Second Harvest set to launch Holiday Cheer campaign

Second Harvest is launching its annual Holiday Cheer campaign as the food bank works to address increasing food needs. President Julie Chase-Morefield said the holidays are always a difficult time for people, and there's usually an uptick in need around this time. But this year, with a pandemic on top of the holidays, agency officials are anticipating it to be even worse. "I don't think there's ever been a year where this has been more important," she said. Holiday Cheer raises funds for Second Harvest to feed local families in need during the holiday season. Second Harvest, Burger King and WOBL/WDLW team up each year to combine resources and raise money to provide the meals. At Burger King, people can buy a coupon for 25 cents, or buy five coupons for $1. The coupons are redeemable for free products at Burger King. For every $1, five meals can be provided. Over the 36 years, the campaign has provided almost 5.5 million meals with nearly $1.2 million raised. Since the pandemic began in March, Second Harvest has served about 44,000 different families through its multicounty network. Chase-Morefield said that amounts to about 10.5 million pounds of food. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, those numbers are expected to continue to increase. At Burger King, handing out coupons to support Second Harvest is going to be a little different this year. Elizabeth Hanson, director of training with Burger King, said it's going to be more challenging with dining rooms closing earlier due to COVID-19. Hanson said the dining rooms close at 4 p.m., which means Burger King will have to rely more on drive-thru sales of coupons. "I've always been up for a challenge," she said. "We'll keep smiles on our faces and do the best that we can to try to help with the need that's out in the community. Any little bit that we can do, we're going to be happy to come and join forces and make this a successful year." WOBL/WDLW will continue to promote Holiday Cheer over its airwaves with stories of people who have either benefited from the help or who have donated. Doug Wilber, station owner, said that people who have never been in a position to need food or need some help may not realize how important the campaign is. "It can happen to anybody," he said. "It's happened to a lot of people who had that same thought — that it would never happen to me." Chase-Morefield said Second Harvest is still seeing people at food distributions who have never had to use the service before. Second Harvest has been relying mostly on the Ohio National Guard to pack and distribute food. The orders allowing the soldiers' help are set to expire on Dec. 16 and, with coronavirus numbers increasing, finding volunteers is difficult. Many of Second Harvest's volunteers have been older, which is a higher-risk community for the virus. If the National Guard's time isn't extended, Chase-Morefield said Second Harvest probably will have to reduce the number of distributions it does. To prepare for that possibility, she said the agency is trying to connect families to area food pantries that Second Harvest supplies. The usual breakfast kickoff event for Holiday Cheer won't happen this year, but Hanson said organizers are hoping people who usually went to the breakfast still give. Chase-Morefield said fundraising campaigns this year have been all over the place — they either do really well or not as great. With Holiday Cheer, the goal is to do as best as possible given the many changes. "I do think the community will come through for us," Chase-Morefield said. "We remain really hopeful that the community will support this and see the value with what's happening at all the food pantries in the county. We're hopeful but we know it's a challenging year for a lot of people." Holiday Cheer will begin Monday and end on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.