Alliance Community Pantry

05/31/2026

PANTRY IS SHINING BRIGHT: Our volunteers are going to be shocked when they get to the Pantry on Monday morning. They will see the floors shining like they haven't seen them in ages.
That's all due to the volunteer efforts of Dale Brown, who has waxed our floors before, and Debbie Weisenburger, a recently retired custodian for Alliance City Schools, who teamed up with Dale for three hours on Saturday morning to clean and wax all the floors in the Pantry. Dale is the custodian at Union Avenue United Methodist Church and he also is a bus driver for Alliance schools. He got to know Debbie when she would finish her work at different schools and then often would go the bus garage to help clean.
Terra Lashley, our warehouse manager, and her son Bob had cleared off all the floors in the warehouse and the front serving area so that Dale and Debbie could do a spotless wide job without obstructions.
After sweeping all the floors, they used a cordless floor scrubber that Dale borrowed from Damon Industries to thoroughly scrub all the floor surfaces. After the clean floors dried, the tile floors in the warehouse were covered with two layers of wax. The wax was also donated by Damon's.
We thank Dale and Debbie for all their hard work, and for Ken Hacker of Damon's rental department who arranged for the use of the floor scrubber and wax.

05/30/2026

THANK YOU MARLINGTON: Marlington Schools’ food service department made a generous year-end school donation Friday morning.
Jackie Gillie, Marlington's food service director, and Heather Stocker, of the middle school, met with Jim Perone, pantry board president, and they unloaded and moved about 775 half pints of milk, 50 apples, about 150 bags of apple slices, a couple of boxes of oranges, and a box of snack bags of carrots into our walk-in refrigerator.

05/30/2026

Another opportunity for to join the community to support the pantry. Coming soon.

RUNNING TO FIGHT HUNGER: Everyone is invited to participate in a 5K run on June 6 to support the Alliance Community Pantry's mission of "Working within the community to end hunger."
The Neighbors Helping Neighbors event, organized by State Farm Insurance agent Jon Schleuder, is a 5K community-focused run/walk designed to bring together local residents, businesses, and organizations to support families facing food insecurity in Alliance.
All proceeds and collected food items will benefit the Alliance Community Pantry.
The event will take place on the Iron Horse Trail, a well-known and accessible local route, and will be open to runners, walkers, families, and supporters of all ages and abilities.
Food insecurity affects individuals and families right here in the community. The Neighbors Helping
Neighbors 5K will help raise both awareness and tangible support for neighbors in need by:
• Raising funds to support the Alliance Community Pantry’s ongoing operations.
• Collecting non-perishable food items through a race-day food drive.
• Encouraging community involvement and volunteerism.
• Strengthening partnerships between local businesses, nonprofits, and residents.
Sponsoring the Neighbors Helping Neighbors 5K also provides businesses and organizations with meaningful opportunity to give back while gaining positive visibility within the Alliance community.
Sponorships to gain levels of recognition include Bronze ($100); Silver ($200); and Gold ($300).
For more information or to become a sponsor or community partner, contact: Jordan Browning, Neighbors Helping Neighbors 5K organizer, at 330-605-1223 or [email protected].

05/23/2026

PANTRY CLOSED MONDAY: Our Alliance Community Pantry will be closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day. We will be open again at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Have a good holiday weekend

05/14/2026

CHAMBER WOMEN'S SUPPORT: Last year, 2,068 different homes with 6,570 family members visited our pantry 14,767 times, and they went home with a total of 1,160,073 pounds of food. That would never happen without the amazing support we get from all across the community from individuals, businesses, schools, clubs, organizations, etc.
One more example of that is the Women Division of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce whose members collected and donated 94 pounds of food that was dropped off Monday by Sue Grove, seen here with Pantry volunteer Jim Menegay.
In addition to the food donation, seven members signed up to volunteer this week! We certainly appreciate the support.

