HILLIARD, Ohio — The Hilliard community is stepping up in big ways after a fire tore through a church building Sunday afternoon.
"One of the things we've seen is every time there's been a challenge the Hilliard community has rallied around us,” Kyle Koppenhoefer, board of directors’ president for the Hilliard Food Pantry, said. "There's been a lot of outreach from churches and from the Hilliard city government on ways that they can help."
The Norwich Township Fire Department and Hilliard Police Department are collecting dry goods as well as cash and check donations made payable to the Hilliard Food Pantry to support the nonprofit during this time.
"They serve our community in so many important ways, with the jobs they do day in and day out, fighting fires and policing crime," Koppenhoefer said. "It just means a great deal that we have such excellent fire and police support in our community."
While organizers make plans in the coming days, Koppenhoefer said they’re directing their patrons to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective to pick up whatever food they need. They serve about 400 families every week at the pantry. He said other community pantries may also be a good option depending on what zip code a family lives in.
"All of our food pantries serve specific zip codes. Now they may have a little more flex during this crisis time but that is one thing to keep in mind,” Koppenhoefer said.
Other organizations like Festa, a faith-based nonprofit, are also pitching in to help.
"We're all about feeding people who are food instable,” Kim Emsch, founder and executive director of Festa, said. "Lots of times, we're connecting with the same families, we're connecting people to their programs, they're connecting them to our programs, so we're trying to work together in the community."
Emsch said their summer lunch camp serves lunches to kids who need them, from kindergarten through 18 years old.
"We still have room," Emsch said. "We don't turn children away in the summer.”
Emsch said three locations are open Monday-Friday through July 31.
Festa is also creating a Google phone number for anyone to contact to get fresh produce from their community garden.
"We've set up this number so families can call there directly, and we'll arrange to get them that produce since again they can't stop at the food pantry right now,” Emsch said.
Koppenhoefer said they’re working as quickly as they can to figure out a temporary location to run the pantry.
"We will back in service as quickly as we possibly can," Koppenhoefer said. "Our purpose is to serve this community, and we will be doing that as quickly as we can, while also keeping our volunteers safe."
To donate directly to the Hilliard Food Pantry, go to hilliardfoodpantry.org/donate.html