CLEVELAND — Thousands of Northeast Ohioans in need of food drove to Cleveland’s Municipal Lot to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s food distribution Tuesday.
"We’re out of food,” said Chris Harshaw.
"Unemployment hasn’t kicked in yet,” said his wife Mary Harshaw.
The Harshaw's are like so many others.
They’ve never had to ask for help before but with the threat of the Coronavirus forcing so many Ohioans to stay home, their shelves are nearly empty.
"It’s a God send, that’s what it is,” said Chris.
"About a third of the families who came through at our last drive-thru distribution had not needed help from the emergency food network before,” said Kristin Warzocha, the president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
Warzocha says of the 600 families they served as of lunchtime today, 450 had never before gotten free food.
"That breaks my heart, that breaks my heart, well it speaks to the need and its why were here, right,” said Warzocha.
All together the Greater Cleveland Food bank and the national guard fed around 4,000 families Tuesday.
They expect the need to continue to grow, that’s why after their drive-thru distribution last week, they decided to move to the Muni Lot.
"The lines were three miles long and we were shutting down our neighborhood,” said Warzocha.
Although everyone is welcome, Warzocha says they aren’t the only place to get food.
"At our first drive-thru distribution we had clients who came from 18 counties, some people were driving more than an hour to get that distribution and fact is folks don’t have to,” she said.
Instead anyone in need of food can call (216) 738-2067Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the food bank’s closest partner.
The Greater Food Bank is also giving out more food than ever before in its 40 year history, and they are heavily relying on donations so if you want to give back click here.
