New AK Steel parent company makes donation to local food bank as show of community support

Shared Harvest Foodbank provides food to people in five Ohio counties. The organization recently received an unsolicited $50,000 grant from the Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation, the parent company of AK Steel in Middletown. FILE PHOTO Shared Harvest Foodbank and Butler County schools are working to make sure school children are able to have meals during the three-week state-mandated school shutdown, which starts on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/FILE ——— ORIGINAL CUTLINE: Shared Harvest Food Bank is working to sell a little more than 4 acres of land in front of its Dixie Highway building in Fairfield. The food bank, which will retain nearly 6 acres of land, will use proceeds to raise capital for the food bank, including improving their building and “help us get more funding to feed more people,” said Shared Harvest Executive Director Terry Perdue. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

Shared Harvest Foodbank provides food to people in five Ohio counties. The organization recently received an unsolicited $50,000 grant from the Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation, the parent company of AK Steel in Middletown. FILE PHOTO Shared Harvest Foodbank and Butler County schools are working to make sure school children are able to have meals during the three-week state-mandated school shutdown, which starts on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/FILE ——— ORIGINAL CUTLINE: Shared Harvest Food Bank is working to sell a little more than 4 acres of land in front of its Dixie Highway building in Fairfield. The food bank, which will retain nearly 6 acres of land, will use proceeds to raise capital for the food bank, including improving their building and “help us get more funding to feed more people,” said Shared Harvest Executive Director Terry Perdue. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF
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Jan 31, 2021
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Shared Harvest Foodbank received a $50,000 grant from The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the parent company of AK Steel, continuing the legacy of community support set by AK Steel.

“This generous grant comes at a critical time,” said Terry Perdue, executive director of Shared Harvest Foodbank. “Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis we have seen a remarkable increase in hunger and food insecurity in the five Ohio counties that we serve.

“In addition to providing food for more than 90 food pantries in these counties, we have increased our efforts to distribute food directly to residents via contact-free drive-thru events. Thanks to The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation, we will be able to provide 400,000 meals.”

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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is the parent company of AK Steel, which has the Middletown Works operations and a research and innovation center located in Middletown. The company also has regional offices in West Chester, Twp. The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation has given more than $1 million in cash contributions to food distribution organizations in the local communities where the company operates. Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel in 2020.

“We sadly recognize that throughout the United States and Canada, millions of households are experiencing food insecurity amid the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “As a leader in the North American steel industry and a prominent employer in many of the communities where we operate, we believe that Cleveland-Cliffs has a role to play in supporting these food banks.”

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Perdue said this is the first donation that Shared Harvest has received from Cleveland-Cliffs.

“However, we have received donations from AK Steel prior to the Cleveland-Cliffs and AK Steel merger,” Purdue said. “The largest donation we received in the past 12 months was from Mr. Jeff Bezos at $545,675 and Barclays at $300,000.

“These generous donations, among others enabled us to substantially increase our services to the community by 40% or 2,841,500 pounds more in 2020 compared to 2019. This (Cleveland-Cliffs) donation was unsolicited and greatly appreciated.”

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Cleveland-Cliffs, sounded in 1847, is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America.

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Ed Richter has been a working journalist for 35 years, with the last 30 years working in various capacities covering Butler and Warren counties as a reporter and an editor. An award-winning journalist, Richter covers local news and governments in Middletown, Monroe, Franklin, Carlisle and Franklin Twp.