Recycling efforts to help local food pantry
Toronto Food Pantry toi benefit
Friday, January 16, 2009
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TORONTO - While more families are obtaining help from the Toronto Food Pantry, officials say they are not capable of meeting all of the requests they receive.
As a result, officials with Keep Jefferson County Beautiful are lending a hand.
"We are holding a paper drive to generate funding for the food pantry," explained Diane Julio, director of Keep Jefferson County Beautiful, which is an arm of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority.
Julio, also a Toronto councilwoman, said residents are being asked to bring any cardboard and paper, such as magazines, books, newspapers or boxes left over from Christmas, to a silver recycling truck that has been set up across the railroad tracks from the municipal building on Clark Street. The collection of the materials will run through the end of January, she noted.
Julio said in doing so, all of the proceeds raised through the recycling efforts will go to the food pantry.
She noted Mayor John Geddis was the first to donate recyclable papers from the city building toward the cause, which first began in December.
"What many people do not realize is the food pantry buys the food on its own," Julio said. "They really work hard to get extra for people. It's amazing how dedicated these people are."
Tom Devlin, director of the food pantry, stated officials were not able to afford turkeys for families this past Thanksgiving and Christmas, which was the first time in the food pantry's history that those in need did not receive a turkey or a voucher.
"This past distribution we had 195 families come out, which was 470 individuals," Devlin said. "It's a fairly expensive operation."
He explained donations are made by some area church parishioners, who "bring in food and support us faithfully so we can continue on in helping people." The local Boy Scouts also collect for the pantry once a year, Devlin said. "And we sure do appreciate that."
But the costs add up when buying additional food.
Some food is obtained through the Central Ohio Food Bank, but costs the pantry seven cents per can and three cents per pound to ship it to the area, according to Devlin.
He noted when he and Julio discussed having a recycling drive to help those in need, he "thought it was a great idea."
Julio said she hopes to raise a couple thousand dollars for the cause.
"They also need a new location because they are in such a small area inside a church basement," Julio said. The pantry is located inside the basement of the Abundant Life First Assembly of God Church.
For information, call (740) 283-8614.
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