Wonderful Juneteenth Turnout
We were so excited to welcome hundreds of friends and neighbors to the annual OCS Juneteenth Cookout on June 18! Turnout outpaced our expectations and there was still plenty of ribs, burgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, green beans, and potato salad for everyone. This annual gathering celebrates the spirit of the holiday and highlights how we all build a more equitable community when we come together. Special thanks to the Bill Long Foundation for contributing $1,300 to offset the cost of the cookout, to Craig Kinsley of Smokehouse BBQ Company for donating his time and expertise preparing dozens of slabs of melt-off-the-bones ribs, to OCS board members Donna Russell and Charlita Anderson-White for being our featured speakers, to all the volunteers who came together to serve food, set up and tear down tables, empty trash cans, and all the many other tasks that make the Juneteenth Cookout a success! This was a banner year and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2027!
AVI Brings 1,000+ Pounds of Food
Our friends Ben, Manda, Lisa, and Michael from AVI Fresh at Oberlin College stopped by the OCS warehouse on June 2 to donate 1,010 pounds of food plus several hundred more pounds of hygiene supplies! Each spring, students donate leftover dining hall funds. AVI — the campus dining hall vendor — uses the gifts to purchase bulk food for the OCS pantry. They delivered ramen, mac and cheese, peanut butter, oatmeal, pasta, almond milk, applesauce, soup, rice cakes, snacks, and much more. Thank you, OC students and AVI! These donations arrived at the perfect time: Need starts to heat up during the summer months each year, which means more families visit the OCS pantry.
What a Sweet Donation!
The OCS food pantry received an amazing gift of 1,225 boxes of cereal from Firelands Elementary School on June 5. Students there collecting cereal during the final two weeks of school, honoring the memory of Kevin Conry. He was a Firelands seventh-grader who died of cancer in 2020 and would have graduated last year with the Class of 2025. Neighbors who came to the food pantry were excited to see a mountain of cereal, since it’s an important breakfast staple and can be used for easy meals children can make themselves while parents are at work. We are SO PROUD of the Firelands families who came through with these donations!
Awesome Dairy Delivery
The Firelands Schools kept their donations rolling after the end of the school year, bringing 500 cartons of milk to OCS! District Food Service Director Judy Baumann (right) said it was important for unused milk to go to local families in need. The milk was a big hit, especially among parents who need more food on hand to keep kids fed during summer vacation. Thank you, Firelands!
Please mark your calendar: OCS will be closed Friday, July 3 ahead of Independence Day. We will reopen Monday, July 6.
PARENTS: Did you know you can get FREE classroom supplies from OCS this summer? If your child is enrolled in the Oberlin City School District for the 26-27 academic year, visit www.oberlincommunityservices.org/backtoschool and sign up for our annual BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY! The deadline to register is Aug. 6. We have your kids' classroom supply lists and will provide everything on it, plus some extras. Register today and mark your calendar for the giveaway on Thursday, Aug. 13 from 3:30-6:30 p.m.!
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.
