Little free food pantry made by Medina High School students to continue to feed the community

MEDINA — A Medina High School Capstone project is now being used to feed those in need in the city of Medina. This year, a team of Medina High School students worked with OhioGuidestone, the Medina Recreation Center and school district staff to host a pickleball tournament, and the funds were used to build and stock a little free food pantry at 177 Northland Drive. "I'm just really grateful for Justin (Vale) and Glenna (Klickman)," OhioGuidestone Regional Operations Director Melissa Romain said. "They worked really hard all year, and they were really thoughtful when they put together a great fundraiser. I'm really happy they chose to work with us, and I'm really grateful for their thoughtfulness and their generosity." OhioGuidestone is a behavioral health agency that serves around 700 youths and adults per month from across the county, Romain said. On Northland Drive, OhioGuidestone has a main office, a youth resiliency counseling center and a women's recovery house. "The original idea started because our recovery house often has a lot of leftover nonperishable food items from their monthly delivery from Feeding Medina County," she said. "What we have been doing is bringing their leftover food to our waiting room in our main office where we have a little food shelf in our psychiatry office waiting room, but that's only available to our clients during normal business hours." Romain thought the little free food pantry would be a great way for those who use OhioGuidestone's services and anyone else in the area to put and take leftover food. She said she is confident the little food pantry will continue to get a lot of community support from the people who live and work around it. "It's a very heavily walked and trafficked area, so it's really accessible. It's a bright blue pantry, so you can't miss it," she said. "We've already had people not only put food in there but also personal hygiene items and books, so whatever you think people could use, we'll take." Since the pantry is near a lot of social services, Romain is hopeful that it will meet the need for people who are walking down the road. "These are folks who need to walk a lot of times or take public transportation and don't necessarily want to ask for help," she said. "This is a really discreet way of getting the support that you need at the time that you need it. It's there 24/7, and what's available for you changes everyday." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.