The Dayton Foodbank aimed to reach northside residents at a mass food distribution event at the Dixie Twin Drive-In Thursday. The Foodbank said people in that part of the city often deal with food insecurity.
Cars lined up patiently waiting for food. As they reach the end of the queue, trunks are popped open and volunteers load them up with fresh produce, proteins, grains, and other products.
North Dayton was hit hard by the Memorial Day Tornadoes in 2019, followed less than a year later by the pandemic.
Add to that the past several months of high gas prices, and general inflation, and food insecurity is on the rise in the area.
“It’s been extremely difficult for residents in North Dayton and in the Trotwood area to recover economically [from the past few years],” Lauren Tappel, the development and marketing manager at the Foodbank, said. “So to ensure that they have the food that they need, at a minimum, they aren’t worrying about paying for groceries.”
The mass food distribution was staffed by 15 to 20 employees from the Foodbank in combination with around 50 volunteers.
“We could have around 30 more volunteers and still have jobs for them all to do,” Tappel said.
At a similar distribution last week, the Foodbank said they fed around 845 families.
