PRESS RELEASE

September 19, 2024

During Hunger Action Month, Adams, Brown and Highland County community organizations connected with The Ohio State University (OSU) and the local OSU Extension team for food kindness. These counties have a combined food insecurity rate of 52.8% (Feeding American, 2022).Nearly 1,000 people including students, staff, alumni, and community members at The Ohio State University Columbus campus recently packed 350,000 meals. More than 233,000 of those meals were delivered in Southwest Ohio on September 13. The food was delivered in Southwest Ohio via the official Ohio State Football equipment truck owned by Ken Blair. OSU Extension organized the delivery of the assembled meals to local non-profit organizations to be distributed in Adams, Brown, Franklin, Hamilton, Highland, and Montgomery counties. Representatives of OSU Extension and the Office of Student Life, as well as the non-profits involved, were on-site as the truck unloaded at each location. Adams, Brown and Highland counties distributed 55,896 meals, which were picked up by local partner agencies and food banks. These local organizations were recognized as champions of food kindness and will provide the food to their community residents. The program is a collaboration among Ohio State Student Life, Athletics, OSU Extension/College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio Union Activities board, OSU Alumni Association, Coca-Cola, and 9-11 day.org.

Ohio Food Insecurity Numbers (data from Feeding America, 2022)

Montgomery 14.6%

Hamilton 13.3%

Highland 16.5%

Adams 19.7%

Brown 16.6%

Distribution at each site:

Highland, Adams, Brown Counties – 274 boxes; 9,316 packages; 55,896 meals

Hamilton County – 434 boxes; 14,756 packages; 88,536 meals

Montgomery County – 436 boxes; 14,824 packages; 88,944 meals