Garrettsville – It is often said that difficult times will test what you are made of. There is no question that when the Governor of Ohio issued a stay-at-home order due to the Covid-19 Global Pandemic, the Nelson Garrettsville Community Cupboard [NGCC] was tested. On Thursday, March 12th the Governor announced that schools would be closed for three weeks, but they would still be required to provide meals to students. The schools quickly started a discussion with the NGCC and some remarkable things happened.
NGCC immediately changed their practices to adapt to Covid-19. A change to curb-side pickup allowed customers to limit their exposure and delivery options were made available to high-risk clients to keep them from even having to come to the cupboard.
While the schools knew they were required to provide meals to students they also knew the entire family might be in need, as many were going to be out of work. NGCC stepped in and volunteered to provide a “Family Bag” of groceries to any family with students in the Garfield School District. The plan was set. The schools would support children and NGCC would support their families for as long as they needed assistance.
The school lunch staff started working to prepare student meal bags (an average of 6,200 meals each week) and NGCC volunteers prepared the Family Bags (an average of 109 bags each week). For the past 12 weeks the two organizations have worked side by side to distribute nearly 75,000 meals to students and another 1,300 bags of groceries to families.
This partnership could not have been successful without the generous support of our community. Donors have stepped up in many ways. Monetary donations from individuals and organizations have allowed NGCC volunteers to make the 70 mile round trip to pick up food at the Greater Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank. Donations of time from many students and community members have allowed food to be sorted, packed and distributed to those in need.
The board members of NGCC want every donor to know just how much they are appreciated.
While the efforts may look easy, the NGCC board has learned some things from these efforts. First, we are fortunate to have the volunteers we do. For example, each week Dee Synnesvedt uses her personal vehicle (sometimes two) and trailer to make the 70 mile trek to the food bank in Akron to pick up food. Sometimes these orders can be up to 6,000 pounds! She is not paid a dime, yet does it to help this community. Volunteers like Katie Pietra, Kim Curry, Michelle Herron, Michelle Gill, Michelle Zivoder, Tracy Knauer, Mark Russell, Chris Perme, Sara Hill, Ted Lysiak and Ben Coll pack food, check individuals in, run reports and make sure every cent is accounted for.
It truly is a group effort that makes NGCC run smoothly. With Garrettsville Area Chamber of Commerce supporting rent, YMCA providing wi-fi and the Villager providing phone service, NGCC is able to funnel the largest percentage of funds to their mission…shutting the door on hunger in our community.
All of these moving parts, working together, is what makes such a monumental task seem so easy.
The NGCC board wants this type of service to continue for decades to come. That being said, they have plans to explore the purchase of a used heavy duty van for the cupboard. The van would be used, instead of a personal vehicle, to make the weekly trip to pick up food in Akron. It would also be used for the Thanksgiving and Easter holiday food deliveries that were started this year to families who utilize NGCC. Finally, the van would be parked at any food drive event to load and transport directly to NGCC. The board has decided to begin setting aside a small percentage of donations to help support this purchase with hopes of making this much-needed asset a reality.
At the end of this pandemic every country, state, school and organization will receive a grade. This grade will be based on how each entity responded for the people they serve. While we don’t want to guess on a grade, there is no doubt both Garfield Schools and NGCC have responded in a way that demonstrates great care and love for the people they serve.
