The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Geauga Hunger Task force gets $25,000
Volunteer organizations leaders anticipate uptick in need by fall
The Geauga Hunger Task Force recently welcomed two large corporate donations from local businesses to help provide food to the community during the coronavirus crisis.
Woodcraft Industries donated $15,000 and Mercury Plastics offered $10,000 for distribution to local food pantries, as needed, for COVID-19 relief. Both companies have Middlefield locations.
“Their kind support goes a long way in meeting the increased needs of our local pantries, as many people find themselves in serious economic difficulty during this statewide shutdown,” said Sister Emilia Castelletti, a member of the task force.
Geauga Hunger Task Force is a volunteer-driven organization whose mission is to ensure that no resident of Geauga County goes hungry.
“We provide support to six independent food pantries throughout our county in which over 500 households are served each month,” said Vice President Lisa Milgate. “We also help to provide meals for young adults at NextStep, and home-delivered meals to disabled residents under 60.”
The organization saw a surge in demand in March as people were adjusting to drastic income changes related to the pandemic.
“We are starting to see a slight decline, which we think is due to the stimulus checks and increase in SNAP benefits that people have received,” Milgate said. “We do, however, anticipate late summer and fall to see traffic at our pantries increase again.”
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced last month that emergency benefit increases have reached $2 billion per month for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Hunger is something everyone can identify with, noted Task Force Board President Susan Juhasz.
“It seems that as we have seen a dramatic spike in need, the community responded just as dramatically, immediately, in amazing ways,” she said. “We have seen large corporate and individual donations. We have seen gifts that we know were from the heart such as the young people who set up a donation location in their neighborhood. We have been mailed grocery gift cards. We are humbled by the donations that have come in.”
Milgate echoed her sentiments.
“Though we are in uncertain times that can be a little frightening, it also can be an opportunity to see how many caring people and businesses we have in Geauga County,” she said.
The Geauga County Hunger Task Force is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and donations are tax-deductible.
For more information, visit geaugahungertaskforce.org.