PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio - The Parma Heights Food Pantry will be hosting its last produce giveaway at 9 a.m. Oct. 7 behind City Hall. The event will be open while supplies last. Recipients should bring their own bags.
"The first Saturday of every month we have a produce giveaway that's free to anybody that shows up," Parma Heights Food Pantry founder Ann George said. "They don't have to live in Parma Heights. We usually get between 400 and 500 people."
Parma Heights Mayor Michael P. Byrne added, "We wholeheartedly support the wonderful work being done by Ann George and everyone involved with the Parma Heights Food Pantry. They truly make a difference for the residents of our community."
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank parks a semi-truck packed with a ton of food behind City Hall. George said they never know what the donated produce will be; however, in the past the Parma Heights Food Pantry has received potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peppers and corn.
In addition to vegetables, George said there's usually donated bread. Also, Walgreens will be on hand offering flu shots.
"It's open to anybody," George said. "Now, if they come to the Pantry, they have to live in Parma Heights or attend church in Parma Heights. But I don't turn anybody away.
"We've had people come on a Thursday evening because we're one of the only ones open. We had an East Cleveland woman ride three buses last week."
Located at 6369 Pearl Road behind Samosky's Bakery, the Parma Heights Food Pantry is open 9 a.m. to noon Mondays, 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays. George, who opened the Pantry in 2007, said more than 300 families visit per month.
"The food is all donated," George said. "We go down to the Food Bank every Wednesday and get about a ton of food. Some of it we have to pay for, some of it is free. We get donations from different restaurants and individuals.
"We also get donations from people who have had some kind of a ticket and instead of having to pay a fine they have to bring us food. We just received 100 cans of fruit from a young man who got a traffic violation."
The Parma Heights Food Pantry is called a choice pantry because it's set up like a grocery store allowing visitors to choose the items they need for their families. A volunteer will pack up the goods.
"We recently started doing something different regarding meat," George said. "We used to bag it up and just hand it to the families, but now what we've been doing is having frozen meat in plastic containers where they can pick out what they want.
"What we're finding is we have different nationalities coming to the pantry and we have some folks that like a particular kind of meat and others don't even know what it is."
In addition to food, the Parma Heights Food Pantry boasts a clothing room where racks are set aside for people job hunting. There's also clothing for kids.
"You should see how excited the kids get when they come in and can pick out their own clothes," George said.
