Good Neighbor House sees influx of people in need and is seeking donations as well as volunteers

“Our community is in crisis,” the organization’s executive director Michelle Collier wrote to supporters last week. “With the government shutdown and the sudden halt of federal food assistance programs, thousands of families who were already struggling are now without the help they depend on to put food on the table. Since January we’ve seen an 86% increase in the number of people coming through our doors seeking food and hope. Now, that number is climbing every single day. Just last week we saw an average of 45 new families per day, never seen before. We are serving over 200 families daily.”

Collier said while they will continue to bring in the low cost or no cost food, but they’ve also embarked on a $600,000 food pantry expansion project that will allow them to store and distribute more food than ever before.

“We urgently need your help to finish what we started,” she said. " We had a donor that donated the $120,000 to purchase the freezer portion of the project. Every dollar counts."

Every $1 counts. Every act of kindness matters.

The history

It all began more than 30 years ago when eight Dayton-area Seventh-Day Adventist churches came together to provide food, clothing and household items to individuals and families in need across the Greater Dayton Region.

Then, in 1996, as the need for affordable health care grew for those who were underinsured, the decision was made to establish a clinic offering medical, dental and vision services, along with health education and screenings for under-served families.

​Today the non-profit, with the help of local agencies, has grown to include a full spectrum of human and health services, including dental, medical, and eye clinics, a special dietary needs program, counseling, a pharmaceutical dispensary, physical therapy and a food pantry.

Volunteers needed

A year ago, the Dayton Daily News featured a story focusing on the need for food pantry volunteers. We’ve just learned that, since that time, GNH has doubled the number of people being served by the pantry.

But, according to pantry director Shellie Rice, there’s been a steep drop in volunteers over the the past few months. She said the core group of volunteers is aging and it’s been difficult to maintain the 30-45 volunteers needed each day.

Rice understands the importance of the pantry; she herself was once a single mom dependent on food pantries to survive and never thought one day she’d be running one of the biggest pantries in the Miami Valley.

“Over the time I’ve been here, the need has grown beyond anything I could have imagined,” Rice said. “A few years ago, we were serving about 2,500 individuals each month. Today, that number has soared to between 17,000 and 20,000. That means we’re distributing well over 60,000 pounds of food each month. The faces are both familiar and new: longtime neighbors who depend on us regularly, and first-timers who never thought they’d ever need a food pantry.”

Rice said what moves her most is the cycle of hope they are privileged to witness.

“I’ve seen individuals who once needed our help come back later to volunteer, or to bring in a bag of groceries because now they want to help someone else. One gentleman told me, ‘I came here with nothing. Now I come here to give.’ That’s the kind of transformation our donors and volunteers make possible.

The pantry, which has only one full-time employee, is open four hours a day, four days a week. Rice said if you were to divide the number of people by the number of hours they are open each week, it works out to serving four people per minute! Nineteen thousand were served last month.

Volunteers are needed to sort, organize and and distribute food items, plus answer phone calls, clean, assemble boxes and handle other tasks.

Joe’L Fritz of Dayton has been a pantry volunteer since August.

“I’m kinda like a floor leader, I help keep the flow, keep everything stocked, put food away, try to make sure everybody gets something,” she said. “I like knowing I’ve helped somebody at the end of the day. A lot of people just need a little compassion.”

Here’s what they need:

Items can be dropped off from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the Good Neighbor House, 627 E. First St. Dayton, OH 45402. The building is located two blocks east of the Dayton Dragons baseball stadium in downtown Dayton.

Other ways to help:

• Volunteer as a group for a few hours or commit to a regular schedule. Call or text Shellie Rice at 937-422-7778.

Nice feedback:

Linda Fischbach of Christ Child Society wrote in appreciation of the Make a Difference story that recently highlighted her organization.

“We members have been receiving positive texts, emails and calls since the informative article appeared in the Dayton Daily News,” she said. “This excellent media attention has exposed your readers to Christ Child and we anticipate an increase in community support and volunteerism this year end as a result.”

MAKE A DIFFERENCE