COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio food banks are set to receive an additional $25 million in federal relief funds, thanks to a new spending bill. The money, which is part of the $6 billion allocated to organizations and projects in need across Ohio, will be used to provide essential items to those in need.
The Mid-Ohio Food Bank, located in Columbus, is one of the organizations that will benefit from the additional funds. Sarah Weger, a volunteer at the food bank, says the organization needs help.
“There’s things that we haven’t had recently that the clients used to always get milk and eggs. And recently that’s been really scarce,” Weger said.
Mike Hochron, vice president of Communications for the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, said the demand for their services has been unprecedented.
“You could see from one side of the warehouse to the other, and that’s because the demand for our services is just unprecedented,” Hochron said.
Hochron said the federal dollars will be used for dairy, poultry, and meat, as well as other food and personal care items. He believes the additional funds will help make sure families in need have access to essential, nutritious food.
Joree Novotny, director of External Affairs for the Ohio Association of Food Banks, said they have been asking legislators for relief for nearly two years.
“We’ve really seen over the past 12 months it escalate to levels we’ve never seen before. We’re especially serving families with children and older adults at a high rate,” Novotny said.
The Mid-Ohio Food Bank alone hands out 170,000 meals a day. Weger says the federal dollars could potentially save lives by providing basics for survival.
“It would make a lot of people really happy. And me. To a lot of people, is just getting to where they need to go to get the help. So be great if they can use some of those resources for that,” Weger said.
