Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio

Mission Statement: To grow hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food. Vision Statement: Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio will strive to create a brighter future for all by cultivating a healthy, hunger-free community. In our 40-year history, Second Harvest has helped to feed over 153M meals to families throughout Crawford, Erie, Huron, and Lorain counties, which is over 183M lbs of food. In 1982, a community coalition led by Dr. Jeptha Carrell, Evan and Eric Nord, the Community Foundation of Lorain County, and the Nord Family Foundation was created to address the issue of hunger in the community. As a result, Second Harvest was established as a temporary hunger-relief program in a Vermilion storefront in 1982. In June of 2015, we began our operations in the new Nordson Food Distribution Center which expanded our capacity by nearly two and half times allowing us to house nearly three-quarters of a million pounds of food and grocery products at any given time as we work with over 100 partner charities. Sources of food include federal and state food commodities, national Feeding America donations, local donations from retailers, growers, and manufacturers, and products purchased through wholesalers.

Second Harvest distributes food to over 100 partner charities in our region, including food pantries, hot meal programs, shelters, and children and senior nutrition programs. We address senior hunger through our Senior Box Program, help clients to access SNAP benefits, provide nutrition education, and expand into under-served communities through Mobile Pantries. Second Harvest also instituted the Child Hunger Initiative, which works to solve child and family hunger by partnering with schools through a combination of programmatic efforts aimed at children. Families at participating schools can attend a monthly, mobile food pantry held at the school's location.