Food is a basic human need. Yet here in Portage County, many neighbors still struggle to keep their pantries full. We’ve all seen the food drives and we’ve all read the statistics, but numbers alone can feel abstract. We wanted to meet the people doing the work— and understand what it actually takes to relieve hunger in our own backyard.
That curiosity led us, two brothers from Kent, to spend a day with a small rural pantry and then follow the threads across Portage County’s food ecosystem. The result is a four-episode audio series, United Relief, with on-the-ground reporting and conversations with local leaders and practitioners. Listeners will hear from public officials working on county-level solutions, tour the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, and ride along with Rural Relief Mobile Food Pantry as they collect and deliver food to remote families.
At the center of this work are connectors who help resources reach the people who need them most. United Way of Portage County (UWPC) is one of those connectors, helping grassroots efforts like Rural Relief find funding and partners. Full disclosure: our dad, Bill Childers, leads UWPC, and his long career helping people influenced our drive to do the same. What we saw throughout production is that reducing hunger requires coordination. Policy, philanthropy, and volunteers all have to pull together.
If you care about the impact, causes, and daily realities of food insecurity here at home — and if you’re open to being part of the solution — please listen to United Relief and find your place in this ecosystem. Whether that means volunteering, donating, or advocating, every step helps.
Search for “United Relief” wherever you get podcasts.
Sincerely,
Ben and Patrick Childers