Akron Ohio Stake News

by Brother David Foutz

Last month, a semi-truck from Salt Lake City, Utah, made its way across the country headed to Medina, Ohio. Inside was a staggering 38,672 pounds of food, donated to Feeding Medina County from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Feeding Medina County is an organization that provides community-wide food distributions in partnership with the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank, as well as Weekender Bags for elementary-aged children receiving Free and Reduced Lunch in all public schools throughout Medina County. Furthermore, they operate the Staples for Seniors Program, bringing food and produce to seniors in subsidized housing units throughout Medina County. They also operate an emergency, on-site pantry five days a week. FMC serves nearly 3,000 people each month.

Katy Fuerst, Executive Director of Feeding Medina County, said that she received a call from a representative from the Church in February and learned that they had been nominated for a grant by one of the Church’s members. Within a month of that initial conversation, the food was on its way to Medina.

The semi-truck driver faced some hazardous conditions on his way in and ended up arriving at Feeding Medina County on the evening of February 24. President Tony Wen and his wife Winnsa, JustServe Coordinator Bob Mihalko, and Mayor Robin Laubaugh of the City of Wadsworth were on hand to greet the driver and help Feeding Medina County’s staff unload 24 pallets of donations. Food items donated included frozen beef and pork, pancake mix, pasta, applesauce, canned fruits, and vegetables.

Mayor Laubaugh, who was critical in helping Feeding Medina County start their community-wide food distributions in Wadsworth, was responsible for nominating the local pantry for the grant. “As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I work with humanitarian efforts in the Northeast Ohio region. In my role as mayor, I became aware of the amazing good that Feeding Medina County does throughout the county and thought they would be a wonderful recipient for this donation.”

A press release was issued on March 23 to help publicize this event and the good work going on with Feeding Medina County.

As Elder Gong said in a June 26, 2020, video post about #HearHim, “One of the great privileges that the Lord gives us is to reach out to His sons and daughters. And as we try to reach out in service to those around us, I think the Lord gives us an extra measure of His love for them, and therefore for us.”

If you have ideas for service projects in your area, please reach out to your JustServe ward representative, or talk to a member of your ward council to get the ball rolling. There is much good we can do!