How to help
To donate food, contact Lisa McNamara, Warren County Food Drive coordinator at (513) 384-6636 or (513) 384-6637 or at wcfdcoordinator@gmail.com.
To donate cash or sponsor a holiday food basket, send checks to the Warren County United Way, 645 Oak St., Lebanon, OH 45046; or donate online at www.warrencountyunitedway.org/fooddrive.
For more information on volunteering to help the countywide food drive, including sorting food or picking up donation barrels, visit www.warrencountyfooddrive.org.
LEBANON — The annual holiday food drives are in full swing as local agencies and food pantries are working to collect food and other items to make the holidays a little brighter for the less fortunate in Warren County.
But organizers say more help is needed both financially and with food contributions as the need continues to grow due to the struggling economy.
On Thursday, the Warren County Food Drive held a “food fight” among communities to collect food with 7,500 pounds donated that day. While Lebanon was the winner of that contest, the collection continues to grow with Christmas two weeks away.
“It’s going over very well,” said Aaron Reid, executive director of the Warren County United Way, which is co-coordinating the county food drive this year with the Warren County Commission, Warren County Community Services and the Lebanon Young Professionals organization. “It has grown in size and will take a countywide collaborative effort.”
Reid said about 120,000 pounds of food have been donated, which includes water and other beverages that affects the total. In addition, the goal of raising $100,000 continues to be a challenge as only $35,000 has been raised, and that includes the $30,000 donation made last month by the Warren County Commission.
Last year, the county food drive collected 38,754 pounds of food and raised $41,125 in cash donations.
Reid said the cash is needed to leverage the buying power of the pantries for meat and other perishable food.
Lisa McNamara, who is in charge of the county food drive this season, said that for every $1 donated, $10 in bulk food products from vendors can be purchased.
“This is a very generous community,” she said. “We need to collect cash and food for the pantries.”
The need for food and donations is real, Reid said.
“In 2006, the county’s seven food pantries provided emergency food assistance for 15,000 people,” he said. “Through September 2011, the pantries have served 51,000 people.”
That number is just under 25 percent of the Warren County population recorded in the 2010 federal census, which was 212,693. The county also continues to be the second-fastest growing county in Ohio.
Reid said donation barrels have been distributed throughout the county and a warehouse has been donated by Henkle-Schueler/Bunnell Hill Development to receive and sort donations.
The warehouse has been a huge help as the county’s food pantries have limited storage space.
Reid said the organization is looking into the possibility of having a year-round effort of collecting food and cash for the county food pantries.
“The need doesn’t go away after the holidays,” he said. “There’s a demand all year long.”
Phyllis Wyatt, president of the Lebanon Food Pantry, said donations are going well, but in her 26 years with the organization, that’s always the case during the holiday season.
“People are so very generous this time of year,” she said.
However, Wyatt said the organization struggles in the months after the holidays as well as into the summer and fall.
She said in November, her organization assisted 2,160 people.
“The numbers are getting larger every month,” Wyatt said. “If the numbers keep going up, we’re really going to be struggling.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or ed.richter@coxinc.com.
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