Food Drive Supports Local Pantries

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The City of Zanesville partnered with Riesbecks and the Muskingum County Hunger network to organize a food drive today at the Riesbecks downtown location.  

Zanesville Assistant Fire Chief Doug Hobson talked about how the event supports the local food pantries and hot meal programs who depend on the generosity of the community to provide for the residents who rely on them for assistance.

“We knew that there was trouble right now with unfortunately, the government being shut down, funds being short,” Hobson said. “The mayor had put out a text, hey, we need to do something. Of course, I jumped on board. I’ve worked with Jamie and with Eastside, all the Hunger Networks. So we sat down and had a meeting and said OK, what are we going to do and let’s hit the ground running. So along with the marketing team from Secrest and all of our local marketing through Facebook, we hit the ground running this morning.”

Riesbeck’s also conveniently discounted and placed pantry items near the front of their store for customers to purchase and wheel out the door to donate. In case you missed today’s event, you will have another opportunity to help others in your community.  

“Yes. So next Wednesday and Thursday of next week of course, Secrest Auditorium, just like Covid, we are going to have a nonperishable food dropoff. You can roll up to the side doors, right on Fourth Street, honk your horn or we’ll be watching for you. Any nonperishable food, you can also make a check donation, a cash donation, and just new today, we have a Venmo. And that Venmo will be plastered all over Facebook, social media, so if you… If you just want to make a donation, you can’t get out, you can use that Venmo,” Hobson said.

Both Wednesday and Thursday’s food drives will take place from 10 to 4 at the Secrest Auditorium to help stock the local food pantries as we head into the holiday season.