CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s the end of an era at Cleveland’s Muni Lot. Thousands lined up early for the final drive-thru food distribution for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank in the lot.
The Food Bank prepared for more than 3,500 households to pick up healthy food and special holiday additions on Thursday. The distribution marks the end of a nearly four-year run at the Muni Lot.
"We thought we’d be in the Muni Lot for a couple of months at the max," Greater Cleveland Food Bank President & CEO Kristin Warzocha said. "The need skyrocketed at the beginning of the pandemic and it took a long time for it to come back down and with the higher cost of living, it’s gone back up. I expect we’ll serve this year than we did during the pandemic."
READ MORE: Greater Cleveland Food Bank to end drive-thru food distributions at Muni Lot
The drive-thru food giveaway started in March 2020 when sweeping COVID-19 pandemic shut-downs catapulted the need for food assistance and contactless distributions. The short-term solution lasted longer than the Food Bank anticipated, and the need has grown.
In the last fiscal year, the organization reported serving more than 400,000 clients. The record-breaking number includes 100,000 people seeking food assistance for the first time.
“It just really speaks to the fact that so many people are either living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet, having to make difficult decisions between food and utilities or food and medicine,” said Karen Pozna, the communications director for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. “If we are able to provide them with the food they need and that’s one less thing they have to worry about, then that’s why we’re here.”
She said the end of Muni Lot distributions does not mean the end of available resources. A newly opened Community Resource Center, which includes a healthy choice market offering a grocery store shopping experience, served more than 3,500 households in its first month.
The Food Bank works with more than 1,000 community partners across its 6-county service area.
Anyone in need of food is encouraged to call the Food Bank Help Center at 216-738-2067 or go to the websiteto find the nearest food distribution to their location. You can also go to the Food Bank’s new Community Resource Center located at 15500 South Waterloo Rd, Cleveland, 44110.
