Youngstown-Warren area moves into top 10 in effort to get $1M to fight hunger

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown-Warren area has jumped from 22nd to sixth place in the Walmart Facebook Fighting Hunger Together campaign.

If the residents of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties keep voting and more join them, the tri-county area has a realistic chance at winning the top prize of $1 million in grants from Walmart for food-distribution organizations.

“We are very grateful to everyone who is supporting the Youngstown area,” said Michael Iberis, executive director, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley. “It is a great opportunity to feed more hungry people in the Mahoning Valley and to show the state and nation the tenacity of its people.”

People can vote daily on Facebook, and Iberis and Second Harvest, which supplies food distribution organizations in the tri-county area, urged residents to continue to vote each day to win the Facebook campaign and help address hunger in their respective communities.

With just 10 days remaining in the Walmart Facebook campaign — it ends April 30 — Youngstown and Toledo are among the top 10 vote recipients out of the 200 eligible communities.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com