Operation Home Plate

08/27/2026

📣 WE COULD USE A FEW EXTRA HANDS TUESDAY EVENING! ❤️

Have a couple hours to spare? Come volunteer with Operation Homeplate from 6–8 PM!

🛒 Help pull carts for families
❤️ Help with kiddos while parents shop
🙌 Jump in wherever an extra hand is needed!

Need volunteer or community service hours? WE CAN HELP!

🎓 Teens needing hours for National Honor Society or school
📋 Jobs & Family Services
🤝 Other community service requirements

As a nonprofit, we can document and sign off on eligible volunteer hours.

📍 777 S Summit Street, Smithville
⏰ Tuesday | 6–8 PM

Bring your teen, bring a friend, or come yourself! A couple hours of your time can make a BIG difference on pantry night. ❤️

08/26/2026

🎒 IT’S OFFICIAL! OUR WEEKEND BACKPACK PROGRAM IS OPEN! ❤️

Registration is now open for Operation Homeplate’s 2026–2027 Weekend Backpack Program!

The program provides supplemental, kid-friendly food to help support children and families over the weekend.

🍎 Pre-K through 12th grade
🏫 Public, private & homeschool students
📍 Wayne County and surrounding communities
❤️ FREE for participating families

Smithville students will have their bags sent home from school. Families in surrounding districts can pick up during our pantry hours.

📅 August 24, 2026 through May 27, 2027

❤️ WE’RE ALSO LOOKING FOR SPONSORS!

We are still looking for sponsors to help support this year’s Backpack Program. If you, your business, organization, or employer would like to help us keep backpacks filled throughout the school year, we would love to hear from you!

📧 [email protected]
📞 330-765-9092

Or even better, stop by and check us out! Come see our new space, learn more about what we do, and see firsthand where your support goes. ❤️

📍 777 S. Summit St., Smithville

Registration link below! ⬇️

https://gforms.app/r/frgTF8u

Operation Homeplate
A program of Homeschool Voyages
❤️ Rooted in Service and Community

Operation Home Plate, a program of Homeschool Voyages, in partnership with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, is offering a Summer Backpack Program for children in Wayne County, including public, private, and homeschool students. Each registered child will receive a weekly bag of supplemental food....

08/25/2026

We are open tonight at St Paul's Lutheran Church located at 777 S Summit Street in Smithville. If you need help come see us from 6-8pm. If you have reusable bags please bring them as we are low on boxes tonight

08/24/2026

Getting ready for our first day in our new location. We will be open today from 1-4pm and tomorrow 6-8pm

777 S Summit Street in Smithville. Look for our letter board next to the Saint Paul's Lutheran Church sign.

08/23/2026

As we head into our first full week at our new home, we want to take a minute to share a few important reminders. ❤️

1. 🥚 Please DO NOT bring any more egg cartons until further notice. We collected them faster than our egg suppliers can use them! If you know an egg supplier willing to trade a few dozen cartons for a dozen or two of eggs, please put them in touch with us. We can provide a tax receipt for donated eggs upon request.
2. 📍 We have moved and are officially ready to serve our community at 777 S. Summit Street in Smithville. We are located inside St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, only a minute or two from our previous location.

Our hours are still:
Mondays 1–4 PM
Tuesdays 6–8 PM

3. ♿ Please leave the parking spaces directly in front of our entrance available for those with handicap placards. Please also avoid parking in any spaces marked handicap throughout the rest of the lot in case visitors to the church need them. The parking lot is well marked, so please park in designated spaces only. This helps keep things safer for our volunteers, shoppers, and everyone using the church.
4. ❤️ Please be patient with us over the next couple of weeks while we figure out what works best in our new space. We have a whole new setup and are excited to find the best way to use it to better serve our community.
5. 📢 If you know someone who utilizes our pantry, please help us spread the word about our new location. We don’t want anyone going to the old location and thinking the pantry is closed.
6. 🛒 If you are shopping for more than two households, we will serve two households at a time. You’ll need to sign in the additional households and go through the line again. This helps us keep the line moving and make sure each household is served accurately.
7. 🥫 If you would like to donate food or funds, we can accept donations during pantry hours and sometimes outside of pantry hours as well. Just send us a message and we will find a time that works with your schedule. Tax receipts are available for donations.
8. 🧸 Do you have soft sensory items you’d like to donate? We could use a few! We’re looking for soft sensory toys, soft or cloth books, Color Wonder books and markers, and other small, quiet sensory items that can help keep kiddos comfortable while their family shops. New or gently used, easy-to-clean items are welcome.
9. 📱 Want to stay up to date? Text to 81010 for pantry reminders, emergency closures, extra open days, and other important updates.

Thank you for continuing to support Operation Homeplate and for growing right along with us in our new home. ❤️🥦

08/22/2026

To help orient people a bit better. This is the intersection off of 585 that you are looking for. If coming from Wooster turn right if coming from the direction of 57 or Apple Creek Road turn left. The church will be about a mile (me guessing at the distance) down on the right hand side. St Paul's Lutheran Church is what you are looking for. 777 S Summit Street in Smithville

08/21/2026

Notes from the pantry:

As we are preparing to open at our new location on Monday August 24th we want to take a minute to talk about where to enter and where to park. The photo below is marked with reference points. Please leave the spaces marked with the blue rectangle for those with a handicap placards. You are free to park anywhere else in the parking lot provided it is a MARKED space. Please avoid parking against the sidewalk.

The red star indicates which door to enter at. We will only be exiting the building from these doors if a shopper has mobility aids (walkers, wheelchairs, etc).

We look forward to welcoming everyone to our new space located at 777 S Summit Street in Smithville Monday August 24th from 1-4pm and again on Tuesday from 6-8pm.

08/19/2026

🌎 World Humanitarian Day feels like the perfect day to share this.

Operation Homeplate has moved! ❤️

Our new home is inside St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 777 South Summit Street in Smithville.

Earlier this year, it was just a few of us moving things in and putting shelves together. Last night, we had an amazing group of volunteers show up and help us move.

Seeing everyone working together meant more than we can say. Thank you to everyone who lifted, carried, organized, and helped make this move happen. ❤️

New home. Same mission.

📱 Want weekly food pantry updates?
Text to 81010 to stay in the loop!

Operation Homeplate
Rooted in Service and Community.

08/18/2026

Stay in the know with our text updates. we will use this system for pantry closures as well as any special open hours. Don't worry we won't spam you, it is a system we only use on rare occasions

08/16/2026

A few friendly reminders from Broc-Lee:

1. The summer backpack program has come to a close. We are adjusting to a weekend program that will follow the breaks for Green Local Schools in Smithville. This means the backpack hours are done. Feel free to come shop the pantry from 1-4pm on Monday (August 17) or Tuesday (August 18th) 6-8pm.
2. If you have not signed up for our text message reminders please do so ASAP. Don't worry, we only use it for NEED to know things (ie emergency pantry closure or announcing an extra open day) or occasional reminders.

3. Starting Monday, if you are shopping for more than two households, you will need to do two at a time. Once you finish shopping for the first two, you can sign in the other families and go through the line again.

You can still shop for multiple families; we just can’t do more than two households at one time.

We look forward to serving the community this week. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday