Food insecurity continues to rise in Medina County, as thousands of people continue to experience unemployment or underemployment due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our community has been exceptionally generous in supporting our mission during these times. It is critical that we do more to serve our entire community,” said Feeding Medina County’s new Executive Director, Katy Fuerst.
Feeding Medina County, a hunger-relief partner within the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s network, already works to provide monthly food distributions at the Medina Fairgrounds every third Thursday of the month from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. However, Fuerst and her team often receive calls after these distributions from families who missed the community-wide distribution.
“Many people have called and said that they couldn’t get to Medina from the southern and western parts of the county, or that the time didn’t work with their schedules,” said Fuerst. “We knew that we had to offer an alternative.”
Thankfully for the team at Feeding Medina County, there were organizations ready to help. Nathan Eppink, Director of Medina County Park District, reached out to Fuerst earlier this year to let her know that the Park District was eager to find ways to partner and serve more people. At a meeting with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, Fuerst and her team learned from CEO Dan Flowers that one of their goals for the year is to provide more service in Medina County.
Eppink and his team suggested the Hidden Hollow Camp in Lodi, which would allow Feeding Medina County enough space to distribute food in the southwestern part of the county. Flowers’ team at the Foodbank reviewed the space and agreed that the park would work for a community distribution.
Beginning April 1, 2021, Feeding Medina County will host community-wide, drive-through food distributions in conjunction with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. These will be held on the first Thursday of each month from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at the Medina County Park District’s Hidden Hollow Camp, located at 8672 Richman Road in Lodi.
