1 in 6 children go to bed hungry every day.  Many of those children and their families live in our area.  To address these issues, the Urban Mission provides food assistance to over 1600 families each month.

 

Grocery Distributions

In 1975, “God’s Pantry” began out of a Sunday School classroom in the basement of Calvary United Methodist Church in downtown Steubenville. Twenty-two bags of groceries were sent home with needy families that first day of operations.

Now located in our 30,000 square foot Warehouse at 311 N. Sixth Street, in 2010, God’s Pantry served 1,426 families who were living at or below the poverty level.

Warehouse Director, Bud Lindgren, Program Director, Linda Smith and Warehouse Secretary, Patti West now oversee one of the largest food distributionoperations in Ohio totaling 1,008,231 pounds of food product in 2010.

The Urban Mission distributes food to residents of Ohio and Weirton, WV.

Monthly distribution is held on the third Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of each month from 9-12noon and 1-3pm.

Senior Food CSFP Distribution is held on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 8-10am.

This ministry is located at the Mission’s Warehouse.

Area residents sign up to receive food once a month.

How You Can Help

  • Volunteer to help repackage bulk foods
  • Volunteer to help pack food bags (3rd Tuesday each month)
  • Volunteer to help distribute food bags on distribution days
  • Funds (Food can be purchased at a discount through the Mid Ohio Food Bank in Columbus )*

* Through the Mid Ohio Food Bank the Urban Mission can purchase all items at 12 cents per pound.  For example:  One pound box of cereal bought in the grocery store costs $4.00.  Through the Mid Ohio Food Bank that same $4.00 can purchase approximately 40 one pound boxes of cereal.)

The Unity Kitchen

In 1994, “Unity Kitchen” began for the purpose of serving hot lunches to low income residents of downtown Steubenville. Located in the dining room of the main facility at 301 N. Fifth Street, hot meals are now served at noon on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week.

Under the direction of Rev. Toni Hubbard, Soup Kitchen Director (the only paid staff person), Urban Mission’s Soup Kitchen served 17,062 hot meals in 2010.

In addition to a nutritious meal, Rev. Toni leads our lunch guests in prayer and devotions prior to each meal.

Located in the basement of the Urban Mission office, the Mission’s Unity Kitchen serves homeless and low income families every Monday – Wednesday from noon – 1pm.  Volunteers arrive by 9am to begin food preparation.

How You Can Help

Volunteer to help prepare food

  • Volunteer to help serve food – Please arrive at 10am
  • Volunteer to help clean up after meal is served – Plan to stay until 1:30pm
  • Provide funding– Through extra funds, we can continue to improve the facilities of our kitchen.
  • Bring in your unused prepared food – If you have left over food from a party, wedding reception, or family reunion and it has been refrigerated properly, we can accept this.