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Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk Humbly.
Director: (614) 488-0681 ext. 106
Manager: (614) 488-0681 ext. 203
hearttoheart@FCchurch.com
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
Tuesdays 9am to 12pm
Thursdays 9am to 12pm
First Community South
1320 Cambridge Blvd. Columbus, OH 43212
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Announcements

Holidays 2021

By Announcements

Closing Dates

The church building will be closed in observance of these holidays, and the pantry will be closed for volunteer shifts. These are not regular service days for clients.

  • Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (1/18/2021)
  • President’s Day (2/15/2021)
  • Memorial Day (5/31/2021)
  • Labor Day (9/6/2021)
  • Columbus Day (10/11/2021)

We will be closed for all client service hours and volunteer shifts on the following dates. Please plan accordingly.

Annual Closure

  • Monday, September 13 through Friday, September 17, 2021

Thanksgiving

  • Wednesday, November 24 through Friday, November 26, 2021

Christmas

  • Closed December 24 through December 31, 2021
    • Thursday, December 23 is the last service/volunteer day of 2021
    • Monday, January 3 is first volunteer day of 2022
    • Tuesday, January 4 is the first service day of 2022

Other Closures

Special Events

Inclement Weather Policy

Heart to Heart will make every attempt to remain open during regular business hours unless there is a Level 2 Snow Emergency in Franklin County, an active thunderstorm, or an official Tornado Warning in our area. In the event we are closed, we will make note on our voicemail, on our Facebook page and here on our webpage. Volunteers for the day will be notified via email as soon as a decision to close has been made.

Public Health Alert System Policy

Heart to Heart will make every attempt to remain open during regular business hours, unless Franklin County reaches a level 4 purple alert status. In the event we are closed, we will make note on our voicemail, on our Facebook page and on our webpage.

Thanksgiving

Heart to Heart does not distribute Thanksgiving Baskets in the pantry. Read more>>

Christmas

For information about our Holiday Help program this year, please click here.

Additional Resources

Please refer to LSS 211 (formerly HandsOn) for additional holiday assistance programs.

September 5, 2021
Love0

Update from Rev. Kate Shaner

By Announcements

Dear Friends,

Phillipians 1:3 says “I thank my God every time I remember you,” which is how I feel about all the Heart to Heart volunteers. I know that this time has been very difficult with the COVID-19 pandemic, all the recent changes at Heart to Heart and the year of 2020 in general. I want you to know how grateful I am that each of you have chosen to serve with us in the midst of all the chaos.

From chaos comes creation, and I know that together we will continue to feed our hungry siblings and stay safe at the same time. With that in mind, I’d like to offer some thoughts to make you feel more connected to what’s happening.

Weekly, you will receive an email from Heart to Heart. It will include a preview and link to Heart to Heart Happenings, our blog. The blog is full of the most current information and is always available at h2h.FCchurch.com/blog. This will be our primary means of communication, so please take time to read it in its entirety each week.

I have heard from a number of volunteers that they are not receiving this email or getting the information we send. Please do me a favor and check your junk/spam folder to make sure the emails aren’t being routed there. These emails are sent using the church’s Constant Contact account, so if you have unsubscribed from any emails from FCchurch.com, you will need to resubscribe. If you’re unsure that your email address is on our distribution list, please contact Amy, as she can see who has received and opened these emails. You can also use this link to manage your email subscriptions from Heart to Heart.

Speaking of Amy, please know that she and I work as a team. We meet weekly and stay in constant communication regarding the needs of the mission program, including Heart to Heart. Anything that one of us shares or asks has already been discussed with the other. When in doubt, it is safe to assume we are in contact with one another.

Hopefully, everyone knows we began new hours on November 1. As we live into those new hours, we will continue to evaluate volunteer shifts that best fit into the new schedule. We will stick with the current schedule until Thanksgiving and reassess at that time.

Per request, we are now going to use the white board in the hallway of the annex to display a calendar so people can see what’s happening at the pantry during the week. Along with that calendar, we will provide a space for volunteers to write notes. It is difficult for me to keep track of things that people tell me in passing. As a minister, I’m used to greeting people in line after delivering a sermon. Often, people will tell me important information while shaking my hand and excpect me to remember. As I tell each one of them, please know if you want me to remember it, I need you to write it down. So whatever you think we need to know, you can write on the white board.

