Volume 1, Issue 3 (May 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 talked to four customers from MOFC partner agency Lutheran Social Services at their monthly produce distribution in Belle Valley (Noble County) about what led to them needing food assistance
Ann
Ann and her husband have “no idea what they’d do” without Lutheran Social Services in Noble County. The produce market has been a lifeline for the senior couple over the last five years as Ann battled cancer and her husband went through a leg amputation. They receive disability benefits but make $10 too much per month to qualify for SNAP and $30 too much to qualify for CSFP boxes.
“If I could get a job so we could pay for food and medication, I would,” said Ann.
The couple have a garden where they grow vegetables like green beans, but other than that, LSS’ produce distribution is all they have to fall back on. Ann’s especially health-conscious after her battle with cancer, so she mostly eats fresh food.
She stays informed about funding for food banks, and she’s worried about what less money would mean for her family and other customers in line. “Most of the other people here are elderly. We need these food pantries,” said Ann. “The produce they give us at LSS saves our sanity. It saves our lives.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons.
Don
Don is a native of Noble County (or “Noble-tucky” as he calls it) and a regular at Lutheran Social Services’ drive-through produce markets in Belle Valley. When his wife passed away eight years ago, his household lost the retirement income she’d been receiving.
He’s been getting help with food ever since, and his dogs (a yellow lab named Lady and a black lab named Wendy) often come along for the ride.
Don was a plumber for many years, and he’d often find side jobs when regular work was scarce. Even for skilled tradesmen, local work can be hard to find. Don’s son, a commercial electrician, drives two hours each way to job sites outside the county.
“They say ‘go get a job.’ Well, where?” Don said. “Nowhere around here is paying $30 or $40 an hour. There’s no bus around here that takes you anywhere.”
Having LSS to fall back on is helpful, he said.
“I’m thankful for this,” Don said. “If not for this, I’d go without. I’d get by. You always do, but it sure helps.”
Jim
For 22 years, Jim was a union carpenter specializing in the forms and molds needed to frame concrete and build bridges. It was a high-demand skill in the foothills of southeast Ohio where he lives with his wife and family.
But when a polar vortex brought subzero temperatures to Noble County in December 2022, a water pipe burst under Jim’s home the day after Christmas. The half-hour emergency repair led to a lifelong injury.
“By the time I got out from under the house, my toes had turned black,” Jim said.
Jim lost all the toes on his right foot to frostbite, making it almost impossible to use his decades of carpentry experience. He’s been picking up free produce from Lutheran Social Services to help his family get by.
“After the unemployment, I tried to work. It didn’t go good at all,” Jim said at a recent LSS produce market in Belle Valley, Ohio. “This helps on the grocery bill. Less money at the store.”
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons
Kristen
In her blue pickup truck with cowgirl boots on feet, Kristen heads to Lutheran Social Services’ monthly produce distribution in Belle Valley with her mom and grandma. They’ve used food assistance for years but began coming to the produce distribution together four months ago.
Kristen gets there bright and early every time. Time spent waiting is time spent with her family. “Things are rough, but family is everything,” she said.
Kristen’s hands and face were burned in a house fire when she was trying to save her dogs. Her husband was forced to retire at age 45 after his heart problems got worse. It became twice as hard to put food on the table for their two sons. “Trying to keep an old truck on the road is hard enough,” said Kristen.
After Kristen got her produce from LSS last month, she stopped to help another customer jump their car. She’s lived in Noble County her whole life. When someone needs help, with food or otherwise, the community’s there to help. “We take care of each other,” Kristen said.
At our customer’s request, MOFC has used a stock image for this story for privacy reasons.
