Mayor's Office

We would like to thank everyone who donated to our local food pantries during the holiday season. Your neighbors and those who oversee the food banks are certainly appreciative of your efforts to support this community.

While we stress the need during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, families look for support year-round.   Hunger doesn’t go away on Jan. 1.

 Berea Community Outreach saw a record 182 families in November. Last year, that number was 132. There were 41 families served in the first week of December. Last year at that time, 21 families were served. At Thanksgiving, the BCO pantry gave out 180 turkeys. We usually plan for 150.

That trend will likely continue for all of the pantries in Berea.

Donations of food supplies are always welcome. Non-perishable food items such as canned vegetables and fruit, soup and spaghetti are needed, especially at the Little Food Pantries located behind City Hall, at People’s Community Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church and at the corner of Prospect Street and Meadow Drive.

Berea Community Outreach sees a need for personal items including toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant.

All of these items can be dropped off at BCO’s new location, 398 W. Bagley Road, Suite 3, in the Business Incubator building. BCO is in the rear off the parking lot.

Cash donations are welcome, too. This enables the staff to purchase items that are needed in bulk at a lower cost. Make checks payable to Berea Community Development Corp., a non-profit that funds BCO activities.  To make a donation by credit card, you can go to the City web site, www.cityofberea.org, click on the BCO page where there will be a link for credit card donations.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact Natalie Guzzo, the administrator of social and senior services, at bco@cityofberea.org or call (440) 826-4891.

Your continued support of our neighbors in need is greatly appreciated.