Final food distribution of year draws almost 300 cars

MEDINA — The cars started lining up at 4 a.m. Almost 300 vehicles came through the line Thursday at the Medina County Fairgrounds for the last food distribution of the year — and in Executive Director Sandy Hinkle's distinguished 14-year tenure. She will retire at the end of the year. When one watches the hundreds of volunteers get ready to hand out food and supplies, it looks like a orchestrated assembly line. Somehow, all the items are distributed in a timely manner. Volunteers are in charge of individual stations. The cars pull up and pop their trunk, which is a signal for the volunteers to spring into action and fill it with food and a gallon of milk donated by 3M, along with laundry soup and personal care items, courtesy of the Medina County veterans. Coats for kids were distributed, along with children's handmade scarfs and gloves from the Family First Council's Early Intervention Program. Stuffed animals were also given away, courtesy of Pet Smart. Ten dollar gift cards from Buehler's Fresh Foods were given to each family. It turns out the assembly line is organized chaos and churns out items like a well-oiled machine. Hinkle assembled the troops — there are many from the National Guard and other branches of the armed forces — and addressed them before it all began. "Whatever we can do to make someone have a great Christmas, we'll do it," she said. Hinkle said the 300 cars represent about 1,000 people that were fed Thursday. "I want to say thank you (to all the volunteers)," she said. "There's no way we could have pulled this off without your help." She said she will be "turning the reigns over" to Katie Fuerst, the new director, who will be in charge of the first food distribution of the new year Jan. 21. Dan Meagher, operations manager for Feeding Medina County, acknowledged the dedicated work Hinkle has done, as did volunteer David Lariviere. "Thank you Sandy Hinkle for six wonderful years of service, growth, leadership and love to Feeding Medina County," he said. Hinkle was honored via Zoom during the Northeast Ohio District 6630 Rotary Foundation Awards Gala. She was awarded the Rotary's Paul Harris Fellowship Award in recognition of her service and leadership with Feeding Medina County. During her six years, she has quadrupled Feeding Medina County's income and budget and helped move its headquarters from a 2,000-square-foot building to a 7,000 square foot warehouse and office space on East Smith Road. The organization served about 1,400 county students a week during COVID-19, along with increasing senior and shut-in food deliveries by 30 percent. Hinkle has also built lasting community partnerships with the National Guard, military, veterans and local faith-based and service groups. Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.