Food pantry opens at Mills Elementary

SANDUSKY — Sandusky students and their families have a new resource for food. Sandusky Schools, OHgo, activism group Community Solutions and St. Paul Lutheran Church teamed up to open Mills Family Mart, a free food pantry at Mills Elementary, which debuted Wednesday afternoon.To provide food, OHgo, a nonprofit, partners with Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio. The interior of the Mills Family Mart inside Mills Elementary School. The space was previously used to store art supplies. "OHgo is focused on community wellness, which includes meeting the basic needs of children and their families," co-founder Christine Boesch said.Mills Family Mart will be open after school each Wednesday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at 1918 Mills St. for Mills Elementary students and families. A guardian must be present, Boesch said. The space provides non-perishable food like spaghetti, crackers, peanut butter and more. Families accessing this pantry won't need to provide identification.Local residents learn about the Mills Family Mart inside Mills Elementary on Wednesday. The space previously provided storage for art supplies. Every other Wednesday, OHgo's mobile food pantry will also be available at Mills Elementary with fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, meat, milk and more. Identification is needed for the mobile pantry. Another way Mills Elementary students receive food is through "snack packs," which are sent home with students on Fridays for the weekend. Each week, students receive items like Goldfish crackers, Slim Jims, Rice Krispie Treats and more, but items vary each week. The "snack packs" are made by volunteers at St. Paul Lutheran Church on Mills Street.Scenes from the grand opening of the Mills Elementary food pantry at Mills Elementary Wednesday afternoon.Multiple families showed up to collect food Wednesday afternoon. One family with two students at Mills Elementary sought fresh produce.Others said they were thankful for Mills Family Mart's opening. OHgo co-founder Kendra Faulkner said 117 individuals were served in one hour Wednesday afternoon."We didn't know what to expect, but I thought it went really well," Faulkner said.Scenes from the grand opening of the Mills Elementary food pantry held at Mills Elementary on Wednesday afternoon.Sandusky Schools spokesperson Kerstyn Pou said the district hopes to open similar food pantries at all of its schools."This is a pilot program to test the need and the feasibility of hosting other pantries throughout the district," she said. "We hope by the beginning of the 2020 school year we will be able to have food pantries in all of our buildings."OHgo also brings its mobile food pantry the first and third Thursday of each month to MacArthur Park, near West Perkins Avenue and Camp Street, from 4-4:40 p.m.; New Jerusalem Church, at 1920 Shelby St., from 4:50-5:30 p.m.; and Orlando Pace Park, near Wamajo Drive and Cleveland Road, from 5:50-6:30 p.m.An OHgo volunteer hands food to a resident at the grand opening of the Mills Family Mart, Mills Elementary's new food pantry on Wednesday afternoon.Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com, follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood and on Facebook.com/CaitliNearhoodScenes from the grand opening of the Mills Elementary food pantry held at Mills Elementary on Wednesday afternoon.Scenes from the grand opening of the Mills Family Mart at Mills Elementary on Wednesday afternoon.Residents pick out food at OHgo's mobile food pantry Wednesday afternoon at Mills Elementary. Scenes from the grand opening of the Mills Elementary food pantry held at Mills Elementary on Wednesday afternoon.An OHgo volunteer helps a resident at the grand opening of the Mills Family Mart, Mills Elementary's new food pantry on Wednesday afternoon.