LUCAS, Ohio – Approximately 700 people from Lucas and its surrounding communities receive food every month from the Lucas Area Food Pantry, according to pantry directors Jan and Bill Grubaugh.
To help make sure people in the Lucas area don’t go hungry, Meijer selected the local pantry to participate in a partnership that will more easily provide relief to those in need.
Simply Give, a customer-driven donation program through the Michigan-based retailer, helps restock the shelves of more than 200 pantries in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Wisconsin during each of its campaigns.
“We were contacted and asked if we wanted to be a part of their Simply Give campaign this year,” said Jan Grubaugh, who added that the selection process consisted of two interviews.
The Lucas Area Food Pantry, which is currently located in the basement of Mount Zion Lutheran Church at 4065 Mount Zion Road in Lucas, gives food to about 200 families – about 6,300 meals in total– each month.
The cost to provide those meals runs between $780 and $1,300 monthly.
To aid the pantry in its goal, the Simply Give program is encouraging donors to pick up Simply Give cards – the campaign’s driving donation force – from Meijer in Ontario, which is located at 1355 N. Lexington-Springmill Road. Once acquired, the donations are converted into food-only Meijer gift cards that the pantry will use toward stocking its shelves.
The cards, which are reusable, are good for $10 incremental donations. The campaign runs through Sept. 12.
In addition to getting the cards from Meijer, people may pick them up from six Lucas-area churches, including Mount Zion Lutheran Church, Pleasant Valley Lutheran Church, Grace Bible Church, Little Washington Congregational Church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church or Lucas Foursquare Church. All six churches are members of the Lucas Area Ministerial Association.
“Meijer really wanted us … because 97 to 98 percent of our donations, the money that we have, goes to food,” Jan Grubaugh said.
The rest of the money goes to essential items such as nametags for volunteers and tape, she said.
The pantry receives most of its food from the Cleveland Food Bank, of which it is a partner, but some items, such as diapers and fruit, are expensive and available on a limited basis.
Now, with Simply Give, Jan Grubaugh said the pantry will be able to get some of those needed items at Meijer, which matches each donation 100 percent.
“Then on Sept. 3 through the 5, they’ll double match it,” she said. “So you’re $10 donation will be worth $30, or a $100 donation will be worth $300.”
Meijer doesn’t require a purchase to donate.
“I think this is a really good program for Meijer,” Jan Grubaugh said. “It shows that they really care about the community and the people.”
Since its inception in 2008, Simply Give has generated more than $16 million for food pantries, and it will contribute at least $1 million this year.
“This program offers the food pantries to have choices on what foods are best suited for their clients and their communities,” said Meijer spokeswoman Christina Fecher, adding that all the money raised stays local and goes to the food pantries.
To select participants, Fecher said Meijer works with its 222 stores to identify pantries in their communities that they can work with.
“We do that three times a year,” she said. “So we ask that each of our stores have a small list of food pantries that they can work with that are really working hard to feed the families in their communities.”
Last year, Meijer’s Ontario location donated more than $100,000 for the Simply Give campaign between four local pantries.
The Lucas Area Food Pantry, which was established in 2009, always accepts donations, and the Grubaughs said many local gardeners bring in produce for the pantry. Produce from the Lucas Community Garden also is given to the pantry.
“One family in Lucas, they have a Halloween party, and they have people bring canned goods for us,” Jan Grubaugh said.
In 2014, the Lucas Are Food Pantry was awarded Pantry of the Year by the Cleveland Food Bank.
“Our program is set up so that we give each member of each family three meals for three days,” Bill Grubaugh said. “So if there are nine in your family, you multiply that by three for three days, and that’s how we total the amount of meals that’re given out.”
The Lucas pantry averages 140 volunteers of all ages for each distribution, Jan Grubaugh said, totaling about 540 volunteers each month. Distributions are on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month and the recipients of the food are confidential.
“We started in 2009, and at that time, I think we had 30 families,” she added. “Now we’ve grown to 200, so the need is there – it’s a great need.”
The Lucas Area Ministerial Association started the pantry.
“I think this is the most wonderful undertaking that this area has ever taken on, and our purpose would be that someday everything heals up and gets better so food pantries didn’t have to exist,” Bill Grubaugh said. “We don’t believe in giving a hand-down, we believe in giving a hand-up.”
Possibly as soon as spring, the Lucas Area Food Pantry will move to the Lucas Community Center, which is in the former Liquid building on West Main Street in Lucas.
For information on the Lucas Area Food Pantry or the Simply Give program, visit www.lucasareafoodpantry.com. If interested in donating, a check can made out to Mount Zion Lutheran Church with “Simply Give” on the memo line instead of going to Meijer.
“I think this is the most wonderful undertaking that this area has ever taken on, and our purpose would be that someday everything heals up and gets better so food pantries didn’t have to exist,” Bill Grubaugh said. “We don’t believe in giving a hand-down, we believe in giving a hand-up.”
