In January, the city ordered the With God’s Grace Food Pantry on Springfield Street in Dayton to cease operations after a series of neighborhood complaints about long lines and parking problems.
People were parking on the street and causing traffic congestion in the area, With God’s Grace Executive Director Nicole Adkins said.
“We had to have a parking lot to function,” she said.
The pantry, which serves more than 600 families most Wednesdays, was granted a variance in February to continue operating while city staff and With God’s Grace worked to find solutions to the parking problems.
With God’s Grace approached Kentucky-based developer Michael Heitz, who owned a vacant lot nearby, about donating parking spaces to the pantry. Heitz allowed With God’s Grace families to park there and donated the lot after With God’s Grace secured ownership of the warehouse it operates on Springfield St.
Heitz said he was amazed at the amount of people they serve every week.
“It’s so impressive,” Heitz said.
He’d intended to redevelop the property, which was once a dilapidated building, but said creating parking for the food pantry would help the entire community.
“We really liked the idea of what they were doing,” Heitz said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Poor food access in the area is prevalent, Adkins said. The area suffered a major blow to food access last year when a Food for Less store burned down.
“We have seen a drastic increase in food insecurity,” Adkins said.
Not everyone who comes to the food pantry has to use the parking lot, Adkins said. Many of the families who come to the pantry don’t have access to reliable transportation to get to supermarkets two or three miles away.
“A lot of them are elderly, and a lot of them don’t have access to transportation,” Adkins said. “For them to walk that far carrying groceries, it’s almost impossible.”
The Springfield Street warehouse serves as a base of operations for the nonprofit food pantry, which also operates a mobile pantry that visits local communities including Brookville, Miamisburg, Huber Heights and Xenia.
Families can also pick up items from the warehouse on Wednesday mornings and evenings. Adkins said the food pantry is donation only and run on a volunteer basis.
Diane Roberts, of Huber Heights, said in a February article that her family relies on the pantry.
“If it wasn’t for them giving extra food to us, my grandsons might eat but would never be full,” she said.
On Wednesday, 722 families picked up food from the pantry, Adkins said.
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