As need for food increases, Second Harvest and National Guard work to distribute (VIDEOS)

LORAIN — A line of cars wound around Broadway to Black River Landing for food as Second Harvest, partnered with the National Guard, handed out prepacked boxes of goods. As the line grew longer, a second truck from Second Harvest pulled up with more boxes of food. Julie Chase-Morefield, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio, said the number of cars was only a snapshot of the need the food bank has seen in the past couple weeks. Guard members wore masks and gloves as they packed up cars. Boxes upon boxes of food were at different stations along two aisles, so cars could drive through without anyone getting out. Gov. Mike DeWine ordered the Ohio National Guard on March 18 to deploy to 12 different food banks in the state. "Some of food pantries have closed because a lot of our volunteers are in the high-risk population," Chase-Morefield said. "... We are trying to absorb some of that need, but also we're seeing so many more people who are coming to the distributions. At all the distributions that we've done so far, in the last week and a half, at least half of the people have been new. That tells us that the need has literally doubled from what it normally is." Last week, the organization distributed 450,000 pounds of food. That's six times the amount it usually hands out in a week, Chase-Morefield said. Semi loads of food have been coming in everyday. It's been a "constant flow of food in and out," Chase-Morefield said. Between Monday and March 31, 18 truckloads of food are scheduled to come into the facility. On Monday, Second Harvest made the decision to lock down its facility in Lorain and not allow volunteers or visitors inside. Chase-Morefield said there normally are 3,000 different volunteers throughout the year. In the last two weeks, every volunteer group schedule was canceled. Most of the individuals who came in during the day were in the high-risk group, Chase-Morefield said. Essentially, she said the entire volunteer pool has been wiped out for now. There were 50 to 70 different people coming into the facility last week, Chase-Morefield said, but in order to protect the 25 staff members working, she shut down the building. Only staff members and Guard members have been allowed inside the warehouse. Fifteen Guard members who deployed out of Cleveland have been at Second Harvest since Monday, unloading semis, packing food and on Wednesday, distributing it to families. Commander of the 237 Brigade Support Battalion Greg Boyes said the Guard members volunteered to come out and serve the local food bank. "It's an extreme honor and privilege to serve the community we live in because 99 percent of these soldiers live in the greater Cleveland area," he said. "So, they're literally serving their co-workers, their neighbors, their relatives. It's a privilege to do this." "We can't say enough about what they've been able to do to increase our capacity and our ability just to be able to host this," Chase-Morefield said. "We wouldn't be able to do this without them." The need isn't likely to end anytime soon for Second Harvest. Chase-Morefield said she is looking at 12 to 18 months of a continued significant amount of need as people slowly get back into the workforce. Boyes said that many of the Guard members themselves don't know if they'll have a job once they are finished with the Guard assignment. But still, he said they jumped at the opportunity to serve. As cars drove through the line and drove off, drivers and passengers waved their hands out the window in a show of gratitude. "Anything the volunteers did, our soldiers are doing," Boyes said. "They are volunteers. ... It's awesome when you get people who want to do this." Contact Laina Yost (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com. Follow her on Twitter @MissLainaMae.