Food drive to help local families begins just as contributions are delivered to Kentucky

Just as one successful drive to help people in need wraps up, another is getting started.

On Monday, Deb Pinion reported that items collected here to help tornado victims in Mayfield, Kentucky, had been delivered. On the same day, the team that organized last year's successful Martin Luther King Jr. Day food drive to help local charities announced they plan to collect items again this year, starting immediately.

Last year's drive by the Crawford County Democratic Central Committee and the Mid-Ohio Progressives was connected with both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Biden inauguration, part of a statewide effort by the Ohio Democratic Party, explained Lisa Miller, a member of the latter group.

"Last year, we had carloads of stuff, so that was cool," Miller said. Because of that success, the groups decided to do another drive this year.

"When you look up the original Martin Luther King Day, when Congress actually made it a federal holiday, the day of service was actually supposed to be a part of that," Miller said. "I think that's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle. Some people do it, but a lot of people see it as a day off, as many Monday holidays are. But people really contributed. It was not seen as a political thing; we got a lot of donations. I think all three food banks were very grateful."

The groups will collect nonperishable food items, personal hygiene products and cleaning supplies for donation to the Salvation Army in Bucyrus, Crestline Assistance and Ministries Program, and Ohio Heartland Community Action in Galion.

Some items are considered real treats

Miller passed along some suggestions from the three charities:

• Canned foods should be pop tops if possible.

• Tea bags, coffee, salt, pepper and other spices, sugar and flour, tuna crackers, cake mix and frosting are considered real treats at the food pantries. Peanut butter is a nutritious staple.

• Dishwashing detergent and feminine hygiene products are appreciated as both can be expensive.

• Pet food also will be collected.

In an effort to maintain social distancing, organizers are asking that items be dropped off on porches at the following homes through Jan. 16: Lisa Miller, 800 Rogers St.; Jean Bodkins, 131 S. Jefferson St., Galion; and Carolyn Helbert, 949 N. Henry St., Crestline.

"They don't have to ring the bell, necessarily," Miller said. "They just need to drop it off, and we'll grab it."

Porches will be checked frequently, particularly in bad weather, she said.

Items also will be accepted at the Crawford County Democratic Party's Central Committee meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the county engineer's office, 815 Whetstone St., and at Mid-Ohio Progressives' meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Bucyrus Public Library.

'A little bit of everything'

Last year's drive collected "literally hundreds if not thousands of items," Miller said. "I'm talking everything from dog food to birthday cake mixes. Salt, pepper, and the usual cans of beans. Some people clean out their cupboards; some people go to the dollar store and get a whole container of food.

"It was a little bit of everything, but that's what people need. Especially the working poor, I think. You think that people that go to the food banks are homeless, etc., but I think a lot of the working poor really appreciate what the local organizations can provide for them."

Items will be delivered to the charities on Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For details, contact Wanda Sharrock at 419-689-3302, or Miller at 419-569-2346.

Donations delivered to Mayfield, Kentucky

The drive comes on the heels of an effort to collect items for victims of a massive tornado outbreak that hit western Kentucky on Dec. 10.

So many items were for tornado victims during the two-day drive last week, it wouldn't all fit in the pickup organizers planned to use to deliver them to Kentucky. On Dec. 28, Pinion put out a call on social media, seeking someone who could provide a trailer and driver to make the delivery.

The driver, who asked to remain anonymous, donated all the boxes and labels as well as time and fuel, she said.

He left at 10 p.m. Sunday and at 8 a.m. Monday was first in line at the drop-off site at the Graves County Fairground in Kentucky.

"It took 10 minutes for eight National Guardsmen to unload using wheelbarrows," Pinion said in an email Monday. "They were blown away at the amount sent by a little town 10 hours away in Ohio."

The two towns are roughly 500 miles apart.

Pinion said in addition to the load of supplies, she was able to send more than $2,500 in cash, checks and gift cards to Christian Appalachian Project in Lexington, Kentucky, to distribute to tornado victims around and in Mayfield. The organization sent volunteers to Bucyrus to help after flooding in 2007, she added.

The driver told her he didn't see much damage on the way down because it was dark, but was shocked by what he saw on the return trip, Pinion said.

"He called me when he was 50 miles from Mayfield coming back and he said the destruction was complete," she said.

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Second MLK Day food drive will benefit three Crawford County charities