Growing Hope has been part of our mission statement for several years and it remains the words we hold onto as our team at Second Harvest is challenged with an ever-changing situation. By this time, we remained hopeful we would be on our way to a recovering economy in Ohio with families returning to work and gearing up for a new school year. But the need within our region for food remains high and our world is far from normal. Over the past 12 months we served over 125,000 different people through food pantries in the region - almost 28% of the population.

When we initially began our response to the COVID-19 pandemic it was a struggle to understand the magnitude of what we were facing and in hindsight it was likely better that way. Those first few frenetic weeks were a rapid series of failures and successes as our team discovered the best ways to respond to the need. Each day at our situation meeting both the challenges and the mission were more focused.

Notes from families who we’ve helped and those who’ve given us help fuel the mission at Second Harvest throughout our response efforts. Read the comments from a mother who came through our Drive-Thru Mobile Pantry on Monday at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington:

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.

Hard to fathom we are more than four weeks into our COVID-19 response efforts, it feels both shorter and longer depending on the day. Distribution ramped up the week of March 16 and through Tuesday we have moved an astonishing 1.6M LBS of food and supplies through our facility and out into the community -125% higher than last year. This article is probably one of the best explanations of what is happening at food banks, including Second Harvest across the country. It was published April 8th in The New York Times: A Wave of Hunger Hits America, and Food Banks Are Swamped https://nyti.ms/3c3hftL

Strategy & Outreach

Our two goals for our response were 1) bring food and resources to our network of food pantries, shelters and hot meal programs and 2) reach out to newly affect families in every corner of our service area. Our network of food pantries, shelters & hot meal programs meet the need in our community 365 days a year in providing nutritious food to families at-risk for hunger. Our mobile pantry distributions have aimed at helping to share the burden with our partners of those seeking assistance for the very first time.