Freestore Foodbank, Volunteer Services

Over the last 40 years, one man’s passion for helping his neighbors has transformed into one of the region’s largest food banks.

The Freestore Foodbank distributes over 12 million pounds of food annually.  In 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, we have a trusted network of over 325 local member agencies.   Member agencies include soup kitchens and shelters, food pantries, churches, daycare and senior centers, and many other community and social services organizations.

Our Customer Connection Center distinguishes the Freestore Foodbank from other food banks. The Customer Connection Center (in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine) works to meet the needs of our community’s most vulnerable citizens: the homeless, the unemployed, the working poor, and families in crisis.  By providing emergency food, we work to determine the root causes of poverty and food insecurity, and this allows us to offer services aimed at creating self-reliance.

When people come to us for food, we help them find the other things they may need — a safe place to live, government benefits they need, access to affordable health care, clothing or job skills and placement.  In our line of work, food is not the end product. Rather, food is the vehicle for a larger conversation that leads to self-reliance.