MARBLE CLIFF Heart to Heart

Food pantry reaches out to local residents

Did you know there is a food pantry in Marble Cliff? Heart to Heart is located in First Community Church, 1320 Cambridge Blvd. It operates completely on donations and is not part of the church budget.

Heart to Heart does a whole lot more than operate a food pantry. It shows love, compassion and dignity to friends in the pantry and on the streets.

The food pantry is set up as a grocery store for those who are experiencing food insecurity. The Tri-Village Rotary helped by purchasing new flooring, shelves and freezers, and taking care of the electrical needs.

Heart to Heart provides three meals a day for three days for each individual in a household on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11 a.m. The program typically helps around 70 families per week. Heart to Heart is a choice pantry, meaning families can come and shop just as they would at a grocery store.

“Our food pantry has seen incredible growth over the last few years and especially over the last year,” says Angie Weber, Heart to Heart Coordinator.

In 2011, the pantry served 4,600 individuals and 8,600 families – compared to 1,500 individuals and 4,000 individuals the prior year. “So far in 2012, we have assisted over 1,000 individuals in each (month) of January and February, so you can see our numbers continue to increase,” Weber says.

Heart to Heart purchases the majority of its food from MidOhio Foodbank, with the rest coming from donations and food

Foxes Return to Marble Cliff

About six years ago, shortly after dark one spring evening, our son came home and said, “Did you know we have little foxes playing in our front yard?” We scurried to look out our front windows and indeed, two little red foxes that moved and acted like puppies were prancing, rolling and running with enthusiasm all over the place. They were nested under our front porch and stayed for about another month, coming out each evening like clockwork. We spent our evenings watching foxes instead of TV.

drives. In 2010 the pantry spent just over $4,000 to purchase food, compared with $9,000 in 2011. “The amount of food we go through per month would cost around $12,000 at the grocery store,” Weber says.

Heart to Heart’s homeless outreach involves taking out a grill and cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and brats for homeless individuals every Wednesday. The program helps homeless individuals qualify for benefits and locate housing, and teaches them to cook, clean and live within a budget.

What can you do to help your neighbors in need?

• Donate financially to help Heart to Heart purchase food from Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

• Donate food items for the food pantry. Drop-off donations are accepted at the pantry, at the church’s South Campus, 1320 Cambridge Blvd.

• Hold a food drive.

• Spread the word about Heart to Heart.

For more information, contact Angie Weber at 614-4880681.

A resident reported the following to Village Hall:

Since then we have had repeated sightings of red foxes in the neighborhood. Last spring, we were again blessed with a litter of kits born under our front porch. This time, there were three. They ran their poor mother ragged while giving us a thrill each evening as we again watched their antics from inside our house. They were so bold as to sit on the porch furniture and rip apart bags of mulch they seemed to think were there solely for their amusement. As I write this, we are once again on the alert. We have had fox sightings in our yard several times in the last couple of weeks and we hope this means that again this spring, we will be blessed with a new litter to watch.