More than food at pantry - Morning Journal News

More than food at pantry - Morning Journal News

LISBON — A recently opened food pantry in Lisbon is giving area residents job training and more food options to choose from, including food for their pets.

Marti Grimm of the Community Action Agency’s new Healthier Buckeye Food Pantry spoke Wednesday as apart of a ribbon cutting ceremony about the new program which is offering options for everyone needing food, including those on gluten free, reduced salt or sugar free diets. Grimm said there is even help in providing people with recipes to help them learn ways to make tasty dishes despite limited diets.

People get a chance to shop at the food pantry, getting a chance to get choose what foods their families prefer. Included in the offerings is fresh produce and venison, which is being provided through the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.

The Healthier Buckeye Food Pantry is also a job training site through the Ohio Means Jobs organization. People can learn job skills stocking shelves and delivering food. The Columbiana County Municipal Court has been sending those needing community service hours to also help out at the food pantry.

Blackwood Pet Foods of Lisbon has been making donations as well, giving people a chance to feed their pets.

The program began with a grant through the Healthier Buckeye Grant Pilot Program. The Healthier Buckeye Pilot Grant program runs through June 30, 2017, and the local partners are working together to identify funding opportunities and resources to sustain this much needed program in Columbiana County.

The organizations are striving to make the program self sustaining. Community organizations and schools are encouraged to donate to the food pantry, either food or money which can be used to purchase fresh produce for the program. The Lisbon and Crestview schools have already collected food items and donated them to the pantry.

During Wednesday’s ribbon cutting the partners of the project were recognized, a litany of local agencies including the Columbiana County Commissioners, the Columbiana County Family and Children First Council, the Educational Service Center, the Mahoning County Training Association and the Columbiana County Department of Job and Family Services.

Since opening the pantry on Oct. 11, the pantry has served 655 unduplicated families from all areas of Columbiana County.