A Very Big Year for Food Programs
What a tremendous year for the OCS food pantry! We got food to 2,505 unduplicated families with 7,729 unduplicated members and had 21,250 pantry visits and deliveries, which represents a 6.4% increase over 2025.
Food went to 2,409 children (31%), 3,924 working-age adults (51%), and 1,396 seniors ages 60+ (18%). We noted a significant shift in the composition of households seeking food assistance, with slightly fewer seniors (60+) and many more small (2-3 members) families with babies and toddlers coming to the pantry. OCS welcomed 995 "new" households — those that had never before come to our nonprofit for food — of which 382 had never before accessed a food pantry in all of Ohio.
The surge was especially high in October during the federal government shutdown, which stopped SNAP payments to roughly 34,000 people in Lorain County. Now 2026 is off to a fast-paced start, with
Do you want to plant a garden? We have the seeds to make doing so easy and inexpensive! OCS is committed to increasing food security across Lorain County — and that starts with encouraging people to grow food. Gardens produce healthy fruit and vegetables, and are a sustainable source of essentially free food year after year after year. During the Great Seed Giveaway, we’ll have packets of corn, lettuce, spinach, string bean, radish, pea, onion, and turnip seeds along with many other types from arugula to watermelon. We’ll also have a wide array of flower seeds to beautify your landscape and attract pollinators. As the event name implies, the seeds are FREE. The Great Seed Giveaway is open to all Lorain County residents, regardless of income.
How can I donate to OCS?
There are lots of ways to donate to OCS — mail a check, give online, use PayPal, make a gift of stock, even include OCS in your estate planning. Learn more by clicking the button below.
You can donate right from our Walmart wishlist
Did you know we have a wish list? You can buy items for the OCS food pantry via our Walmart online registry. It highlights dozens of low-cost nonperishable staples that are especially useful for the thousands of families we serve. To buy food to donate to the OCS pantry, visit www.tinyurl.com/OCSwishlist and browse the list! Donations can be shipped or brought to the Cooper Center, 500 E. Lorain St., Oberlin, OH 44074.
