Volume 2, Issue 1
Welcome to MOFC Story Bites, where we share bite-sized stories about real people living with or fighting food insecurity. For this edition, we talked to four neighbors who regularly visit Hilliard Food Pantry in the suburb of Hilliard, Ohio. Their stories reflect how job loss, unforeseen medical problems, and transportation issues can lead to food insecurity.
Amy
Amy’s life changed two years ago when her husband was laid off from his six-figure IT job. The arrangement they’d had for 15 years—Amy as the homemaker and her husband as the breadwinner—came to a halt.
The couple was always frugal and had savings to fall back on. But after Amy’s husband spent a year job searching with no luck, she started going to MOFC partner agency Hilliard Food Pantry.
“I’m not what people think of [as a pantry customer]. We’re both college-educated, but people don’t hire 59-year-olds,” said Amy. “We’re living on our savings until we hit retirement age or something else comes through.”
Amy calculated that the pantry saves them hundreds of dollars a month on groceries, and those savings go toward utility bills and other monthly payments. She said the buffer helps her not worry as much.
“We’d have run out of savings by now without this,” said Amy. “When we get back on our feet, Hilliard Food Pantry is the first place we’re donating to.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons.
Kenny
Kenny was five months from retirement in March 2026 when he got doctor’s orders to stop working. The 64-year-old truck driver recently developed shakes in his hands.
Now, with no way to earn a living and a few months left before he can draw Social Security, Kenny is turning to food pantries for the first time in his life.
“I’m down to where I’ve got no choice. Nothing kicks in until you’re 65,” said Kenny on a recent trip to the Hilliard Food Pantry, an MOFC partner agency. “This is everything I’ve never had to do. I never dreamed it’d happen to me.”
Originally from where Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia meet on the map, Kenny worked on his family farm starting at age 12. He’s taken 18-wheelers across the country hundreds of times in his decades as CDL-A driver, and he’s been to every U.S. state except Alaska and Nevada.
Kenny is proud of his lifetime of hard work. As he prays for better days ahead, he’s grateful that food pantries are there to help him make it to retirement.
“I just thank the Lord you’ve got places like this that help people who really need it,” Kenny said.
Violet
Hunger and transportation are closely linked for Hilliard Food Pantry regular Violet. Money got tight after her car died several years ago, and she’s had to rely on suburban bus lines to get to work, the pantry, and home again.
“Depending on traffic, it can be 40 minutes or an hour on the bus,” Violet said, adding that it’s unrealistic to walk. “You try walking with about 40 pounds of groceries.”
Work is hard to find and keep in suburban Hilliard without a car. When she had reliable transit, Violet worked full-time in retail. Now, she gets as many hours as she can at her part-time food service job, but her work schedule and income are at the mercy of traffic.
“The buses aren’t always reliable or dependable. Sometimes they don’t come on time,” Violet said. “I’ve lost jobs because the bus didn’t show up and I was late to work.”
Violet waits outside for the bus in the heat, cold, rain, and snow. On the worst days, it’s taken her two hours to get home (long enough to worry about the safety of her cold and frozen foods). She wishes she could fix her car, but the math just doesn’t make sense.
“By the time I do insurance and all the other things, it’ll eat all my money up,” Violet said. “There’s just not enough to go around.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image and pseudonym for this story for privacy reasons.
Kelly
Kelly has become a regular customer at Hilliard Food Pantry, but even the free groceries she gets from the MOFC partner agency don’t always come cheap.
Kelly’s Volkswagen recently broke down, and she can’t find an affordable mechanic to fix her foreign car. With no vehicle, the grandmother of four and her partner (who is a disabled veteran) must find their way to the suburban pantry by bicycling, catching the city bus, or paying $20-$25 for an Uber.
Kelly is a trained phlebotomist, a skilled medical professional who draws patients’ blood for medical tests. Even with a well-paying job, car trouble was a tipping point, she said. She lost her job because she couldn’t reliably make it to work anymore.
When they bike, Kelly hitches a small trailer to her bicycle and rides 40 minutes to Hilliard Food Pantry. Until she saves enough money to fix the car and finds a new job, the couple will keep having to spend time (and money) to get help with food.
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons.
