Bike Cleveland, a local nonprofit organization that specializes in
promoting cycling activities and events all over our beloved city, just donated
thousands of dollars worth of donations in food and money to the Hunger
Network! Cranksgiving is their annual event that is held at
different venues all over our city. Participants bring their bikes and
cycle to different grocery stores in order to purchase food to donate to Hunger
Network pantries for the holidays. This is the second year in a row that
this remarkable event has donated the proceeds of this event to our
organization!
This year’s Cranksgiving took place at the Beachland
Ballroom on November 22; the Hunger Network was there to spread awareness about
our mission to help fight hunger and also the linkage of hunger to health,
which is the focus of our organization’s Stay Well Project. As you may know,
Stay Well works toward reducing the chronic illnesses that result from food
deserts (or areas without a grocery store within a half-mile.) for clients of
the Hunger Network.
To help illustrate what few options are available to people
without transportation or access to grocery stores, Stay Well Project
Coordinator Sara Continenza led the group to a near-by grocery store. This
small convenience store had a very limited, in size and product selection,
produce section and almost no healthy food (photo below). These limited
resources make it incredibly difficult for neighbors in these communities to
access healthy food - this, in turn, leads to poor health outcomes for
these folks. This hands on experience helped Cranksgiving participants
to truly understand the need in our community and the substantial help they
were offering on that day.
The Hunger Network has 98 hunger centers throughout Cuyahoga
County. Two of our pantries, CACCI and CACCII, were the lucky recipients of
this year’s Cranksgiving donations. However, all of our centers need
your help as this is the busiest time of year. The need is the highest
throughout the months of November and December, increasing from serving 60,000
people per month, to over 75,000 in our pantries alone. With the need being
high, and our resources being stressed to the limit, no donation is too small.
Cranksigiving was a tremendous food and fund drive that will make
a difference to so many in right here in Cuyahoga County.
