Wednesday, Oct. 30, will mark the two-year anniversary of the opening of the Sandusky County Food Pantry in its new location, rented space in the rear of the Share and Care building on Bidwell Avenue.
The move to the site along the Sandusky River was prompted by the sale of the previous location.
That building was a longtime home for many volunteers.
Made available by Lyla Avers, who had been named Citizen of the Year by the Sandusky County Chamber of Commerce because of her generosity and community involvement, the building had been the home of Noftz and Avers Embroidering on South Granville for years before becoming available to the pantry.
Some of those same volunteers who called that building home for years, pitched in for months during 2017 — cleaning, demolishing, rebuilding and painting the rear area of the former A&P building. With an early helping hand from local Boy Scouts, the job was completed in time to open Oct. 30, 2017.
The food pantry has been serving Sandusky County residents for a lot longer than that, however.
The pantry was started in 1975 by the Ministerial Association, which called a meeting of representatives from several churches with the goal of providing a place where food could be distributed in response to need.
In the beginning, the food donations were stored in the basement of Burger Chef on the east side and given out by Rudy Sprenger, Burger King franchise owner. Joe Amann was the pantry’s first president.
When there was no longer enough room for the pantry at Burger Chef, the pantry moved to 612 Napoleon St. behind Linder’s Barber Shop. This was the beginning of the need for regular volunteers to man the pantry in the afternoons, Monday through Friday.
A move downstairs at the barber shop proved to be difficult for the senior citizen volunteers and the pantry found a home on South Granville.
In the more than 40 years that the pantry has been in existence, times have changed.
There are now more than 80 volunteers filling a variety of duties, from purchasing perishable foodstuffs daily to serving clients each weekday afternoon. Several churches remain actively involved and supportive and the community has been generous in support of the pantry’s efforts to help those in need.
That’s a good thing.
In 1977, the year the pantry became a registered non-profit, 1,473 people were helped with enough food for 13,777 meals. At the current pace, the pantry will serve about 10,000 people, more than 200,000 meals this year.
Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965 as a reporter. Now retired, he writes a column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.
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