Food pantry box moved to Buckeye Street Garden

When the pandemic first hit and businesses closed, families facing financial uncertainties in Wooster had a new option to receive some free food: a food box in front of The Locksmith Shop on Bowman Avenue.

The free food pantry box filled with staples had become a fixture in the neighborhood — until recently when it needed to be moved. A note placed on the box informed neighbors it would soon be removed.

The decision, along with the note, set a lot of things in motion. Joel Yoder of The Locksmith Shop reached out to Richard Frazier, executive director of the Wooster Hope Center, to see what could be done.

With the Bowman Avenue location going away, Frazier initially thought about moving the food pantry box to Daybreak Community Church, where he serves as the pastor. The Nold Avenue location was only a couple of blocks away, but he was happy to see it could remain in the neighborhood.

People also started reaching out to Matt Allen of the Wooster Community Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that fills the box that was originally installed by Brad Young, the former owner of The Locksmith Shop.

David Griffith, who spearheads The Buckeye Street Neighborhood group, was another who was receiving messages from people concerned about the community asset going away.

Frazier reached out to Griffith to ask if the box could be placed in the Buckeye Street Garden. Griffith was more than willing to have the food pantry brought to the park and worked with Tom Ewing and the trustees of Central Christian Church, the owner of the property, to make the move a reality.

“They gave us their blessing and some of the materials” needed for the installation of the food box, Griffith said.

Frazier grew up on Buckeye Street in the same house where Griffith and his family have lived since 1999. The street has seen a lot of change over the years, and Frazier said Griffith has helped spark a transformation in the neighborhood.

Frazier and Griffith were not alone in wanting the box to stay close to the original location. Allen wanted it too.

“It’s closer to downtown, and it is in a nice central location,” Allen said of the new site. “We have seen a huge uptick at a nearby church; we knew this one was getting heavily used.”

How everything fell together is illustrative of how the Wooster Hope Center operates.

“I’m very thankful for The Locksmith Shop,” Frazier said, adding many people think the Wooster Hope Center or Wooster Community Kitchen installed the box. They did not — it was an organic effort by Young after he saw a news report of one of these mini food pantry boxes being placed in a Northeast Ohio community.

“We partner with others to make a difference in the community,” Frazier said. “We do it because we love the people. It’s not just about Wooster; it’s about Wayne County.”

After Allen’s work with the Wooster Community Kitchen was featured in the news, Frazier reached out to him to see if the Wooster Hope Center could supply food for the boxes.

Anyone in need of food, regardless of income, can get food from the mini food pantry on Buckeye Street, south of Bowman, or the other 16 boxes around the county. Anyone who wants to leave food can do so, but the food must be nonperishable.

The Wooster Hope Center offers the Greater Wayne County Food Pantry weekly on Wednesdays from noon to 3 p.m., Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon at its location at 807 Spruce St. on Wooster’s south end.