On November 3, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and Franklin County Commission President Erica Crawley each announced $500,000 in emergency funding for Mid-Ohio Food Collective.
The combined $1 million from the City of Columbus and the Franklin County Board of Commissioners will help address the federal government shutdown and disruption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for 183,000 Franklin County residents. The news follows a $25,000 emergency grant approved by Columbus City Council last week.
Mayor Ginther and Commissioner Crawley were joined by Mid-Ohio Food Collective President and CEO Matt Habash, St. Stephen’s Community House CEO Marilyn Mehaffie, Columbus City Schools Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman, and City of Grace Church Lead Pastor Michael Young at the press conference outside the Mid-Ohio Market at St. Stephen’s.
“Every single dollar given to us by Columbus and Franklin County will go directly toward food. We’ll bring all that food in and give it out as fast as we can,” Habash said. “Our neighbors are going to see fuller pantry shelves because of this emergency funding.”
Their support comes at a critical time. More neighbors are turning to MOFC and our pantry network with the recent announcement that SNAP benefits will be paused for the month of November. Food banks and pantries are bracing for unprecedented need as a result.
“This is a true stacking-hands moment,” said Ginther. “These are the most vulnerable people in our community, and we need to do everything in our power to make sure they’re fed.” “We’re not waiting on anyone else to fix this for us,” Crawley added.
Mayor Ginther emphasized that the $1 million is a short-term solution and asked that the federal government re-open and fund SNAP. In the meantime, he said the city and county are going to continue doing their part.
“We asked our community to help anyway they can while our neighbors are without SNAP,” Habash said. “The City of Columbus and Franklin County Board of Commissioners swiftly answered that call today, and we thank them for it.”
