JOURNAL-NEWS COMMUNITY FOOD RELIEF CAMPAIGN
The Journal-News is in its 10th year of helping with the food relief efforts in partnership with Shared Harvest Foodbank. Since beginning the campaign in 2004, the food relief program has raised nearly $250,000 with the money specifically set aside for food pantries in Butler and Warren counties.
This year, the Middletown Community Foundation awarded a $4,000 grant to support the cause. Direct donations have raised $1,000 so far, according to Tina Osso, the executive director of Shared Harvest Foodbank.
The goal for this year’s seven-week campaign, which launched Nov. 17, is to grow community donations by 20 percent over last year’s nearly $40,000, said Terry Bouquot, senior director of business operations for Cox Media Group Ohio.
To donate to the campaign, visit www.journal-news.com/foodrelief
The first time people turn to a food pantry for help, they often feel ashamed and embarrassed, the clients say. But often it doesn’t take long for that shame to turn into gratitude.
Dozens of people were visiting the Choice Pantry at Tri-County Assembly Church in Fairfield, looking for some help to get through the holidays. It’s one of eight Butler County pantries that benefit from the annual Journal-News Community Food Relief Campaign. Those pantries are in Hamilton, Middletown, Fairfield, Oxford, and West Chester Twp. There are also five Warren County pantries in Franklin, Lebanon, Mason, Morrow and South Lebanon.
Jeanelle Cornett, of Hamilton, said she has come to the Choice Pantry in Fairfield for about a year and a half. Choice pantries allow clients to shop for food in a grocery-like setting, taking certain amounts of food in each group, based on the food pyramid.
“It’s been really organized, and they’ve been very polite. When I come about every three months, they’re here for me,” she said.
The first time she came to Tri-County, Cornett said she felt “nervous and belittled, but they made me feel like I was at home with family.”
The same was true for Robert Johns, of Hamilton, who said he has been coming to the pantry for two years and finds that “it helps a lot. I’m on a fixed income, and when I pay all my bills, I don’t have any grocery money.”
The Fairfield pantry has been operating on a large scale for about the past 10 years, said Brad Rosenberg, the head pastor at Tri-County.
“We’ve always been about treating each individual with dignity and not just saying, ‘Here’s a bag of beets. I know you don’t like beets, but take them anyway.’ We think that’s terrible, so we want to be able to let them come in and, within the pyramid structure, pick according to the size of their family,” he said. “That way, they feel like they’re picking what they want to eat for their family.”
The pantry has been feeding about 2,500 people a month, and that number has been trending upward as the economy continues to struggle and as the holidays approach, he said.
“Two years ago, we were probably at about 2,000 a month. It’s just crept up to around 2,500 now,” said Rosenberg.
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