I want to relieve you from the burden of worrying about how we will staff the pantry on any given day. Please be assured we are working hard to monitor the sign-up and find volunteers. We will not leave any shift short-staffed.

I know many of you won’t believe this, but part of my brain is very organized! If you know Amy, I’m sure you know that she is very particular. We are both working overtime to assuage our own anxieties by cleaning and organizing our lives in the annex building and Lincoln Road Chapel.

Please understand we are working diligently to streamline and standardize procedures at Heart to Heart so things are easier and safe for everyone. As the country patiently awaits the results of the presidential election, we ask for your continued patience as we move forward. We are being meticulous and it will be worth the wait!

I do thank God every day for your willingness to continue to care for people amid a pandemic that keeps most people home. I know that God is present every day I’m here. I know that because I see God in all of your faces. I look forward to serving with you.

Rev. Kate Shaner | Minister of Mission
First Community | Where Everyone is Accepted

1320 Cambridge Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 488-0681, Ext 102 | (614) 488-2763 Fax

kshaner@FCchurch.com
FCchurch.com | h2h.FCchurch.com

November 7, 2020
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COVID-19 Policy

By Announcements

An Update on our COVID-19 Policy

We are grateful for your willingness to share your time at the Heart to Heart Food Pantry during this pandemic. The work we do is very important to the community and keeping it operational and safe are our utmost priorities at this time.

The Public Health Advisory Alert System is a color-coded system designed by the Ohio Department of Health to supplement existing statewide orders through a data-driven framework to assess the degree of the virus’ spread and to engage and empower individuals, businesses, communities, local governments, and others in their response and actions. Heart to Heart will make every attempt to remain open during regular business hours, unless Franklin County reaches a level 4 purple alert status. In the event we are closed, we will make note on our voicemail, on our Facebook page and on our webpage.

Please do NOT come to Heart to Heart if you have:

  • symptoms of illness
  • a fever or a cough
  • been in contact with someone who has been ill or
    has a fever or cough
  • have been in contact with someone who has tested positive COVID-19 in the last 30 days.

BEFORE you enter the church property (while you are still in your car), please do the following:

  • Put on your face mask.
  • Use hand sanitizer.

When on church property:

  • Follow check-in procedures and take your temperature.
  • Keep face mask on at all times.
  • Observe social distancing.

If, at any time, you (or someone in your household) test positive for COVID-19, you must notify us immediately, as there are protocols and safety measures to complete if a person testing positive was on the property.

Thank you for all the work you do.

November 4, 2020
Love0

New Hours Announcement

By Announcements

Announcement

And what does the Lord
require of you
But to do justice,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly
with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJ

Our mission at Heart to Heart is to respond to God’s commandment to love one another.
Our vision of Heart to Heart is to model God’s love by:
Cultivating a loving community
Honoring individual gifts
Feeding bodies and souls
…and seeing everyone as a child of God

In accordance with Federal law and U.S.D.A. policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, or disability.

November 1, 2020
Love0

Donation Match Announcement

By Announcements

Announcement

Written by Donor

Recently, I spoke with two delightful women who have been helped through our Heart to Heart program. Their enthusiastic words certainly confirm the relevance of our mission!

Bridgette heard of Heart to Heart from a friend who said, “I want to take you to a food pantry where you will feel the love!” On her first visit, she said she immediately felt the warmth and love from the most wonderful volunteers and the smell of hot coffee and doughnuts. “Food for my soul,” she said.

Then, she met dear Miss Kitty, sitting at the desk and being “everyone’s mama.” Bridgette was shown all the literature on community resources and given coupons galore, much to her delight. She has five kids and has always been a huge collector of coupons. There wasn’t a pause before Bridgette bubbled over with her crockpot experience.

A Girl Scout delivered brand new crockpots to our food pantry, and Bridgette was given one with a recipe and all the ingredients needed for that meal. She said, “Where else can one pick out their own groceries and choose meat from the freezer? Where else is one shown that kind of love and respect?”

The following words are from Kathy:

Something amazing happens every time one walks through the door of Heart to Heart. It begins with the feeling of love and acceptance, perhaps a prayer, a hug. At Easter, there was candy for kids who would otherwise not have any; for Mother’s Day, a small plant. One Christmas – when I knew our kids would have nothing – Heart to Heart “adopted” us and surprised us with wrapped gifts!

