Dear Friends,

I am humbled and honored to serve as the Board Chair of the Freestore Foodbank Board of Directors. In heart, mind and deed, I am a volunteer. My hope is that each of you that come in contact with our organization will become an active member of the Freestore Foodbank family. Please consider volunteering with your company or friends to pack Power Packs or Senior Boxes, help us with Holiday Food Distribution, participate in one of our many special events, become a donor, make a connection to resources, hire a Cincinnati Cooks or Lift the TriState workforce development graduate or help us advocate on behalf of over 80,000 tristate children that may not know where they will find their next meal.

It is with great pride and amazement to understand what 135 Freestore Foodbank team members manage to pull off in a year. Over 37.7 million meals were provided to those in our community that struggle with hunger. Nearly 93,000 individuals were assisted at our Customer Connection Center on Liberty Street. We ensured 6,507 children had food to eat over the weekend. Over 125,000 folks were helped monthly via our network of community partners. With our partners we distributed 8.4 million pounds of healthy, nutritious produce. None of this is possible without 13,287 volunteers that provided 96,886 hours of their time and their energy.

The numbers are impressive. Let me simplify it a little. At Freestore Foodbank we can turn one dollar into three meals. Imagine for a moment that one of those meals helps a child somewhere in our hometown ace a test in school. Now that child is dreaming of all they can be. Perhaps that child goes onto becoming a teacher, a doctor, a chef or a distribution center manager and putting a dinner on the table is no longer a worry.

With gratitude,

Ramon Rodriguez
Vice President of Fifth Third Bank
(Board Chair)