BLUE ASH, Ohio — One group is teaming up with police to make sure students don’t go hungry during the holiday break, and asked for community members’ help to do it.
What You Need To Know
- Operation Give Back is teamed up with Blue Ash police to collect food to help students in need
- They hoped to get enough food to fill a police car in a “Cram-a-cruiser” event
- The group plans to give the food to students and their families that they help throughout the year
Food has become part of Leanne Berke’s mission, but not just stocking shelves with it, she’s using food to help give back.
“We just always want to make sure that we have enough that we can restock at the end of a Wednesday pantry day,” said Berke.
She’s the program director at Operation Give Back in Blue Ash. It helps families with everything from groceries to tutoring for students.
But without school during the holiday break, Berke, a former teacher, worried some kids won’t have food. So, the organization teamed up with police.
Officer Beth Roach of the Blue Ash Police Department offered her cruiser, with the goal to fill with enough food to go up against the growing problem that officers are seeing too.
“With all of our hotels, we have individuals and families trying to make it on a night to night basis, so that’s more of what we see,” said Roach. “We also have people who will sleep in their cars.”
She said police have been helping struggling families with donations from Operation Give Back, which is why now they decided to give back to the group.
It became an effort to “Cram-a-cruiser” with enough food to help feed kids and their families for the holidays.
“We are all a job loss, we are all an illness, we are all a circumstance away from being brought to our knees, so if we are in a position to help, I believe that’s our duty,” said Berke.
The “Cram-a-cruiser” event was at the Kroger on Hunt Road in Blue Ash on Saturday.
For more information on Operation Give Back, log on to their website.
