CLEVELAND — The Greater Cleveland Food Bank started as a way to recover food that was going to waste.  

Director of Communications at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank Karen Pozna said now, more than 40 years later, the need for the bank has never been higher. 

“We need to be able to get the food out to people who need it because the need has increased so much during the pandemic,” she said. 

She said the food bank distributes upward of 53 million pounds of food each year. 

“We work with 1,000 partner agencies in northeast Ohio. Those agencies include pantries, hot meal programs,” she said. “We also work with kids and senior programs. We do our own distributions now. Since the pandemic started especially, we do a distribution down at the City of Cleveland Muni lot every week.” 

The United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service reports the use of food pantries increased from 2019 to 2020. In 2020, 6.7% of all U.S. households reported using a food pantry which is an increase from 4.4% in 2019. 

She said inflation and supply chain issues are new challenges in meeting the need. 

“A case of green beans would cost $9. Now it's costing us $19 for that same case of green beans,” she said. “We have to be very creative sometimes in our ordering to see what we can get in and how quickly we can get it in too.” 

Pozna said it means a lot to see everyone come together. 

“We live in such a generous community. You know, our fundraising efforts have increased during the pandemic and thanks to the generous community, you know, the money that we receive has gone to purchasing the food that we need the most,” she said. 

Pozna said the food bank has averaged around 10,000 volunteers over the past couple of years. 

She said these numbers have decreased due to the pandemic, but they’re always looking for people to help. 

For information on the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, click here.