrisburg and Orient. A new location would potentially allow the pantry to grow its reach further.
“As we grow, and as (Mid-Ohio) are willing to help us with the expansion, then we can start offering more ZIP codes around here so that (community members) have more of an opportunity to go,” she says.
Volunteering Sunshine
Photo courtesy of Tracy Fiber
Volunteers are what make organizations such as the Grove City Food Pantry go round, and Fiber says it’s volunteers such as Rose Marie Davis that make all the difference.
“She meets the cars (at the drive-thru food pickup) and she relaxes (the clients) and makes them feel at ease,” Fiber says.
Food pantry clients sometimes feel anxious or embarrassed about visiting a food pantry, especially if it’s their first time. But Fiber says Davis will sing to the clients and speak with them so they feel less anxiety or discomfort about visiting the food pantry.
“Truly, she comes in here every single day, rain or shine,” Fiber says. “She is just pleasant no matter what. She’s absolutely wonderful to us.”
Sarah Robinson is a contributing writer. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
