Food assistance volunteers seek support
Becky Barker and Alisha Gladman prepare food boxes.
Park Christian Church in Dennison has been providing food to families in need in the area since 2019, with increasing requests for help each year. The program is in need of assistance with funding to enable it to keep pace with community need. The Kids Kupboard now serves 60-65 local families, with more helped at holidays.
Kids Kupboard began as a small ministry geared toward making sure children didn’t go hungry when school was not in session. That changed in 2020 when the mission of the pantry expanded due to necessity, said Becky Barker, one of the organizers of the food pantry, along with Alisha Gladman, both of Park Christian Church.
“We started in March of 2019,” Barker said. “We’re both moms, and we really just hated the idea of kids going hungry. Through the school year, there are programs in place to make sure kids have food on weekends. But in the summertime, they wouldn’t have access to meals from their school. So initially we started it for kids in the summer. By the end of the summer, we were hearing from more and more families, so we decided to also provide food at holidays when the kids would be home.
“We did that for Thanksgiving and Christmas that year and were preparing for an Easter distribution in 2020, right at the time when the pandemic shut everything down. At that time people weren’t working, and their kids were at home. There was suddenly this great need for more help. At that point we started doing weekly distributions, which we did for the next year or so.”
Boxes for groceries and meals went out to local families with no requirement beyond the need to eat. People began messaging the church with their needs, and the group learned how to pack up food boxes for families from two members to 12 or more.
“After a couple of years, we went back to summertime and holidays, but we realized it wasn’t just kids who needed it. It was families and the elderly and single people. It’s not just for children now. It’s open for anybody in need,” Barker said.
As demand for assistance grew, funds began to be stretched thin, relying on contributions from church members and the community. Most of those helped are from the Dennison-Uhrichsville area, but no distinction is made for those who need it.
“Our donations come from the community, but as the economy has been difficult, that has slowed,” Barker said. “Need has increased. At the same time, we have less funding to do what we do for people.”
What began as perhaps 25 boxes distributed each week for families has grown to 60-65 or more.
All of the work done to offer assistance through Kids Kupboard is by volunteers who give their time freely.
Donations are welcome, Barker said, as well as anyone who would like to help by setting up a food drive. “Or even if anyone would like to volunteer to help, that’s needed also. In the summer months with people so busy, the number of people available to help fluctuates. So we always need help,” she said.
Food boxes include ingredients for simple meals for adults and children.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Park Christian Church, 236 Miller Ave., Dennison, OH 44621. Add “for Kids Kupboard” to the check memo.
Call Park Christian Church at 740-922-4118. Kids Kupboard also is on Facebook.