TOLEDO, Ohio — One in seven people in Ohio are struggling with hunger, according to Feeding America. Additionally, one in five children are hungry and while food pantries and school meals are able to help many families, sometimes it's not enough. This is especially true during the summer months and is why the Facebook page, Help Feed Toledo Area, has become essential for so many.
Barb Kovacs, organizer and creator of the page, has been running the page for almost eight years. She says it started from a small group looking for help and grew into more because the goal is to make sure that no one goes hungry.
"I feel bad when people don't have a dinner. That's my problem," Kovacs said
There's a pantry closet at Gateway Baptist Church, which Kovacs keeps full while working a full-time job and trying to keep area residents full. It has more than just food, carrying items like tennis shoes, toiletries and diapers.
"If they are hurting for food. They're going hurt for-like a trickle effect-other things," Kovacs said.
The goal is to offer hand-ups, not hand-outs, to those in need. She takes her van and travels to areas to collect food as well as give out donations. The reason she's kept doing this for so long is the response from the community.
"They say, 'Oh I use your resources all the time. I ate dinner because of the page.' Because of the pantry list," Kovacs said.
That list is help filled by church members like Deborah Korakas, who has been a church member since the late 1990s and a proud community volunteer in her own right; she's beyond happy to help the pantry when needed.
"I feel I'm a part of it and I love being a part of something, something good," Korakas said. "If there's someone in need that I know of that's not been able to come in and sign up, I package the food and take it to them directly."
Kovacs said there is no waitlist or requirements to get assistance from the mobile pantry, you just have to be in need and visit the Facebook page, according to Kovacs.