With support from the Tecumseh School District, the Second Harvest Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry is now offering local residents another option to access healthy food and help cut grocery costs.

On Sept. 22, the Mobile Food Pantry began the first of the regular monthly visits it will be making to local schools in an effort to provide residents with Items like produce, dairy products, meat, and other perishable grocery items that can quickly eat through a family’s grocery budget.

Tecumseh Local Schools’ Assistant Superintendent, Paula Crew, says the idea of bringing the Mobile Pantry to the area happened after it was set up during Family and Youth Initiatives’ (FYI) recent Safety Day at Tecumseh High School.

“Miranda Guisinger and I saw the Mobile pantry handing out the food at Safety Day and went over to see if we could help. We were amazed by how much food they had to pass out...especially things like cheese, produce, and bread. I found out the Mobile Pantry didn’t come out this far because Second Harvest didn’t have any locations available to set it up. So I spoke with the director and we were able work it out that they could come to the schools...over 58% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch, so having both this and the Bethel pantry will really help our families.

Guisinger, a Freshman, says she wants to be a Social Worker someday and decided to volunteer with the Mobile Pantry because she likes to make people’s lives better, “Helping people makes them happy, and they know that you are supportive. I want people to be able to get the things they need to live, so when I volunteer here I get to do that.”

Tecumseh Sophomores who are part of FYI’s Drug Education for Youth (DEFY) youth leadership program also took an active role in helping with the Second Harvest Mobile Pantry. They all had similar reasons to Guisinger’s for volunteering with the project.

Charlene Rine says she loves volunteering and learning new things, “Helping people lets them know you care about them, and it makes their lives better. You get to meet new people and learn from them.” She plans to be a Veterinarian or Marine Biologist in the future.

Ingris Gramajo likes meeting new people and showing support to others, “Getting to help people who don’t speak English very well is nice because it’s hard for them to ask for help sometimes.” She also says learning to be a professional Korean translator will give her more opportunities to help people around the world later on.

Madison Castle says she frequently volunteers, and really like helping with the Mobile Pantry, “Helping people is just something I like to do...and I try to do it as much as I can. This (Mobile Pantry) is making people happy and that’s good.” Castle plans to be a Pediatric Physical Therapist so she can help children someday.

Cheyanne Nipp is a bit more pragmatic about her reasons for volunteering, “I like to help people, but I also needed to get up off the couch, off of my electronics, and do something more active!” Nipp explains she also volunteered because helping people shows them she cares. Nipp’s life goal is to become a Pediatric nurse so, like her fellow DEFY members, she can continue helping others as an adult.

Many people who took advantage of the Mobile Pantry’s first visit to the area heard about it at the Church of the Brethren’s free Wednesday night community meals.

“I’m very grateful that the (Mobile) Pantry is here,” says one senior citizen, “I’m on a fixed income and can’t always afford to buy the groceries I need...some months I really do have to decide if I’m going to spend my money on food or the medicine. The Mobile Pantry is a real blessing and I’m so glad it will be available each month.”

Second Harvest’s Mobile Pantry doesn’t cost the Tecumseh School District anything to set up. The Mobile Pantry will be at both Park Layne Elementary and New Carlisle Elementary schools once a month. Even though the Mobile Pantry will set up at the schools, any Clark County resident can take advantage of its help at those locations.

For more information contact Melissa Archambeau at (937) 323-6507 (ext. 126) or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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