Food giveaway helps 400  area families

Each family received food, personal care items and gift box.

About 400 families received food and personal hygiene products during a Feed the Children community food distribution on Thursday, Sept. 22. The distribution, organized by the Community Action Partnership, was held in a Welcome Stadium parking lot.

Chris Stewart/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra About 400 families received food and personal hygiene products during a Feed the Children community food distribution on Thursday, Sept. 22. The distribution, organized by the Community Action Partnership, was held in a Welcome Stadium parking lot.

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By Dave Larsen and Chris Stewart
Staff Writers 10:02 PM Thursday, September 22, 2011

DAYTON — A first-come, first-served food distribution event Thursday at Welcome Stadium in Dayton exhausted its supplies in little more than one hour, providing food and household supplies to 400 local families in need, organizers said.

The distribution was part of Feed the Children’s Americans Feeding Americans Caravan, said John Bennett, spokesman for Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area. It was Feed the Children’s first such event in Montgomery County.

People were lined up at the stadium when Community Action Partnership staff arrived two hours before the distribution’s scheduled 10 a.m. start time. Workers quickly unloaded a semi tractor-trailer filled with 1,200 boxes of food and essentials provided by Feed the Children and Speedway Children’s Charities. They were able to start distributing supplies about 9 a.m.

“We had two lines of people going through the parking lot at Welcome Stadium, so we were able to get everything distributed in little over an hour,” Bennett said. The event was scheduled to last until 2 p.m. or until supply was gone.

Each qualifying family received a 25-pound box of food, which should last a family of four about one week, Bennett said. They also got a 10-pound box of personal care items and a gift box of Avon products.

Stephanie Pherps of Dayton said she was thankful for the assistance. “It helps me out with my personal hygiene, food in my stomach and my clothes getting washed,” she said.

Nearly 30 percent of area households with children were unable to afford food at times between 2009 and 2010, according to a data analysis released last month by the Food Research and Action Center.

“The need is great and has been with the current economic situation. We will continue to do everything we can to help folks in as many ways as we can,” Bennett said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDaily News.com.

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