Cincinnati Children’s Primary Care Pantries - Upcoming toiletry drive

Cincinnati Children’s Pediatric Primary Care Center (PPC), Hopple Street Neighborhood Health Center (HPC) & Fairfield Primary Care (FPC) care for hungry children on a daily basis.  Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, approximately 25-30% of the families served at these locations experienced food insecurity. These rates are currently climbing due to the economic stressors of 2020.  In order to combat food insecurity & better address social determinants of health, the CCHMC Primary Care offices partnered with the Freestore Foodbank & Shared Harvest to innovate a novel in-office pantry program in July 2017 at HPC and expanded to both PPC and FPC in 2019.  Primary care families who have a need are eligible for an emergency supply of shelf stable food from the in-office food pantries, and the clinical team also works to connect families to other resources by involving social work, Legal Aid, mental health partners and community health workers to help meet needs.   In 2020, the pantries expanded to offer non-food essentials such as cleaning supplies, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry/dish detergent, diapers and wipes—items whose cost can strain an already tight budget.

To date, the pantries have served over 8,000 people by distributing over 90,000 pounds of food to families in need.  Many families experience food insecurity as they struggle financially after the birth of a child when a mother has an unpaid maternity leave, a family experiences a job loss or the medical needs of a child lead to parental days of missed pay. The entire team in primary care works to assess families for other social determinants of health including caregiver depression, housing insecurity, problems with benefits, trauma and intimate partner violence. 

Families have commented, “The Pantry opened the door.  I now feel more comfortable asking for help if I find myself in a situation where I need it.  I know you all will do the best to help my family.”

The Medical Executive Committee is sponsoring a “Toiletry Drive” for the CCHMC Primary Care pantries.  On-site donation barrels are located throughout the medical campus during November, and an Amazon wish list is available at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/NBULGPAPHRF2/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1?_encoding=UTF8&type=wishlist 

If you would like to participate, the Medical Staff Donation Drive is being held from Nov 16-Dec 11, 2020.