Zoo Lights

On November 16th I went to the Columbus Zoo and donated canned goods to fulfill my service requirement. We gave cans to the Mid Ohio Food Bank, an organization dedicated to giving food to the hungry. According to their website, they give out around 155,000 meals per day to people in need, and last year they provided 70 million pounds of food. Their priorities are to make sure that the food they give out is affordable and nutritious, so to provide maximum benefit for the recipients.

While donations account for some of the food the Mid Ohio Food Bank receives, they also work with other organizations such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and food manufacturers. Their partners allow them access to food that is nutritional and can be given to families in need. The Mid Ohio Food Bank also created their own initiative, called the Urban Farms of Central Ohio, in which they create urban farms in unused or vacant places. Besides giving more access to food, this initiative also allows communities to work together on a project.

For the Zoo Lights donation truck, the Mid Ohio Food Bank partnered with Kroger. They also work with Kroger to provide a Kroger Community Food Pantry. This is run by volunteers who work to help families pick out food items in the pantry, work at the help desk, and help to stock grocery items. I actually visited one of these pantries back in high school. They gave us a tour of the warehouse, where they store all of the food. We helped to package and stock items. They also showed us how they help people pick out certain food items and how they help people make healthier choices. Each person or family gets a certain amount of items based on how many people are in their family, and on special occasions such as birthdays people get an extra dessert. The people who get items from the pantry also receive a paper when they walk in telling them exactly what sort of items they can choose and how many items they can choose. The woman who led the tour said that going to a food pantry, especially for the first time, can be extremely emotional for some people. She talked about one couple who had just fallen below the poverty line, and the first time they came into the pantry the wife started crying. Yet, she said she saw this same couple months later in a Kroger, and they had gotten themselves out of poverty. They thanked her for all she had done for them and were incredibly grateful that she had helped them in their time of need.

Although I didn’t truly volunteer at the Mid Ohio Food Bank, I’m glad to know that my donation will be helping families and providing sustenance for those in need.