Feeding Medina County outlines outcome of council donation

Community NewsJanet Newcomer of Feeding Medina County thanked Medina Council for their $50,000 donation last year.Emily Canning-Dean, Special to Cleveland.comBy Emily Canning-Dean, special to cleveland.comMEDINA, Ohio – Nearly a year ago council voted to donate $50,000 to Feeding Medina County in an effort to help Medina residents facing food insecurity and officials from the organization said the donation had a positive effect. “We operate five different programs at Feeding Medina County, and we used the funds you gave us to support four of them,” said Janet Newcomer, executive director at Feeding Medina County. Newcomer attended an Oct. 26 council meeting to share with council how their donation had been used over the last year. “Through some of our programs, we count the people we serve and through others we count the families but not necessarily the number of people in each family,” Newcomer said. “For those programs where we count individual people, your donation served 2,820 individuals and through those programs where we count families, your funds served an additional 1,400 families.” Newcomer said a majority of the money was used to fund direct distributions for Medina residents which took place in December and April. She also thanked members of council and administration for volunteering at the two distribution dates. MORE BY EMILY CANNING-DEAN“Some of the funds also went to our emergency pantry,” she said. “This is when people contact us if they weren’t able to get to a direct distribution or life circumstances caused them to be out of food when it isn’t a distribution day. They call ahead and we provide them with bags of groceries.” Newcomer said funds also supported the home delivery program which provides food assistance for individuals who aren’t able to drive and the funds also supported the Staples for Seniors program which provides food for individuals living at senior living facilities. “So, you can see your dollars stretched across the city helping children, seniors and city residents,” she said. “On behalf of all of these folks I give you a sincere and heartfelt thank you.”