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May 31, 2023

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Music played in the background, and the sound of grocery cart wheels rolling around could be heard as volunteers loaded carts with small jugs of milk, rolls of sausage, grapes, bananas, loaves of

Music played in the background, and the sound of grocery cart wheels rolling around could be heard as volunteers loaded carts with small jugs of milk, rolls of sausage, grapes, bananas, loaves of bread and more.

It was a typical — read: busy — day at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective's on-site drive-thru community pantry in Grove City.

Each day the pantry is open, up to 1,000 people drive through the parking lot to pick up food that volunteers place in their vehicle's trunk, making it the busiest location of the collective's entire 20-county service area, said Mike Hochron, senior vice president of communications at the collective.

It became that busy during the COVID-19 pandemic and is efficient and fast, serving a vehicle nearly every 30 seconds, thanks to the Ohio National Guard's work there for 15 months during the pandemic. Its hours expanded to around 20 to 40 per week when the need increased.

Now, with the pandemic over and with its goal of offering more dignity and choice to customers, the collective is planning to close its drive-thru pantry and open the Mid-Ohio Market at Gantz Road in Grove City.

"People aren't getting the dignity of choice," Hochron said of the drive-thru pantry. "It's a less dignified and efficient experience than to come in and shop and get things you want."

This fall, the collective will close its drive-thru pantry and move its services to a building about a mile away from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective's headquarters on Brookham Drive in Grove City.

"It's a huge change to what has become a big part of our services," Hochron said.

The new building, soon to be the collective's eighth Mid-Ohio Market, is a former Aldi, 4041 Gantz Road, Grove City.

"Shocked and concerned":Central Ohio food banks, pantries experiencing 40% increase in demand

The 15,000-square-foot building will be the collective's largest market location and will offer a grocery-shopping experience. Customers can get a cart as they walk in, roam the aisles shopping for what they need and want and even "check out." Though, they won't pay; they will check out so items and stock can be tracked.

Though there is no set date for the market to open yet, Hochron said the goal is for a smooth transition, with little to no interruption in serivces. For instance, the drive-thru site could close after its Saturday hours, and customers could go to the market on Monday.

"Any day out of service is a day lost helping people," he said.

The hours will be similar, too, he said, and there will be more services than are able to be offered via the drive-thru. Those will include options to consult with someone to help access health care, housing support, job training, financial literacy and child care.

"In-person and face to face helps us understand what the need is and how we're meeting the needs," Hochron said.

The transition is also important because the drive-thru site has, accidentally, become central, even though visitor surveys show that many are driving unnecessarily long distances to get there. For instance, last year more than half of the more than 200,000 visitors to the drive-thru pantry site came from 6 to 10 miles away, when they could have gotten food at a pantry closer to their homes, Hochron said.

"People think it's the only place they can come," Hochron said of the drive-thru pantry on Brookham Drive.

But that's far from the truth, as there are more than 300 partners in Franklin County with which the collective works to provide food to the whole community and beyond.

"In every community there are amazing organizations … to help meet that need," Hochron said.

To find food closest to where you live, go to www.FreshTrak.com and type in your ZIP code. Scrolling down will show the pantries nearby as well as their hours, locations and the type of pantries they are.

The best place to get help is close to home and where it's convenient, Hochron said.

"People's time is valuable, their gas is valuable," he said. "We want to get them accessing other places that are closer to them."

More:Mid-Ohio Food Collective purchases old Kroger to create social services hub

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@DanaeKing