Offering Caring Support since 1955
Fostering a Culture of Gardening
The Great Seed Giveaway was held during the last week of February to get seed packets to THOUSANDS of Lorain County families! Lead Gardener Henry Yeager put out packets of pepper, pumpkin, pea, parsley, parsnip, radish, bean, cabbage, melon, tomato, and dozens of other produce seeds — all with the goal of encouraging people to plant home gardens.
As part of our sustainable food strategy, OCS works to promote a culture that embraces growing nutritious, delicious food in addition to purchasing it or getting it from our pantry. Hundreds of families came to the Cooper Center during this three-day giveaway, which is an annual event held before the growing season begins.
We’ve also arranged for a March seed starting workshop (see flyer below) led by LCCC. If you’ve never planted a garden before or even if you’re a pro looking for some tips, sign up and attend! Registration is required and space is limited. Sign up at www.oberlincommunityservices.org/workshops.
Planning for the Future
At OCS, we’re proud of what we do through our food, emergency assistance, and educational programs. We’re also always looking to improve!
Since 2021, we've met the goals of our long-term strategic plan, which included updating programs, leveraging partnerships, strengthening financial planning, getting a larger facility, and much more.
Now it's time to forge goals for the next three to five years. Staff have already started meeting with experts from Rosa Consulting, LLC to talk about our vision, needs, and priorities. You can help! If you have strong feelings about how OCS should steer toward 2030 and beyond, let us know at ocservices@oberlincommunityservices.org!
Please Support Second Harvest
Second Harvest Food Bank aims to bring in enough donations this year to provide 3.9 million meals for families in need across our region, including those in southern Lorain County. "Remember who we are serving: Our neighbors," Second Harvest President and CEO Julie Chase-Morefield said, kicking off the annual Harvest for Hunger campaign on Thursday, Feb. 26.
When you donate to Second Harvest, you are also donating to Oberlin Community Services! It is our single largest provider of food, providing more than 464,000 pounds to the OCS pantry last fiscal year. Without Second Harvest, we could not serve the nearly 7,400 unduplicated people who access our food programs each year.
Working with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, grocery stores, food plants, the Department of Agriculture, and many other sources, Second Harvest is able to leverage more than 12 million pounds of food each year. OCS’ food pantry is one of 88 supplied by Second Harvest in Lorain County (and 37 more in Huron, Erie, and Crawford counties).
Learn more about how YOU can help Second Harvest (and OCS!) at www.secondharvestfoodbank.org.
No longer sponsored by Keebler or BIC
To be clear, we never were! But the logos of Keebler, BIC, LL Bean, Swiss Army Co., Jostens, and tons of college bookstores covered the glass panels behind our front desk in the Cooper Center lobby — all were sponsors of the building’s former owner, the National Association of College Stores. As of Feb. 24, these panels have been removed and replaced with extremely useful whiteboard-covered wall sections!
Supplies for People Who Are Homeless
Members of Temple B'nai Abraham in Elyria worked the last couple of months to collect soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toilet paper, socks, can openers, and other items to build homeless kits to donate to OCS.
With all the supplies on hand, they built 47 kits Sunday, Feb. 22 and delivered them to the Cooper Community Resource Center later in the week.
These kits are extremely important tools for OCS. We give out between 30 and 50 each year to unhoused individuals and families trying to survive terrible circumstances. Prebuilt bags are customized on a case-by-case basis with ready-to-eat food, menstrual products, baby supplies, and other items.
Folks at Temple B’nai Abraham (pictured building the kits) have supported OCS with food drives and monetary donations the last few years during the Jewish high holidays and Thanksgiving. This year, they took on the homeless kit project as another way to serve Lorain County families in need, and have pledged to do so again in 2027.
We are always extremely grateful for community groups, civic groups, places of worship, school groups, sports teams, and others who do projects to help OCS clients! We are so happy when people invest in the community by holding food drives and fundraisers to ensure neighbors have the resources they need to thrive!
Teens and young adults: Have you ever wanted to learn the basic skills needed to cook for yourself? Here’s your opportunity! OCS Farm to Fork classes are for ages 15-24 and teach simple skills that allow you to prepare delicious, nutritious meals on your own. They also cover basics on where food comes from and how to grow your own. Plus, participants will end the class by getting FREE kitchen utensils to take home!
Class spaces are limited and registration is required. Sign up HERE. The deadline to register is March 31, but we anticipate all class spaces will fill up far in advance of that date, so sign up today!
OCS will be closed to the public on Tuesday, March 3 while staff clean and organize offices and storage areas, get caught up on paperwork, and complete projects. Choice food pantry hours will continue as normal on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (March 2, 4, and 6). While OCS will be closed for the day, the Cooper Community Resource Center will remain open for our partners.
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.