It’s hard to put aside one’s pride and walk into a food pantry, but each time I feel loved and respected by all the kind and helpful volunteers. It truly changes your life when you leave home with hungry kids and an empty refrigerator; and you get to fill up your cart with staples, meats, fresh produce, and toiletries. I can assure you, if you are sad going in, you are smiling when you leave!

When you support Heart to Heart from October 1 through December 31, your gift will be doubled by an anonymous donor. Click below to make a contribution online.

And what does the Lord
require of you
But to do justice,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly
with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJ

Our mission at Heart to Heart is to respond to God’s commandment to love one another.
Our vision of Heart to Heart is to model God’s love by:
Cultivating a loving community
Honoring individual gifts
Feeding bodies and souls
…and seeing everyone as a child of God

In accordance with Federal law and U.S.D.A. policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, or disability.

September 23, 2020
Love0

Hiatus Announcement

By Announcements

We will be closed from September 8 through 19, 2020.

Volunteer shifts will resume Monday, September 21.

Client service hours will resume Tuesday, September 22.

Daily Discussions

Most mornings will begin with a discussion between small groups of volunteers. There will be a specific subject-matter for each day and you should sign up to attend only those discussions with which you are currently involved or have an interest.  To respect everyone’s time and energy, these will be limited to one hour and focused on the topic assigned.

You are encouraged to bring your feedback, suggestions, and notes to keep these discussions brief and focused. Some items to reflect on might be:

  • Do I understand the process completely and know why certain things are done?
  • What works well regarding this process? What’s your favorite part?
  • What needs work and what suggestions do I have to improve this process?
  • What am I willing to do to facilitate the implementation of these changes?

These discussions have been scheduled specifically to allow time to hear from the dedicated volunteers that keep Heart to Heart running. Your knowledge and input are necessary during this transition and in planning for the future. Please keep in mind that these are discussions and not meetings. Decisions may or may not be made at this time, but your input will contribute to any decisions made in the near future.

All discussions will take place in the parking lot at First Community South at 9am unless otherwise noted. In the event of rain, we will move the gathering to the main room at Lincoln Road Chapel. Please sign up for the discussions so we can anticipate set up needs.

If you’re unable to participate in the discussion due to other commitments, we still want to hear from you. Please send us your brief thoughts and questions. The Suggestions Box will also be out during the next two weeks for volunteers who want to write a short note.

Schedule

Click to enlarge

Volunteer Activities

There are some pretty big projects we want to tackle during this service hiatus and many hands are needed to complete them! Large quantities of food stock and other storage will be moved in between buildings during the second week of our hiatus. We are asking volunteers to sign up only if they are willing and able to lift and carry at least 25 pounds while walking several yards and using several sets of stairs. This will be physically taxing and we need volunteers who are able to handle the demand.

We will strictly adhere to CDC guidelines regarding social distancing at this time. For this reason, we will not allow walk-in volunteers and are limiting the number of volunteer slots available. Please respect the regulations we have put in place for these activities, for your own health and that of our community.

No worries if you cannot volunteer for the whole shift. Please indicate the approximate arrival/departure in your comments when you sign up. It would be extremely helpful to include your cell phone number in addition to an email address, so we can easily contact you with any last-minute changes of plan.

Click for Volunteer Sign-Up Geniuis

And what does the Lord
require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly
with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJ

Our mission at Heart to Heart is to respond to God’s commandment to love one another.
Our vision of Heart to Heart is to model God’s love by:
Cultivating a loving community
Honoring individual gifts
Feeding bodies and souls
…and seeing everyone as a child of God

Follow us on facebook
Follow us on instagram
Make a Donation
Sign up to Volunteer

September 5, 2020
Love0

COVID-19 UPDATE

By Announcements

Every year, the eligibility requirements change for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). In the state of Ohio, a family of 3 can make $42,659 in a year as of today. Well, that was the case until COVID-19. Now, a family of 3 can make $49,059 in year. As this number has gone up, it is a sign our number of clients could increase as well. Our average family size we serve at Heart to Heart is a single mom with at least 2 children.

Over the past three weeks, we have seen a spike in the number of clients served. Most of the clients we saw this month received food from us before. At the same time, there was a surge in the number of new families who visited us with a total number of 161 households. This year, for the month of March, we served 522 households with a total number of 1,929 individuals. In March 2019, we served 422 households with a total number of 1,433 individuals.

