The room is small but its shelves are filled with neatly organized rows of canned vegetables, boxes of cereal, pasta and macaroni and cheese, and jars of peanut butter.

Outside, a steady stream of traffic zips by 2367 North Ridge Road with drivers taking scant notice of Lorain’s United Hearts Life Mission Center, one of the area’s newest food pantries serving Lorain and Elyria.

“We haven’t had very many people in yet, but I hope we’ll start to pick up once word gets out that we’re open,” said Mary Clark, director of the nonprofit that began in early January.

Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday or by appointment, the pantry is taking shape in a small brick building that has housed a variety of businesses in recent years including a beauty parlor, tax service office and a fantasy gaming business.

“We kept saying, ‘God, show us the way to go here,’ and one day I drove by and saw the ‘for rent’ sign and knew this was it,” said Clark, a social worker who lives in Columbia Township.

Not affiliated with any church or social service agency, the nonprofit, charitable food pantry is an offshoot of a much larger United Hearts Life Mission Center facility on Broadview Road in the Old Brooklyn area of Cleveland, near the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

That operation provided food to an average 370 people a month in 2007. Nearly 90 people a month received clothing from an adjoining room where donated clothes are handed out.

“We knew the need was great in Lorain County and just wanted to try and do something here as well,” Clark said.

In addition to giving out nonperishable food in quantities that will last families three to five days, both food banks also offer free baby formula, diapers, wipes and pregnancy tests.

The amount of food disbursed can vary depending on the number of clients. 

The pantry is staffed by Clark and a group of volunteers, some of whom speak fluent Spanish.

The food pantry requires people to show personal ID, proof of address and proof of children and or infants. The staff is also seeking donations of baby cribs, crib mattresses, car seats and other big-ticket infant items.

 “We prefer people call ahead for an appointment to make sure we know who’s coming, and to save people from waiting in line in the cold,” Clark said.

“If we don’t have them, we can make referrals and give people names and numbers of other agencies that might provide them,” Clark said.

She looks forward to the day when far greater supplies of food may be available from the county’s Second Harvest Food Bank, which requires a six-month waiting period for any facility seeking food. “They want to make sure we’re established first,” she said.

The North Ridge Road location may consider Saturday hours depending on how quickly the number of people seeking assistance rises.

 

 

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