The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
FAMILIES LINE UP FOR CARE BOXES
Second Harvest Food Bank, National Guard give food with drive through
Vehicles lined Broadway as Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio along with Ohio National Guard members provided a “no-touch” drivethrough food distribution at Black River Landing in downtown Lorain.
Cars were backed up to Broadway and 14th Street for distribution of about 950 food boxes.
Since March 23, the 15 Ohio National Guard members began working at the facility at 5510 Baumhart Road in Lorain, packing and distributing food to help fight the novel coronavirus crisis that has shaken the global economy.
Second Harvest President and CEO Julie ChaseMorefield said the demand has more than doubled, and with many local services closed, the food bank is working to fill some of that need.
The food bank, which services five counties in the area, closed the Lorain headquarters to the public and its volunteers March 23.
“We’re trying not to utilize volunteers as much as possible for distributions just to protect our staff and protect the volunteers, because a lot of our volunteers are in that high risk group,” she said.
"We’re all in this together. And we hope we can have a partnership that lasts with the food bank..."
— Capt. Gregory Boyes, company commander of the Ohio National Guard 237 Brigade Support Battalion
“So, we were fortunate Monday to get the help of the National Guard, which has been tremendous for us,” Chase-Morefield said.
With an average of about 3,000 volunteers annually and between 50-70 people coming through Second Harvest on a given day, the organization decided to protect the health and safety of the volunteers and employees.
“If we lose our staff, the people who run the organization and make everything go, there isn’t anybody to replace them, there isn’t a backup group for them,” Chase-Morefield said. “So, you know, we needed to protect that so that we can continue to maintain that free distribution.”
The Guard
Capt. Gregory Boyes, company commander of the Ohio National Guard 237 Brigade Support Battalion, said it was an extreme
privilege to help the community in a time of great need.
Nearly all of the National Guard members live in the greater Cleveland area and are volunteering in helping many who are their friends and neighbors and relatives, Boyes said.
“Once this is over, many of these soldiers don’t even know if they’ll have employment,” he said. “So, they’re very grateful to have this opportunity to not only serve the community, but to be employed and to be able to feed their families to contribute to this fight, because that’s what it is.
“We’re all in this together. And we hope we can have a partnership that lasts with the food bank whenever this is over, that we can continue to work with them and support them in any way we can.”
On March 18, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Adjutant General MG John C. Harris Jr., at the request of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and in collaboration with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks and its 12 member Feeding America food banks, announced the deployment.
Chase-Morefield said Second Harvest wants to have a distribution at Black River Landing every other Wednesday.
The demand continues to rise, and in the past week, Second Harvest has distributed 450,000 pounds of food and more than 18 semi-trucks scheduled to make deliveries by the end of the month, she said.
Having the support of the National Guard has enabled Second Harvest to distribute food faster while it continues to support all of its food pantries, ChaseMorefield said.
“Once this is over, many of these soldiers don’t even know if they’ll have employment.” — Capt. Gregory Boyes, company commander of the Ohio National Guard 237 Brigade Support Battalion