Say what you will about 2020, but you have to admit it was not uneventful. For a year of pandemic-induced lockdowns and travel restrictions, it was not without its excitement.

NNEMAP Food Pantry experienced a year of accelerated growth and explosive expansion in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In case you missed it, we….

*Expanded our service territory to include the whole City of Columbus and Franklin County,

*Allowed shoppers to come once a week instead of twice a month,

*Added Thursday afternoon/evening hours so we are now open 6 days a week,

*Introduced a popular grocery delivery service for customers who can’t get out.

As expected given the economic fallout of the pandemic, we were busier than ever distributing food to our friends in the community. By the end of the year we…

*Served 5,137 unique households (up from 3,736 in 2019)

*Served 17,480 unique individuals (11,904 in 2019)

*Fulfilled 18,546 requests for groceries (17,338 in 2019)

*Distributed the equivalent of 605,250 meals (526,731 in 2019).

Thank you to our supporters, including our incredible church network; United Way of Central Ohio; The City of Columbus Department of Development; The Columbus Foundation; and hundreds of individual donors who gave what they could for those who had nothing to spare.

Thank you for helping us navigate a most unusual year. 2021 is off and running already. We are looking forward to running this race with you again!

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We are always welcoming new partners to our community. Click a link below to learn how you can get involved today!

DONATE       VOLUNTEER

The blustery autumn months are upon us. Before you know it, those holidays are going to be blowing down the street, right toward us. 

YIPES!

For NNEMAP Food Pantry customers, holiday gifts can be out of reach. That’s why we try to brighten up those days by offering toys and gifts to our youngest customers. Last year NNEMAP Food Pantry served 4,675 children aged 17 or younger. Nearly 1,000 of them received holiday gifts. That put a lot of smiles on little faces!

The Holiday Gift Shoppe is back for 2020–and we fear it may be needed more than ever. We can only offer this special service with your help. Can you donate a gift–or your gifts–to put a smile on a child’s face this holiday season? 

Here’s how you can help:

*Donate new, unwrapped gifts: here are some great GIFT IDEAS

*Donate funds on our DONATION PAGE

*Donate your time by volunteering! Here’s how YOU CAN HELP!

*Print and share a copy of our informational flyer: PRINT A COPY NOW! 

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THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAKE THE HOLIDAYS A SPECIAL TIME FOR OUR YOUNGEST CUSTOMERS!!!

Necessity is the mother of invention, or so said Plato in his Republic. Who are we to argue with ancient Greek philosophers? In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been forced to reimagine the way we do a lot of things. For NNEMAP Food Pantry (and others), this has meant that customers no longer have the freedom to enter the building and choose their groceries. It’s not ideal, but we are continuing to get food to customers.

As the lockdown settled in, NNEMAP Food Pantry introduced a grocery delivery service, available on a limited basis. Also, we are now serving customers from any ZIP Code. We have eliminated a huge barrier to pantry access by expanding our service area.

As jobs and incomes have disappeared, so have the thin financial cushions that separated our customers from disaster. To help people preserve scarce financial resources, we have been permitting weekly visits to the pantry, up from 2 visits per month. Weekly visits will become permanent policy starting on Monday, August 3.

For our many working customers, we are expanding our hours to offer more convenient shopping times. Starting August 6, afternoon/evening hours will be available every Thursday from 3pm-7pm. The first hour of every Thursday will be reserved for customers who are over 60; immunocompromised; or differently abled.

Beginning August 8, Saturday shopping hours will be available. From 10am to 1pm, customers will be full-service pantry shopping–food distribution will not be restricted to produce and bread.

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We are looking forward to these permanent service enhancements that will better serve our customers. Our expansion efforts have been made possible through generous funding from the City of Columbus; United Way of Central Ohio; The Columbus Foundation; the Ohio CDC Association Community Recovery Fund; and our many dedicated individual and church sponsors. 

We are blessed to receive a $1,000 grant from The Catholic Foundation through the Foundation’s responsive grant cycle. This grant will help us continue to grow our service area and distribute more fresh and healthy food to more customers. We are proud that our pantry is being acknowledged and supported for all the good work we do.

We are grateful for all the donors who made this grant possible through The Catholic Foundation. Individuals who care deeply about helping others and want to do more in their community can set up endowments and other funds through The Catholic Foundation for the benefit of organizations like NNEMAP Food Pantry.

To learn more about how you can set up funds to help NNEMAP Food Pantry, please reach out to The Catholic Foundation’s Director of Development, Scott Hartman, at shartman@catholic-foundation.org or 614-443-8893.

To make a secure, online donation to NNEMAP Food Pantry right now, CLICK HERE.

To learn how your planned gift can leave a lasting legacy at NNEMAP Food Pantry, contact Sean Becker, Director of Development + Marketing, at 405-850-1688 or sean@nnemappantry.org.

Last month NNEMAP Food Pantry was invited again to participate in the CenturyLink “Backpack Buddies” fundraiser. This campaign promises matching funds of at least 75 cents on the dollar thanks to the generosity of the Clarke M. Williams Foundation. That’s a great deal no matter how you look at it. 

After last year’s successful fund drive netted over $20,000 in total donations, NNEMAP challenged you, our donors, fans and supporters, to make this year’s event even better. Leave it to an organization supported by dozens of churches to understand the old ‘call and response’ routine, because did you ever respond!

NNEMAP’s donor individuals, churches and other organizations contributed over $37,000 toward the Backpack Buddies campaign. The Clarke M. Williams Foundation matched that nearly dollar for dollar. When all was said and done, NNEMAP was blessed with over $70,000 in total cash donations!

There’s really only one thing to say:

THANK YOU!!!!