Care and Share there for locals

Editor's note: Anita Kromer serves as executive director of Care and Share of Erie County, a leading organization in feeding underserved and lesser-fortunate locals in Erie County. As uncertainty still looms regarding a federally funded food assistance program, she underscored her nonprofit's mission and drive to continue serving people. SANDUSKY — We are at a serious tipping point in the scales of life for people who are already living an uncertain and stressful life. With the holidays coming, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — often shortened to SNAP — discontinuation possibility would be devastating to many of the people and families that we serve in our community. To meet increasing demands, Care and Share has diverted money from purchasing items — such as detergent, dishwashing soap, toilet paper, shampoo and other basic hygiene products, which cannot be purchased with SNAP — to be able to purchase more food. Many people think Care and Share is part of a larger organization or is subsidized by a governmental entity. We are not. We are a public charity nonprofit. Care and Share is able to purchase food and hygiene products by writing grant requests to foundations/trusts and the generosity of churches, trusts, associations, individuals and business donors. We have already experienced a drastic decrease in funds granted by some foundations due to the increase in demand from more agencies. By the numbers Care and Share serves the community with a choice food pantry model, which is like a small market where people can choose the food they prefer. This helps to reduce waste, which may occur from prepackaged boxes. Last year, more than 2,700 households were served food, of which more than 1,000 were new households. That is about 274,000 meals provided. The average visit/family in the pantry is up to 3.9 visits compared to 2.2 visits last year. This illustrates the increased need in our community as wages are not keeping up with the cost of rent/mortgage, utilities, transportation/gas, childcare and health care. When I was working in the mainstream industry, it was easy to think, "There are so many jobs out there. What is the issue?" Living in the nonprofit world is eye-opening. It is important for us to understand that 63% of the people being served do work. They have one job if not two or three. The other 34% of people are not working due to illness/disabilities, retirement or family caregiving, according to Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio. How to respond A common question coming to food pantries today is, "What are you doing to prepare or address the loss of SNAP benefits of so many along with the increased need for assistance by our seniors in the community?" Our response is, "We are going to do what we always do and continue to serve our community the best we can, to have faith that we will be able to provide because of the generosity of our community, donors and foundations." We are a small but mighty nonprofit willing to serve. The challenge is having enough financial resources and volunteers to continue to serve our community's growing needs. People can visit facebook.com/eriecountycareandshare for more information. People can also visit careandshareerieco.org to donate.