The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank is ground zero when it comes to providing food for Portage County’s hungriest people.
The Foodbank partners with 25 local food pantries, five older-adult programs, seven youth and backpack programs, seven meal sites and shelters, and six other non-emergency programs.
In 2025, the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank distributed just over 2 million pounds of food to those programs and pantries. That’s 1,949,692 meals and 602,341 pounds of produce. During the first six months of 2026, the Foodbank’s Portage County tally topped 964,000 pounds.
While the overall amount of food distributed appears relatively steady, last year the Foodbank shifted its focus from overall poundage to the average number of meals it provides to each person experiencing food insecurity.
By that measure, Portage and Medina counties fell below the Foodbank’s service target benchmark.
“Below service target indicates that food distribution is not yet proportional to the food-insecure population within the county,” Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank External Affairs Vice President Michael Wilson said. “The service target measures the number of meals distributed per food-insecure person. Our current service target is 75.72 meals per food-insecure person. Portage County is currently at 71.4 meals per food-insecure person.”
Instead of focusing on food deserts, commonly defined as areas where people have limited access to healthy, affordable food, the Foodbank focuses on underserved areas. How well does its charitable food network reach people experiencing food insecurity? Do people have reasonable access to food pantries, meal programs, pop-up pantries and other hunger-relief programs?
Translated, the Foodbank is helping Portage County’s pantries and programs increase their capacity and programming. It’s also identifying communities where additional access points can help the Foodbank reach more people in need.
One way to get the food where it needs to go is a pop-up pantry event, which the Foodbank launched in 2020. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank sends a refrigerated truck to predetermined sites around the county. Attendees can walk up and choose their own grocery items or can receive pre-packed bags and boxes from volunteers.
The Foodbank conducted 17 such events in Portage County from January to June this year, partnering with Kent State University, NEOMED and the Portage County Health District to host these distributions.
Claudia Dzordzormenyoh, the Foodbank’s director of network partners and programs, said adding Garrettsville to the pop-up pantry line-up helps address service target issues in the eastern part of Portage County.
Upcoming pop-up pantry events are set for:
- Noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 28 at Northeast Ohio College of Medicine, 4041 Bradley Rd., Rootstown
- 1-3 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Portage County Health District, 999 E. Main St., Ravenna
- Noon- 2 p.m. Oct. 8 at Garrettsville Library, 10482 South St., Garrettsville
- 1-3 p.m. Oct. 21 at Kent State University’s Dix Stadium, 2213 Summit St., Kent
- Noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 26 at Northeast Ohio College of Medicine, 4041 Bradley Rd., Rootstown
Foodbank staff examine the capacity and operating hours of existing programs, transportation barriers, the number of people experiencing food insecurity in an area and whether current resources are sufficient and accessible. The goal, Dzordzormenyoh said, is to complement and strengthen the existing network and fill identified gaps.
Like any successful business or organization, the Foodbank crunches numbers. The Foodbank has set a 24-hour urban area and 48-hour rural area window and 25-mile distance target for every person to access nutritious food.
It’s not that hunger in rural areas is less urgent, Dzordzormenyoh said. It’s more that rural areas — and Portage County is 80% rural — have less infrastructure and program availability. Setting parameters allow the Foodbank to identify where barriers are and determine how best to overcome them.
“We know that simply having a food pantry somewhere in a community does not necessarily mean a neighbor can access it when they need it. For example, a program may be relatively close geographically but only operate on certain days or for a limited number of hours. That is why we look at both distance and the availability of services when assessing our network,” Dzordzormenyoh said.
Strengthening existing partners, expanding hours or capacity, adding a pop-up pantry or using another strategy to improve access are all options, Dzordzormenyoh said.
When the foodbank isn't enough
John Kennedy, director of the Community Action Council of Portage County, said Portage County’s food deserts, as people typically conceive them, include Windham, Charlestown, Ravenna and Kent.
Yes, the Center of Hope in Ravenna and Kent Social Services provide daily hot meals and monthly pantry pickups, and smaller pantries in both communities also distribute food, but they are stretched to the limit. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s new “underserved areas” approach is intended to help, but it’s a tall order. Enter the USDA, which Kennedy said fills crucial gaps.
The Community Action Council’s USDA funding more than doubled from last year to this, from about $203,713 in 2025 to more than $521,076 this year.
That’s critical given that fully 395 of Portage County’s 504 square miles qualifies as rural, and not everybody has easy, or any, access to private or public transportation, Kennedy said. Add in Portage County’s poverty rate — 30% of its residents live at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, and 44% of school age children are classified as low income — and the result is real hunger, Kennedy said.
“Every area is seeing an uptick in demand for food,” Kennedy said. “In the 16 onsite programs we have for kids, we saw it go from 317 kids we were feeding to 425, and that’s from last year to this.”
Next question: How to get the food to the kids who need it, but can’t attend the on-site programs?
Instead of expecting people in rural areas to come to food access points during the summer months, the Community Action Council delivers breakfasts and lunches directly to them. Imagine: FedEx fighting hunger to the tune of 30,180 meals delivered to 276 kids last year and more than 90,000 to more than 820 kids this year.
The trucks delivered meals every 10-12 days directly to recipients’ homes, ending on Aug. 14. That’s when many local schools began their academic year, and children could receive free meals at school.
“The rural food delivery system is hugely popular,” Kennedy said. “Why? Convenience. In our rural areas, which represent roughly 80% of the county, many food pantries are still a bit of a drive away. And you need a reliable vehicle, which some of our low-income residents lack. One final point regarding the growing popularity of food delivery: pride. I don’t have any evidence to support this, but I’m betting that some folks would rather not be seen standing in line at a food pantry. Food delivery removes that stigma.”
Altogether, the Community Action Council provided more than 100,000 meals to about 2,000 children in onsite and rural delivery programs this year, he said.
“That’s a big number. It says everything about where we are. It really puts a focus on the growing food scarcity problem in our communities. I think it highlights the need to have a variety of approaches, a rural delivery approach and an onsite approach,” Kennedy said.
Volunteers
All of Portage County’s pantries, from the Salvation Army to Brimfield Community Cupboard, rely on volunteers. How to attract and retain them is always a challenge, one Wilson said the Foodbank means to address.
Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank staff have already trained local pantry staff in trauma-informed care, grant-writing, succession planning (ensuring the pantry survives staff turnovers) and leadership stability. On deck is nutrition education training, meant to pair healthy eating practices with pantry foods.
Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank staff also want to host listening sessions where pantry clients can talk about what food items they want versus what’s available, and so they can express their thoughts about pantry locations and hours of operation.
Hunger Action Month
To recognize Hunger Action Month, which nationally is observed in September, the Foodbank held donor receptions, a luncheon, a Stuff the Train food drive, a promotion with area Ford dealerships and an elected officials volunteer night.
National Hunger Action Day is set for Sept. 29. Dzordzormenyoh encourages everyone to wear orange — the official color of hunger relief — to raise public awareness of food insecurity.