05/12/2026

STAMP OUT HUNGER: As they've done in past years, the Alliance Post Office once again collected food from customers all over town to be given to those in need. On Saturday, letter carriers collected food donations from homes along their routes, that afternoon and again on Monday the food was divided and delivered to our Alliance Community Pantry and the Salvation Army.
Our pantry received 2,383 pounds of food, about 500 more pounds than last year. It was delivered by postal workers Joe Fisher and Robert Brick and others. The donations were handled and weighed by pantry volunteers Jim Menegay, Jim Perone, Jim Greiner, Tristen Claudio, and pantry manager Debbie Skubiak.
We give huge thanks to the community and the postal workers who made this happen.

05/04/2026

RUNNING TO FIGHT HUNGER: Everyone is invited to participate in a 5K run on June 6 to support the Alliance Community Pantry's mission of "Working within the community to end hunger."
The Neighbors Helping Neighbors event, organized by State Farm Insurance agent Jon Schleuder, is a 5K community-focused run/walk designed to bring together local residents, businesses, and organizations to support families facing food insecurity in Alliance.
All proceeds and collected food items will benefit the Alliance Community Pantry.
The event will take place on the Iron Horse Trail, a well-known and accessible local route, and will be open to runners, walkers, families, and supporters of all ages and abilities.
Food insecurity affects individuals and families right here in the community. The Neighbors Helping
Neighbors 5K will help raise both awareness and tangible support for neighbors in need by:
• Raising funds to support the Alliance Community Pantry’s ongoing operations.
• Collecting non-perishable food items through a race-day food drive.
• Encouraging community involvement and volunteerism.
• Strengthening partnerships between local businesses, nonprofits, and residents.
Sponsoring the Neighbors Helping Neighbors 5K also provides businesses and organizations with meaningful opportunity to give back while gaining positive visibility within the Alliance community.
Sponorships to gain levels of recognition include Bronze ($100); Silver ($200); and Gold ($300).
For more information or to become a sponsor or community partner, contact: Jordan Browning, Neighbors Helping Neighbors 5K organizer, at 330-605-1223 or [email protected].

05/01/2026

THANKS TO MORMON CHURCH: Once again, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints has greatly supported the work of our pantry, this time time with a $15,000 grant to use to purchase items not always available at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Overseen by our pantry manager Debbie Skubiak, $3,000 of the grant was used this week to purchase a wide range of cleaning supplies, soap, detergent, and hygiene products for our clients.
Bruce Helsel and Glenn Rupp, pictured here unloading the supplies, picked up the donated products Thursday morning in Brecksville.
We are thankful to the Latter-Day Saints for their continued support.

04/29/2026

FOODBANK SITE VISIT: Amanda Salmons, programs coordinator for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, stopped at our pantry Tuesday morning for her annual inspection, and we passed with flying colors. Her overall site visit assessment was 97 percent!
Among those meeting with Amanda, seen here, were Cathy Torma, office manager; Jan Horning, data coordinator; Jim Greiner, treasurer; and Jim Perone, board president.
Amanda checked out all the operations of the Pantry including the documents we are required to maintain -- Ohio Food Programs Manual, temperature logs, pest control, invoices, monthly reports, civil rights checklists, signature logs, eligibility letters, and proxy forms.
In a followup e-mail message to us, Amanda said: "Thank you for sharing your morning with me yesterday for the site visit! As always, it's a pleasure to see the great work your pantry does and your commitment to serving your community well."
Our Pantry certainly values and appreciates all the connections we have with the Foodbank.

04/25/2026

MOUNT CLASS HELPS OUT: As she does several times every semester, Dr. Beth Canfield-Simbro assigns some of her students to help volunteer at our Pantry.
Friday was another example, as nine students in her Sociology 220 "Many faces of poverty" class experienced some of the lessons up close. They spent the morning cleaning refrigerators and fans, packing cans and bottled drinks, and bagging condiments in preparation for Monday's 4 p.m. opening.
Helping direct the students was pantry board president Jim Perone.