Volume 1, Issue 2 (April 2025)
Welcome to MOFC Story Bites, where we share bite-sized stories about real people living with or fighting food insecurity. For this edition, we’re spotlighting three stories about how older Ohioans are using the hunger relief network to help themselves and others.
LUCY
Lucy’s husband has lived with cancer since 2015, and the 88-year-old grandmother has pinched pennies to make sure they both get enough to eat. But after her own health took a turn in 2021, the couple’s medication costs shot up to over $20,000 a month. On a recent grocery trip, she realized she couldn’t afford the strawberries in her cart.
“When you go to the store with an amount of money to spend and it doesn’t even fill your cart, you can’t imagine how you feel when you walk out,” Lucy said. “You think about all those years you worked and wonder how this could happen.”
When she stepped out of line to put the berries back, a stranger told her about the Mid-Ohio Market at Gantz Road. She visited for the first time in November 2024 and was impressed by the freshness of the produce. The market helps Lucy stretch her budget and get the fresh foods that her family doctor recommends.
“It can happen to anybody, and nobody knows when they’re going to be in this position,” Lucy said. “This has been such a help, such a blessing. We’re not trying to get something for nothing. We just needed a hand up.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image and pseudonym for this story for privacy reasons.
Jim
Over his 40-year career in and around central Ohio restaurants, Jim taught hundreds of workers how to safely store and handle food. In addition, he often donated extra food to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank to help his hungry neighbors.
“You always try to pay it forward, because you just never know,” Jim said. “I’m living in that ‘never know’ moment now. Life comes at you fast.”
Long-term medical issues forced Jim into early retirement. Unable to work but too young to qualify for certain benefits, he’s been using the Mid-Ohio Market at Gantz Road to make ends meet. He said that from his years on the job, he can tell market staff know their stuff in terms of food safety and customer service. That reassured him when he was feeling embarrassed about needing help.
“I could tell right out of the gate that whoever was managing the operation had their act together,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons.
Roberta and Rita
Meet two twin sisters who are helping fight hunger at age 87. Rita and her sister Roberta, a former bus driver for the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, visit the monthly produce market operated by the county board and the YMCA Early Learning Center. The sisters pick up extra fruits and vegetables, which are sourced from MOFC, for neighbors in their senior living complex.
Rita said many seniors can’t drive or get out and about easily, and picking up produce for them is a big help. The twins say they’ve helped about 30 senior households using the proxy-shopping process, which allows neighbors to shop at pantries and produce markets for one another.
“We grew up with a giving family. We didn’t have much, but we gave what we had. It just was in us to do that,” Roberta said. “We just love being able to share, and we’re just thankful that Franklin County is so wonderful.”
