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Nearly 400 hams and turkeys donated for local families
YOUNGSTOWN
Nearly 400 families will have the means for a hearty holiday dinner, thanks to the efforts of food and aid organizations to ensure the needs of the poor are met. On Tuesday at Spanish Evangelical Church on the East Side, 10 local charitable and aid organizations spent the morning collecting hams and turkeys – 390 in total were donated – that they will distribute to those in need.
Operation Feed the Hungry, an annual event in its eighth year, is organized by the Columbus-based Buckeye Health Plan, a company specializing in health care plans for under- or uninsured individuals. The organization distributes hams and turkeys to local charity and aid organizations throughout the state.
This year, Buckeye will distribute a total of 4,647 hams and turkeys to more than 130 agencies between last Monday and this Thursday.
The participating local organizations are the East Side Crime Watch Food Pantry, Grace AME Church, Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, Salvation Army, Spanish Evangelical Church, Stepping into the Future, Tabernacle Baptist Church, The Center for Community Empowerment, The Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership and the Methodist Church.
Each organization received some combination of 36 turkeys and hams.
Based on research from the Food Research & Action Center, the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area is the second-highest for food insecurity in the country.
Marilyn Montes, the director of operations and compliance at MYCAP, said it distributed the food at its Senior Out for Action group meeting Tuesday evening.
The group promotes activities and presents speakers for area seniors.
The Rev. Rolando Rojas of Spanish Evangelical Church said it was the second year that his church hosted Buckeye Health Plan for the food distribution.
His congregation will distribute the collected food to families predominantly from the ESA Apartments, which are across from the church on the East Side.
“All throughout the year, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, we do events for them,” Rojas said. “For us, Operation Feed the Hungry is an opportunity for us to work alongside other local organizations to better serve our community.”