The drive-thru pantry, located at the Foodbank’s building at 56 Armor Place in Dayton, opened early on Wednesday to get as many people through as possible, said Lee Lauren Truesdale, chief development officer for the Foodbank. The drive-thru was scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon and the first cars were loaded with food around 8:30 a.m.
“We don’t typically open before our scheduled time, but we wanted to get as many people food as possible,” Truesdale said. “The need keeps growing and people are going longer and longer without a paycheck.”
On Tuesday, the Foodbank held a mass food distribution at Wright State’s Nutter Center. Typically, the Foodbank serves about 700 people at an event like that. About 4,500 people representing 1,381 households were served on Tuesday, highlighting how much the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the Miami Valley.
Thousands of people were turned away on Tuesday.
“That was hard for our team,” Truesdale said. “We never want to turn anyone away. We’ve never had to turn that many people away.”
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On Wednesday, The Foodbank served 744 households and 1,858 people.
“The biggest one yet,” Truesdale said.
To make sure fewer people were turned away, The Foodbank drove their van to the end of the line around noon to mark where the line ends.
The Dayton police were in the area to help direct traffic.
Mary Jo Delaney and Angela Rickman of Dayton waited in line for more than three hours on Tuesday, but were among those turned away.
Delaney and Rickman live together with Rickman’s husband and her son, who dates Delaney.
Delaney, who works at Taco Bell, said hers is the only paycheck for the household right now, so the Foodbank is a big help in keeping food on the table.
“We were so upset when we couldn’t get food yesterday because our pantry and fridge are basically empty,” Rickman said.
“We made what little bit of egg and potatoes we had left for us all for dinner last night,” Delaney added.
Both Rickman and Delaney said they are afraid of catching the coronavirus and that they think Ohio is just now starting to reach its peak.
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Many customers who come through the Taco Bell line are not wearing masks, Delaney said, and that makes her fearful.
For people who don’t have a car or can’t afford gas, Truesdale said there is a walk-up window. The Foodbank is off of bus line 8, for those that can take the bus to get the their building.
“We encourage people without access to transportation to carpool with someone they know who does have access to a car,” Truesdale said. “Transportation is a huge barrier to getting food in a lot Mid-Western or Rust Belt states, like Ohio.”
The Foodbank has not yet announced its hours for the drive-thru next week. To get help outside of drive-thru hours, call the Foodbank’s emergency line at (937) 949-4096 or the United Way’s 211 help line.
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