GREEN, Ohio — In the back of the maintenance department of Green Intermediate School, there are shelves filled with cans, boxes and packages of food.
The spot serves as a food pantry for Blessings in a Backpack, which has been a program in Green Local Schools for 13 years.
During that time, more than 200,000 bags of food have been provided to make sure kids of all ages in the district don't go hungry.
"We ensure that we do not have hungry kids here in our community. We are eradicating childhood hunger one soup can at a time," said Jennifer Doerrer, volunteer coordinator.
Every three to four weeks, volunteers pack between 6,000 and 10,000 items into bags that go home weekly to about 150 kids facing food insecurity.
Doerrer said the need in Green is greater than many people realize.
"Actually, our numbers are the highest they've been in 13 years, so our free and reduced numbers are over 25%. We have never seen numbers that high," she said.
The program, which runs on both food and monetary donations, has been facing its own challenges this school year.
"Most certainly, we needed a new home," Doerrer said.
That's because Green Intermediate School will be demolished in May to make way for a new middle school under construction in the same area.
For months, the question lingered: Where would Blessings in a Backpack relocate in order to keep packing food for those in need?
"Some of our volunteers, they were worried. They wanted to hear. We're getting really close. We're in April. The building is going down in May," Doerrer said.
Doerrer said there were ongoing discussions with city and district leaders, but ultimately, Green Mayor Rocco Yeargin connected the program with Goodwill Industries of Akron, which provided a solution.
Goodwill, which just opened a new retail store on Massillon Road this week, uses money from its sales to help support workforce and job readiness programs.
"We've been searching for a location in the Green community for 15 years," said Laura Walker, the vice president of mission services.
Walker said the Goodwill organization realized it could also help Blessings in a Backpack because it has a big open room available.
Goodwill offered the space for free to the food program for the 2025-2026 school year.
"It means a great deal to us to be able to support our community in a variety of ways, and everything ties back to our mission, so if it's somebody who's experiencing food insecurity, we want to link them with a resource," Walker said.
By the middle of May, the food remaining in the pantry at the intermediate school will either be moved to the Green Valley United Methodist Church or the Goodwill store. The church is adopting the program over the summer to bridge the gap until school starts up again.
Ultimately, the food program will be moved again to Green's new bus garage, but that won't be built and ready until the 2026-2027 school year.
Doerrer is continuing to count her blessings for the support to carry on the mission of Blessings in a Backpack.
"We're so just thankful. I don't think there's enough words to even express the gratitude that we feel for this."
