The Foodbank will close its public Wednesday drive-thru after Aug. 1.
The drive-thru started in 2018 in response to the Memorial Day tornados and continued on a needs-based timeline, according to the nonprofit. Now, the organization is turning over some of that responsibility to its 115 community partners.
The Foodbank serves Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties. The organization said its services remain in full swing.
Its main warehouse will still offer emergency food assistance, including pop-up distributions, mobile farmers’ markets, the Good-to-Go Backpack program, the seniors’ drive-thru program and more.
The chief development officer for The Foodbank, Lee Lauren Truesdale, said the senior drive-thru program began in 2018 and continues to offer senior citizens easy access to food programs and assistance.
"That program will still be operating. There's no changes to that program coming, but we wanted to make it easy for seniors to receive this commodity supplemental food program box that they can get through us, and those funds come through the state," Truesdale said.
The Foodbank now has more connections in areas without food pantries that can assist those in need.
“We've been communicating about this for some time. We've been strategically thinking, you know, is this the right decision? Our partner agencies have asked us to close this down as well for regular distribution, because they're prepared, they're ready," Truesdale said.
According to Truesdale, these 115 partners can offer more specific dietary needs to the community that the drive-thru couldn’t accommodate.
“Go to a choice pantry where they can choose between beef, chicken or pork. Or they can say, ‘Hey, actually, my family, we are vegetarian or vegan and we don't need any meat.’ The drive thru doesn't let you do that," she said.
Truesdale said The Foodbank also offers mobile farmers markets to around 20 different locations with high rates of food insecurity where they have identified a lack of partner agency services or brick and mortar food pantries.
If community members have questions regarding the drive-thru closure they can call (937) 949-4096.
