Stark County Campus celebrates six months in service 

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s Stark County Campus is excited to celebrate serving the community for six months. As staff and volunteers have acclimated to the new space, community partnerships have deepened and neighbors have utilized the many resources available. Here is an overview of the exciting activity that has taken place over the past several months.

DISTRIBUTING FOOD

Distribution operations have been in full swing since opening in summer 2021. Nearly 3 million pounds of food has already been distributed from the new facility. The new warehouse can hold 320 pallets of dry product at any given time, making the Stark County Campus a holding and distribution center for food programs in our southern-most counties. Food orders are not picked in Canton; they are prepared in Akron and sent to Canton via our trucking fleet, where they await distribution to our hunger-relief partners and neighbors.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

The Keith D. Monda Family Food Pantry & Resource Center serves around 200 families each week, double the number than originally anticipated. Welcoming neighbors every Tuesday and Wednesday, the pantry has already served the equivalent of more than 76,000 meals to more than 3,000 families. Nearly 10,000 individuals have been served by these meals, including approximately 2,500 children.

Distribution efforts in the pantry and the accompanying Aultman Health Foundation Resource Room are supported by an AmeriCorps VISTA service member. This volunteer manages the 6-10 additional volunteers who assist with operations on pantry days. Together, the team welcomes neighbors, signs them in and assists them in ordering food, packs orders, and refers neighbors to relevant resource room partners.

CONNECTING WITH VOLUNTEERS

The AEP Foundation Volunteer Center has welcomed more than 900 volunteers in the past six months to help sort, inspect and pack donated food. Volunteers also support administrative tasks and assist in the Werner Family MarketPlace by distributing fresh produce to hunger-relief partners.

THANK YOU!

We are so incredibly grateful for your support as we work to serve our community and are proud to share these updates with you. We couldn’t do this work without you. Thank you for your commitment to hunger relief!