{"id":12107,"date":"2025-03-25T16:05:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T21:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/?p=12107"},"modified":"2025-03-25T17:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T22:12:04","slug":"meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hilliard, OH \u2013 March 15, 2025<\/h4>\n

Meals of Hope, a national nonprofit dedicated to combating food insecurity, celebrated the grand opening of its Ohio chapter on Saturday, March 15th, with a highly successful meal-packing event in Hilliard. In partnership with the Hilliard Food Pantry<\/a>, Kiwanis Club of Hilliard<\/a>, <\/strong>and the Hilliard United Methodist Church<\/strong><\/a>, nearly 200 volunteers packed over 50,000 nutritious meals for Central Ohio families.<\/p>\n

The event, held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., marked the official launch of Meals of Hope\u2019s presence in Ohio. Spearheaded by Hilliard resident Jen Markewicz<\/a> and her family, the event brought together nearly 200 volunteers from multiple different organizations, including McKesson, Hilliard Church of Christ, Knights of Columbus, Moose Lodge, Parker Hannifin, and Hilliard Davidson High School<\/strong> to address the growing need for food assistance in the region.<\/p>\n

Meals of Hope<\/a> has a 17-year history of organizing community-driven meal-packing events across the United States. To date, the organization has mobilized over 250,000 volunteers and packed more than 100 million meals. The Ohio chapter aims to continue this impactful work by providing local organizations with a tangible way to support their communities.<\/p>\n

\"Meals<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal for volunteer turnout was 100 people. When nearly 200 people showed up, I was overwhelmed with emotion and pride for my Central Ohio Community,\u201d said Jen Markewicz. \u201cThe event was full of energy, excitement, and people working together for 2 hours to pack 5 pallets of a pasta meal that will be distributed right here in our community. Over 50,000 meals!\u201d<\/p>\n

The packed meals will be distributed through the Hilliard Food Pantry<\/strong> and Kiwanis Club of Hilliard<\/strong> to food-insecure families in Central Ohio. Meals of Hope in Ohio is now open and actively seeking partnerships with organizations interested in hosting future meal-packing events. These events offer a unique team-building experience while directly addressing food insecurity.<\/p>\n

Organizations interested in volunteering or hosting a Meals of Hope event can contact the Ohio chapter at (614) 636-1026<\/a> or visit https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/<\/a>. Meals of Hope is available to set up events anywhere<\/strong> and encourages any organization looking to make a direct impact on their community to reach out.<\/p>\n

About Meals of Hope:<\/h3>\n

Meals of Hope is a national nonprofit organization that empowers communities to combat hunger through hands-on meal-packing events. For over 15 years, Meals of Hope has brought together volunteers from businesses, organizations, and communities to package nutritious meals for those in need.<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/h3>\n

Jen Markewicz
\nVP of Community Development
\nj.markewicz@mealsofhope.org<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jenmarkewicz\/<\/a>
\n(614) 636-1026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hilliard, OH \u2013 March 15, 2025 Meals of Hope, a national nonprofit dedicated to combating food insecurity, celebrated the grand opening of its Ohio chapter on Saturday, March 15th, with a highly successful meal-packing event in Hilliard. In partnership with the Hilliard Food Pantry, Kiwanis Club of Hilliard, and the Hilliard United Methodist Church, nearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":12109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,15,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news","category-meals-of-hope-news","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMeals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Meals of Hope Ohio South\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T21:05:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T22:12:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2223\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/\",\"name\":\"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-25T21:05:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T22:12:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/a764ccac0f0e7058e972dc48ae9844da\"},\"description\":\"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2223,\"caption\":\"Meals of Hope Launches Ohio Chapter\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/\",\"name\":\"Meals of Hope Ohio South\",\"description\":\"Communities coming together to end hunger!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/a764ccac0f0e7058e972dc48ae9844da\",\"name\":\"matt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/496b7d897682256730ea1445eb1ffe7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/496b7d897682256730ea1445eb1ffe7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"matt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/author\/matt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening","description":"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening","og_description":"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.","og_url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/","og_site_name":"Meals of Hope Ohio South","article_published_time":"2025-03-25T21:05:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-25T22:12:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":2223,"url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"matt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"matt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/","url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/","name":"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-25T21:05:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-25T22:12:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/a764ccac0f0e7058e972dc48ae9844da"},"description":"Nearly 200 volunteers joined the Meals of Hope Ohio's grand opening, packing 50,000 meals to support local families in need.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2025\/03\/IMG_7333-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2223,"caption":"Meals of Hope Launches Ohio Chapter"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/2025\/03\/25\/meals-of-hope-ohio-chapter-packs-50000-meals-in-grand-opening\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meals of Hope Ohio Chapter Packs 50,000 Meals in Grand Opening"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/","name":"Meals of Hope Ohio South","description":"Communities coming together to end hunger!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/a764ccac0f0e7058e972dc48ae9844da","name":"matt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/496b7d897682256730ea1445eb1ffe7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/496b7d897682256730ea1445eb1ffe7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"matt"},"url":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/blog\/author\/matt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12107"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12118,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107\/revisions\/12118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealsofhope.org\/ohiosouth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}