AKRON, Ohio — A dream is on its way to becoming a reality inside an extended part of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank Facility.
Crews broke ground on the project last October. Now, it’s on its way to being completed this fall.
“We started planning this project all the way back in 2015,” said Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank President and CEO Dan Flowers.
The building will stand as an important part of a multi-step three-year strategic plan the foodbank is working to implement.
“Our foodbank, food bankers, our investors, our neighbors and our communities, and we have specific plans rolling into operating plans to address all these five key areas,” said Flowers. ‘
Those components are a part of the foodbank’s "Deepen Our Impact" initiative, which aims to address the needs Flowers says staff and volunteers are still seeing three years after the pandemic.
“Inflation is at a high right now,” said Flowers. “We had a 16% increase in the number of people that we served just in the first two months of this year compared to last year.” Not to mention, the additional challenges county officials say some families are now that the emergency snap supplements have ended.
“We've seen folks who came to rely on that extra benefit in their monthly planning, and it's a big adjustment,” said Greta Johnson, director of communications for Summit County Executive Ileen Shapiro.
But Johnson and Flowers are hopeful their partnership can help people like Derrick Murray, who we met at one of the county’s recently added pop-up food distribution sites in Akron.
“The price of food right now is very high. It’s a struggle right now with these prices,” said Murray.
“Until folks can recalibrate their budget at home, we want to be able to help them bridge that gap by providing this additional food,” said Johnson.
The foodbank says it will continue to work closely throughout the region by gathering neighbor feedback and creating both community advisory committees and a partner leadership academy.
They’ll also rely on staff, volunteers and investors to donate food, time and money to serve as a solution to food insecurity.
“It means a lot. It’s very helpful. It’s a blessing,” said Murray.
The next pop-up distribution will take place April 20 at Buchtel CLC, 1040 Copley Road, Akron, from 4 to 6 p.m.
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