United Way distributes $20,000 in food

United Way recently was able to provide approximately 80,000 meals to residents suffering from hunger.

United Way of Lake County recently distributed $20,000 in food to 50 local food banks — enough to provide approximately 80,000 meals to residents suffering from hunger.

The food was purchased using funds donated during UWLC’s annual Feed Lake County food drive this past spring, according to a news release about the Dec. 14 distribution.

Volunteers from Lake Geauga Recovery Centers’ Lake House were on hand at the United Way of Lake County office in Mentor to help load the food into the cars and trucks of the food pantries that stopped by for help re-stocking their pantries.

The pantries received non-perishable items which included peanut butter, jelly, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, pancake mix, syrup, whole grain cereal, oatmeal, tuna, cream of mushroom soup, peas, corn, green beans, kidney beans and apple juice. The next UWLC food distribution will take place in May, following it annual spring Feed Lake County food drive. According to, “More than 28,000 Lake County residents live with food insecurity. That’s 12.4 percent of the population that are hungry or don’t know where their next meal will come from,” stated Tami Lewis, United Way of Lake County’s director of marketing and communication, in the release

Meanwhile, Lifeline’s 2-1-1 help hotline received 6,080 calls for food assistance this year through Dec. 12, according to the release

Mike Cosmo of the Mentor United Methodist Church said his food bank has seen a 10 to 11 percent increase in food requests this year which closely matches statistics he has seen elsewhere.

“There are a lot of grandparents and even great grandparents that are now the primary caregivers of grandchildren due to the opioid epidemic,” Cosmo said in the release.

Fran Teresczuk, of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Wickliffe, mirrors Cosmo’s thoughts on why her church’s food bank has seen an increase in food assistance. According to Teresczuk, “approximately half of our clients are senior citizens and many are raising their grandchildren due to drugrelated problems in the family.”

Monetary donations can be made online a or by calling 440-352-3166. Food donations can be dropped off at the United Way of Lake County office at 9285 Progress Parkway in Mentor or arrangements can be made to pick up food donations by calling 440-352-3166.

SUBMITTED Volunteers from Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers load food into the Salvation Army’s truck on Dec. 14 at United Way of Lake County.