Coronavirus Emergency Relief Update 4/28/2020

Likely you have seen the photos and videos from here and around the country, cars lined up in a seemingly unending line waiting for food. Every car has a story, of a family struggling through this crisis and reaching out for help. A senior in a car alone calling thank you out a window, a father of three laid off from a second job and a mother of high school boys trying to feed growing minds and bodies. This past week those families numbered 4,411, a number that gives us pause. Take a moment and watch the video from last Thursday at the Lorain County Fairgrounds filmed by Northeast Ohio Drone. Every car has a story.

In Your Neighborhood:
Much of the attention since we began our COVID-19 response has been focused on our drive-thru Mobile Pantry distributions in the region because this is where many of the new laid-off families found help first. But we would be remiss if we didn’t celebrate the efforts of our food pantry and hot meal partners around the region. While a handful were forced to close to protect their volunteers, more were able to remain open and serve donned in masks and gloves armed with hand sanitizer at the ready. They are in your neighborhood and are always ready to help, look them up in the Find Help Directory.  

Mobile Pantries:
Monday found us back at North Ridgeville High School serving 536 families with the help of the school and the National Guard soldiers, Tuesday is Erie County with Huron City Schools at Woodlands Intermediate, Wednesday with Elyria Schools at Ely Stadium in Elyria and Thursday afternoon will be back in Crawford County at Bucyrus High School and assisting OHgo in Sandusky at Strobel Field. For upcoming dates check the Upcoming Mobile Pantry Schedule.

WIC:
The WIC Program at Lorain County Public Health which continues to provide healthy foods and nutrition education during the COVID-19 pandemic. WIC proudly serves income eligible pregnant and postpartum women, and infants and children up to age 5.  WIC foods are loaded onto a WIC card redeemable at many grocers and convenience stores in Lorain County. During COVID-19, WIC is doing phone-based appointments and curbside WIC card loads to keep you and your family healthy. Call (440) 323-7320.

Donations:
From April 19 – 25, together with our partner food pantries a total of 27,678 people received food thanks to you. We are grateful to all of the organizations, groups, companies and individuals stepping up to donate – you are making the difference for so many families! Over the 12-week period (3/15/20 – 6/6/20), our total increase in costs will exceed $1M and beyond that over the next year at least another $750,000 as we work to maintain this level of distribution. 

Thank You:
Thank you to our friends at the Nordson Corporation Foundation for always being there for the community in so many ways but especially for supporting our COVID-19 efforts with a donation announced today of $80,000!

Thank you to our friends at Northeast Ohio Drone for donating their services to film the amazing drone footage in the video and to Ron Jantz for lending his expertise and talents in documenting this unprecedented time in our history.

As always if you have any immediate needs reach out to myself or Kimberly Hazelgrove at (440) 444-0717 or by email.