The pandemic has changed the way local organizations are distributing food for the holidays. The Freestore Foodbank used the Reds Youth Academy in Roselawn on Friday to hand out turkeys and other groceries. Tuesday, St. Vincent de Paul will help about 1,200 households with a similar distribution.
Spokeswoman Claire Luby-Colton says it will look different from previous years because of coronavirus protocols. "Normally we host this distribution on-site. Neighbors will walk up, and they enter through our building. It's almost an assembly line: they get their turkey; they get their carrots; they get their rolls; and everything along the line," she says. "This year, we've done all the preparation ahead of time. We have boxes ready to go."
Luby-Colton says the Museum Center is hosting the distribution from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
"We looked at our facilities here at St. Vincent de Paul and we said 'We can't handle 1,200 folks driving through our parking lots. Cincinnati Museum Center has a wonderful set-up. They're literally our neighbors, so they're close to our headquarters and also to where our neighbors are living."
Luby-Colton says while demand for services is up across the board this year, the number of people who can do hands-on help has been cut. "For an organization that relies so heavily on volunteers, we've not been able to host volunteers, considering we want to keep everyone as healthy and safe as possible. This distribution, we had to rethink how we can staff this thing without those volunteers who are such a critical, huge part of this every year."
She says normally, about 150 to 175 volunteers help with the distribution, but this year because of the pandemic, only St. Vincent de Paul staff and a few volunteers will be managing the event.
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