Food bank in Valley gets grant to expand

Staff report

Youngstown

Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley was awarded a $15,000 grant Friday to expand its mobile food pantry into rural areas of the Valley.

The grant is one of 14 awarded to food banks in the country by ConAgra Foods.

Through the grant, Second Harvest will increase service to Lake Milton, Goshen and Ellsworth in Mahoning County and Mesopotamia Township in Trumbull County for up to the next year and a half, said Mike Iberis, the Second Harvest executive director.

He said because many of the sites that have food pantries are in churches, rural areas, which have fewer churches, often are underserved.

Urban populations have more opportunity, Iberis said. “The rural areas have less population and less opportunity.”

He said the grant will support nutritional counseling by Youngstown State University’s Students in Free Enterprise, a program designed to get college students more involved in their communities.

Iberis said poverty in rural parts of the Valley is equivalent to that in urban centers, where 1 in 6 live in poverty and nearly 50 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced lunches.

“Second Harvest offers much needed support in our communities, and we are proud to continue our association with them through this grant,” Karen Evans, senior director of sales at ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston, said in a statement. “We are very pleased the grant will help families in the Youngstown area prepare nutritious meals, and develop healthier lifestyles.” Second Harvest services 153 pantry sites in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and 13,000 people a week, Iberis said.

With the expansion of service that begins in January, Iberis is not sure how many more people Second Harvest will serve.

“We won’t know the increase until we get up there and start the pantry,” Iberis said.

ConAgra Foods, one of the country’s largest food companies, awarded $223,500 in grants this year.