Correspondent photo / Bill Koch
Alisha Dodge of Kinsman, a graduate assistant at Youngstown State University, bags some produce Saturday at Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, which dedicated its new 10,000-square foot warehouse addition on Salt Springs Road. It also was Youngstown State University’s Office of Community Engagement and the Sokolof Honors College day of volunteering there.
YOUNGSTOWN — Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley now has extra space to help those in need.
The agency on Saturday celebrated the opening of a 10,000-square foot addition to its warehouse at 2805 Salt Springs Road.
The expansion greatly expands the food bank’s ability to store items and offers a secure area to park delivery trucks.
Second Harvest Director of Operations Renee Fuller, of Poland, said they own vehicles provided through grants and donations, and this will allow them to “protect that investment.”
Executive Director Mike Iberis said the new space is significant for two reasons.
“It not only helps us maintain the ability to feed people in the tri-county area, but we also have everything needed for a disaster,” Iberis said, explaining the expansion includes a large room that can be used for a variety of purposes.
Saturday’s participants included two partners in that endeavor. Paul Olivier, vice president at Akron Children’s Mahoning Valley in Boardman, said the hospital includes 39 inpatient units for children and babies, so any interruptions could be catastrophic.
They therefore created a Memorandum of Understanding with Second Harvest that in an emergency such as a power outage, the hospital can call on them for assistance. Olivier said it’s important to know where to turn before bad things happen
“If we never need to use it, that’s great,” Olivier said.
Also on hand was Robin Lees, director of the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency. He noted that in a disaster, the Second Harvest addition offers a great deal of flexibility, not only for food and water, but also the refrigerated space can store medicine during a pandemic or even be used as a morgue in extreme cases.
In addition, this would be a centralized location where refrigerated trucks could then provide aid wherever it is needed. The bonus is that there would already be a list of volunteers who could be contacted quickly, Lees said.
Kim Brock is the director of operations for Second Harvest. She is also an East Palestine resident who was evacuated from her home after the train derailment last year.
“The power was shut off, and we didn’t know what we had in the refrigerator,” Brock said.
It was also unknown whether home-grown produce was contaminated. She and Iberis said many truckloads of food and water were sent to East Palestine during the difficult time.
Saturday’s celebration coincided with another event. Youngstown State University’s Office of Community Engagement and the Sokolof Honors College sponsored a day of volunteering at Second Harvest.
Repack coordinator George Martin and warehouse associate Mark Presby guided approximately 17 students, faculty and staff on how to bag fresh pears and deposit them into a large bin.
“I love it here,” said Martin, of Struthers, who retired from UPS after 35 years and works part-time for Second Harvest. “This is a great place with great people.”
Boardman resident Mollie Hartup, director of the Sokolov Honors College, said, “We want our students to engage in the community and to feel like they’re making an impact.”
YSU President Bill Johnson noted thousands of area children need food assistance, especially in the summer when school lunches are unavailable.
Graduate assistant Alisha Dodge came from Kinsman to be part of the action, stating, “If you have the time, why not give the time to help others?”
Lucas Dively of Warren hasn’t even started at YSU as he just graduated from Howland High School last month. But he said he wanted to “establish myself in the Honors College and meet new students” before fall semester.
Longtime Second Harvest board member Carl Nunziato lives in Boardman, but was born and raised in the Smoky Hollow area of Youngstown. He said Iberis “is dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard-working,” and has made a “dramatic impact” on Second Harvest.
He added that the unveiling of the addition and YSU’s service occurring on the same day is “great for the community.”
Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley is a member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of 200 food banks that feed over 46 million people. Its mission is to solicit, store and distribute food to hunger-relief organizations feeding people in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, and to provide education and advocacy.
Second Harvest Food Bank has regularly scheduled mobile pantry distributions and works with a network of more than 160 hunger relief programs in the tri-county area, such as church pantries, homeless shelters and soup kitchens, shelters for battered women and after-school programs that serve families, children and seniors at risk of going hungry.
Anyone who wishes to volunteer or donate to Second Harvest can contact them at 330-792-5522 or www.mahoningvalleysecondharvest.org.
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