DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – One of the main issues between the City of Dayton and With God’s Grace is what With God’s Grace warehouse space actually is.
It’s considered a food storage facility, but the city wants it to be zoned as a church or a community center.
“I drive 35 minutes to come and volunteer. We get our hugs from them and big thank-you’s. They appreciate it. That’s enough for me,” said Cheryl Arwood, a volunteer at With God’s Grace.
Being part of a good deed, makes Arwood feel wholesome.
With God’s Grace says they serve upwards of 500 families on any given Wednesday.
However, this Wednesday that could technically come to an end.
“They don’t want us to be able to do any mobile locations or do anything out of the 622 Springfield St warehouse,” said Nicole Adkins, the Executive Director of With God’s Grace
By “they” Adkins means the City of Dayton.
Adkins showed us written verification that the city was intially “OK” with the non-profit doing food pantry services from their building once a week.
According to Adkins, the city has been on a crusade to force With God’s Grace to make significant upgrades to the warehouse.
“The families that come to us are in need. A lot of them don’t get to the other pantry’s because they limit how many times they can go,” said Adkins.
Adkins was able to fight the requested upgrades, because again, the building is a food warehouse that has or at least HAD permission to feed the community once a week.
Adkins told the city they will hold a food bank on Wednesday, despite being told not to.
“I could go to jail tomorrow or I could end up in court. But I have to feed them. They call daily. My phone does not stop,” said Adkins.
The pantry has pumped out more food than ever before, especially after the Food For Less fire.
“This is not something that you can just put off and put on hold. And say, Hey I can’t feed you today because zoning doesn’t want us to feed you.”
2 NEWS reached out to Dayton officials and did not hear back.
Grab the FREE WDTN News App for iPhone or Android. Stay up to date with all the local news, weather and sports as well as live newscasts and events as they happen.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all the latest news, weather and sports.