When we first saw how more restrictions were being enforced, we knew we would have to make some changes on how we traditionally serve our clients. Normally, we would allow our clients to come inside the pantry at (1944 W. First Ave) to choose which foods they would like to have for their families. However, with the new restrictions we went to a drive-in system to pre-package all of our clients food. We divided all our pre-packaged bags to reflect either 1 to 4-person family or a family of 5 or more. Families of 1 to 4 select 2 bags of food with  items such as canned soups, canned veggies, toiletry items, and separate bags for produce and refrigeration items. Families with 5 or more people will get 3 bags with the same type food, only more. Inside these bags we also placed resources for various food pantries, bus routes to get to these places, and helpful information for family resources.

I’m very grateful for my team (The Task Force) who created this awesome plan and help to make things run smoothly. They are: Addair Levine, Janice Rook, Michael Delphia, and Melody Smiley. Their hard work came at a time that is much needed to ensure all our clients are being served safely and orderly as well as volunteers being safe.

The outpouring of support from the community has been nothing short of amazing. We appreciate everyone’s response to this crisis. We have appreciated your prayers, your food and monetary donations, volunteer support, etc. We have been truly blessed and will continue to do this very important and needed work for as long as we can.

To Learn more about TEFAP and how this affects our clients, click here.

If you would like to volunteer at Heart to Heart please click here. Please note: everyone is now required to wear a mask or face covering of some sort. Please bring face mask with you to volunteer. Gloves will be provided.

Lamar Graham | Heart to Heart Director
First Community | Where Everyone is Accepted

1320 Cambridge Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 488-0681, Ext. 203
(614) 488-2763 Fax

lgraham@FCchurch.com
FCchurch.com | H2H.FCchurch.com

And what does the Lord
require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly
with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJ

Our mission at Heart to Heart is to respond to God’s commandment to love one another.
Our vision of Heart to Heart is to model God’s love by:
Cultivating a loving community
Honoring individual gifts
Feeding bodies and souls
…and seeing everyone as a child of God

Follow us on facebook
Follow us on instagram
Make a Donation
Sign up to Volunteer

April 9, 2020
Love0

COVID-19 Plan REVISED 3-20-20

By Announcements

Change in Process at Heart to Heart Food Pantry

Alternative Service Plan

The health and well-being of our clients, volunteers and staff are top priorities for us here at the Heart to Heart. To that end, Heart to Heart will move from its current shopping model to pre-packaged boxes until further notice.
The plan upon arrival at Heart to Heart:
  • Clients will be asked to stay in their vehicles and a volunteer will help line up cars on the curb along First Avenue.
  • A volunteer will register clients for the pantry while they remain in their cars.
  • Clients will be directed where to drive up and receive pre-packaged boxes.*
  • Clients will then exit by driving past the front of First Community South onto Cambridge Blvd.
*Please note the following:
1. Clients will be only be able to shop for themselves and one other family and/or friend per day
Those people should fall under the “High Risk” category:
  • Persons over 65
  • Persons with chronic medical conditions: Diabetes, Chronic lung disease, cancer, etc.
2. Case managers will only be able to shop for two families per day.
In the interest of keeping human contact to an absolute minimum, what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) calls “social distancing,” we believe that this is the safest course of action to take moving forward, especially during these challenging times.
3. All of our clients/proxy shoppers can shop once every 30 days.
We so appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we all look out for one another during this public health threat and as this situation continues to unfold. Please check in on each other, take care of each other, and pray for each other.
If you are interested and able to volunteer during this time, please view the Sign Up Genius online here. All volunteers will be asked to take their temperatures upon arrival to serve. If they have a fever above 100, they will be sent home.
At this point, our plan will be to continue to serve in this capacity until we are ordered to close.
Thank you,

Lamar Graham | Heart to Heart Director
First Community | Where Everyone is Accepted

1320 Cambridge Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 488-0681, Ext. 203
(614) 488-2763 Fax

lgraham@FCchurch.com
FCchurch.com | H2H.FCchurch.com

And what does the Lord
require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly
with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJ

Our mission at Heart to Heart is to respond to God’s commandment to love one another.
Our vision of Heart to Heart is to model God’s love by:
Cultivating a loving community
Honoring individual gifts
Feeding bodies and souls
…and seeing everyone as a child of God

Follow us on facebook
Follow us on instagram
Make a Donation
Sign up to Volunteer

March 20, 2020
Love0
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