AUSTINTOWN, Ohio — With local food pantries seeing a sharp rise in demand, the need for assistance across the Mahoning Valley is growing heading into the holiday season.
Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley reports that many of its 160 partner agencies are seeing nearly double the number of people seeking help, and calls continue to come in from residents who have never needed food assistance before.
“Some people still haven’t received all of their benefits yet,” said Renee Fuller, associate director of the food bank. “Thankfully, we have people like the staff here at Greenwood and their customers that are stepping up and helping us do more with whatever we can right now to help people in our Valley.”
Against that backdrop, Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown completed its annual Extra Mile Food Drive, collecting nonperishable items and monetary donations for Second Harvest. The effort began years ago with the Mahoning Valley Corvette Club and has grown into a dealership-wide campaign involving employees, customers and multiple collection points.
“It started with the Mahoning Valley Corvette Club that we have such a good relationship with, and it started out with just filling up a Corvette,” said Sean Greenwood, fixed operations manager at Greenwood Chevrolet. “And we thought that’s a great idea. How could we make that something more, right?”
Greenwood said the dealership expanded the campaign by placing donation trucks in the showroom, the service department and the body shop. The goal for this year was to surpass last year’s collection.
“We did a little over 1,300 pounds last year. So our goal this year was to get it to 1,500,” he said.
In addition to food donations, the Greenwood family made a financial contribution to support the food bank’s operations. “Above and beyond the food that we’ve collected, the Greenwood family has also done a donation of $25,000 to Second Harvest to help them in their efforts as well,” Greenwood said. “Very proud of that.”
Fuller said the support comes at a critical time as families face rising costs and delayed benefits. “Right now couldn’t be a better time to get this much food in our warehouse, to help people through our pantries,” she said. “Because there’s so many new people that are needing our help and these type of things, maybe take something off their grocery list to save them money for something else they need to buy or pay for.”
Second Harvest expects this year’s distribution to exceed 2024 totals, when the food bank provided 10.6 million pounds of food and more than 8 million meals across Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
With November and December typically being the busiest months, Fuller said they anticipate exceeding those totals.
“With the way that we’re seeing the lines and the people that are coming for help, unfortunately, I believe we will exceed those records this year.”
Fuller said the community can help in several ways as the holidays approach. “Nonperishables are the easiest, because that way they’re shelf stable for people,” she said. “Money goes a very long way too, because we’re ordering more food than we ever have before in the history of the food bank.”
She added that anyone unsure about what to donate can call the food bank at 330 792 5522. “We don’t turn much of any type of food away that we can get, even if it is something that someone thinks, I don’t know if they would use that. Just call us,” she said.
Pictured at top: Sean Greewood, fixed operations manager at Greenwood Chevrolet; Jim Conlin, new car manager; Taylor Tomsich, service; Traci Briden, business manager; Renee Fuller, associate director of Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.