50,000 free meals and counting: Stark nonprofit Compassion Delivered hits major milestone

LAKE TWP. − Compassion Delivered was born eight years ago from a newlywed husband's simple question: "What's this check for?"

It has been providing nutritious meals to hundreds of deserving Stark Countians ever since.

Co-founders Daniel and Amanda N. Anschutz's meal mission delivered its 50,000th entrée this month. It went to a family dealing with a serious illness. The food is prepared every week by teams of volunteers at Evermore Community Church at 1470 Smith-Kramer Street NE.

"What makes us unique is that we specialize in people that have been diagnosed with a life-threatening or terminal disease," said Amanda Anschutz, the nonprofit's president. "Things like cancer, ALS, Parkinson's, end-stage renal failure, COPD, congestive heart failure and MS (multiple sclerosis)."

The couple launched Compassion Delivered after Amanda Anschutz shared with her husband that she had been supporting a nonprofit meal ministry in Denver where her cousin works.

"We just started asking a lot of questions and there wasn't any nonprofit in the state of Ohio, let alone anywhere close," she said. "There's one in Philadelphia, one in Atlanta and one in Denver. So in January 2017, we officially formed Compassion Delivered. ... This was when we met with the hospitals and we were told at the time that 2,200 people could benefit from this program. Today, that number is well over 16,000 people who could benefit from this."

The couple initially prepared meals in their own kitchen. Daniel Anschutz is a private chef and owner of Meals by Chef Daniel.

"Our kitchen is, like, super tiny," Amanda Anschutz said. "And so the first year we were really quiet. We didn't tell a lot of people what we were doing because we wanted to make sure we had a viable program because the people that we're serving don't have time for us to get it wrong."

Compassion Delivered sees massive growth

In 2018, the ministry moved to Westminster Community Church in Canton. With more space, the couple were able to serve more people.

"In the beginning, it was like 10 to 15 people," Amanda Anschutz said. "Right after COVID hit, we ended up experiencing a pretty catastrophic situation at the church. They had a gas leak, and so we had to move out of there immediately, and Evermore Church offered their kitchen."

Daniel Anschutz oversees two shifts of volunteer cooks at the church each Monday.

"The funny part about that is we said, 'Oh, we'll figure like, you know, three or six months tops,'" his wife recalled. "We're still here today, and because of that move we've basically quadrupled the amount of people over the last four years that we've been able to help."

Compassion Delivered is funded through private donations and grants from organizations like the Sisters of Charity Foundation and the Austin-Bailey Health & Wellness Foundation.

Evermore Church recently added storage space to accommodate Compassion Delivered's nine freezers that store the food. Meals are home-delivered on Fridays.

"There's one to three servings per entrée and then there's 26 ounces of homemade soup," Amanda Anschutz said. "One of the things to remember is that when somebody is pretty sick, they're not eating a normal meal like you and I would eat, so portions are a lot smaller so they can get a lot more meals out of those servings and we're not wasting (food)."

The couple said that in addition to Daniel Anschutz's expertise, they also consult with medical experts and dieticians. Everything made is low-sodium. The food is purchased from Northern Haserot, a wholesaler in Cleveland.

Compassion Delivered has 150 volunteers

Daniel Anschutz, a Columbus native who graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, said he most enjoys being able to use his talents to help others. Prior to starting his own business three years ago, he was an executive chef at Shady Hollow and Glenmoor country clubs, and at Table 6 restaurant.

"I like that I can take my skills and use them for somebody else," he said.

Compassion Delivered's 150 volunteers include the husband of their first client, who has since died.

They also include Haley Seifert, who became a volunteer and board member after meeting Amanda Anschutz in 2021 through a mutual friend. She already knew Daniel Anschutz through his work as a chef.

"We went to a Canal Fulton Chamber meeting one day where she was speaking ... so I got to hear her speak and fell in love with the mission," Seifert recalled. "I started volunteering, helping in the kitchen. We all know somebody who has been through (serious illness). We're giving them the gift of time because they don't have to worry about fixing meal."

Seifert said Compassion Delivered has a three-year strategic plan to gradually increase its reach. In 2021, it distributed 10,000 meals. That figure increased to 20,000 meals in 2022, and 40,000 by September 2023.

10,000 and counting: Compassion Delivered hits milestone providing meals for families of seriously ill

"We want to be sustainable," she explained. "The board is really working hard to make sure that we can sustain ourselves for years to come, and Evermore has been a huge help."

Plans also include eventually acquiring a building.

"There will never not be a need for what we do," Amanda Anschutz said.

Compassion Delivered's volunteers also decorate delivery bags and create encouragement cards for recipients.

The couple said running Compassion Delivered is a labor of love.

"It is a true honor to walk with somebody when they're dealing with the most difficult news of their life," Amanda Anschutz said. "We want people to know they haven't been forgotten."

To learn more, visit www.compassiondelivered.org; call 330-575-0996 or 330-354-5398; or email Amanda Anschutz at amanda@compassiondelivered.org.

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Compassion Delivered hits 50,000th free meal at Evermore Church