Commissioners award $1.5 million in ARPA funds for food, seniors

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday awarded $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to two agencies helping senior citizens and those short of food. The board unanimously approved a three-year, $1 million grant to the Lorain County Office on Aging to serve Lorain County senior citizens facing food insecurity and needing in-home support, and $500,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio to feed Lorain County residents. Julie Chase-Morefield, president and CEO of Second Harvest, and Ron Cocco, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Second Harvest Board of Directors, thanked commissioners for the grant. It will help provide food and services to students in eight school districts, families who use 59 food pantries and 28 hot meal programs in Lorain County, as well as child food programs and holiday food programs. Second Harvest has seen a 30 percent decline in food supplies since January, and is serving 40 percent more people in Lorain County than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic: 45,000 unduplicated people were served in Lorain County between January and May, Chase-Morefield said. The food bank distributes in Lorain, Crawford, Erie and Huron counties, but 60 percent to 65 percent of that is in Lorain County, she said. The federal government, food manufacturers and retail grocers have reduced what they are giving to local food banks, Chase-Morefield said. "We're deeply concerned where the food declines have come from," she said. Donations of frozen meat in particular have dropped to "almost nothing," she said. Chase-Morefield said shoppers can see there is less meat, less poultry and fewer supplies on store shelves, in addition to fewer packaging supplies. Suppliers are reporting worker shortages and higher gas and transportation costs. Second Harvest typically spends $600,000 annually on buying food to fill gaps not taken care of with donations. Its proposed 2023 food purchasing budget, which will go before its board of directors in July, is $1.9 million. Other challenges include an ongoing avian flu that resulted in the death or destruction of tens of thousands of chickens, and egg prices doubling, she said. A veteran of the food bank industry for 20 years, Chase-Morefield said she's "never seen anything like this before." "People are in need more than ever before," she said, but "we'll leave no stone unturned. … We'll continue to do everything we can to have food in the warehouse." The Ohio Association of Foodbanks has asked Gov. Mike DeWine for $50 million in funding for the 12 Ohio food banks associated with the Feeding American program, Chase-Morefield said. Lauren Ksiazek, executive director of the Lorain County Office on Aging, said 25 percent of Lorain County's population is over age 60, and the agency has been having "to turn away more people than we are serving." "It's so important that we provide the assistance our seniors need," she said. Ksiazek said she plans to use the money to improve transportation for seniors to doctor's appointments by buying a second wheelchair-accessible vehicle. There are "not a lot of options" for senior transportation in Lorain County, "and the options there are, are unaffordable," she said. The money also will help the agency replace aging shelves, freezers and refrigerators used to store food for its senior food program, to modify seniors' homes with grab bars and railings for safety, and to upgrade technology in the agency's office, Ksiazek said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.