Wooster Hope Center, Meijer join to fight hunger

The Wooster Hope Center, Wayne County’s largest food pantry, has been selected to participate in the Meijer Simply Give winter campaign to combat hunger and provide relief to Wayne County families.

“We appreciate partnering with Meijer again to help our families who face food insecurity,” Wooster Hope Center Executive Director Richard Frazier said. “Inflation combined with pandemic-related food programs ending has created a challenge for Wayne County families.”

The additional support comes at a good time for the food pantry. Wooster Hope Center volunteers served around 850 families with food assistance over the Christmas holiday, Frazier said.

The Meijer Simply Give campaign feeds hungry families by replenishing the shelves of more than 260 food pantries in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The program encourages customers to grab a $10 Simply Give donation card, which is then converted into a Meijer food-only gift card and given to a local food pantry in the store’s community.

The initiative runs through March 30, and the Wooster Hope Center will benefit from donation card purchases. The donation cards also are available to Meijer’s online shoppers, using Meijer pickup or home delivery.

Meijer has Double Match Days on March 2 and 23, where every $10 donation will be matched by Meijer with an additional $20, tripling the impact of each donation.

“We appreciate Meijer supporting us and making it easier for the community to support the Wooster Hope Center too,” Frazier said.

The growing need of families in Wayne County is similar to the findings of a 2023 statewide study of hunger in Ohio, Frazier said.

About 80% of people seeking the assistance of food pantries like the Wooster Hope Center do so because of higher food costs. Nearly 40% of respondents to the survey said they will have to rely on food banks more often.

“What’s special about the Meijer Simply Give program is each contribution stays local and directly impacts neighborhood food pantries to help feed families in need,” said Melissa Conway, director of community partnerships and giving at Meijer.

Since 2008 more than $86 million has been distributed to food pantries across the Midwest to feed neighbors in need through the Simply Give program, according to Conway.

The Wooster Hope Center provides food to hundreds of families weekly through its food pantry, open Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m., Thursday from 6-8 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon at 807 Spruce St.

The Wooster Hope Center also partners with Wooster Community Kitchen to stock local food boxes around the county and the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank for the food it distributes to families at no cost to them.