LORAIN - In an era in which large corporate donations are few and far between for nonprofit organizations, Wednesday`s gift of $91,475 to Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio left its executive director giddy with excitement.

The donation from Cargill Deicing Technology, a division of Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc., is being lauded as the largest one-time monetary donation Second Harvest has ever received. The donation will be used to purchase a 22-foot refrigerated truck to pick up and deliver food to more than 110 agencies.

“I remember the day they called to say they wanted to help,” said Julie Chase-Morefield, executive director. “They just asked us, ‘What can we do?` At first, I assumed they wanted to do a food drive or spend some time volunteering. But they said, ‘No, what do you need? A new warehouse? New equipment?` That`s when I knew this was going to be big, very big.”

This year, Second Harvest has experienced tremendous growth in the four-county area it serves. In Lorain County, Chase-Morefield said area food pantries are receiving on average 22,000 visits per month by residents, an increase of 35 percent from last year.

And, it`s not just the chronically impoverished that the food pantries are seeing. The working poor are using emergency food pantries in record numbers, Chase-Morefield said.

“These are the people who have seen their pay cut, their hours cut and the jobs disappear in the last year,” she said. “They never thought they would need our services because they live in places like Avon, Avon Lake and Amherst, but now they found themselves coming to us because they can`t feed their families.”

Ensuring that the region`s hungry are fed at a time of financial strife is the least Cargill can do, said Irv Williamson, assistant sales manager and chairman of Cargill Cares, the charitable arm of the corporation.

“The core of Cargill`s corporate mission is to enrich the communities where they are located,” he said. “As a company, we look for solution-based organizations, and food pantries are right up there. They see a need and immediately provide a solution.”

In an effort to fulfill that arm of its corporate mission, Cargill set aside $5 million to be used to support organizations that are facing a growing demand for services at a time when donations are shrinking. Second Harvest was chosen to receive a portion of that endowment because employees in the North Olmsted office have a longstanding volunteer relationship with the organization.

On Wednesday, Cargill employees did not just drop off a check and leave. Instead, nearly a dozen men and women rolled up their sleeves and got to work sorting and packing food that will eventually end up on a truck to be distributed to needy families.

“Having the funds to buy this new truck will really help us out,” Chase-Morefield said. “We have a 35 percent increase in demand and a 20 percent increase in distribution. That means we had a 15 percent gap that somehow needed to be filled. It`s amazing when that somehow just calls you on the phone one day.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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