The Buckeye Health Plan is working to make sure everyone in Ohio has a meal to eat this holiday season and the city of Dayton was not left out.
The organization’s Operation Feed the Hungry handed out 300 hams and 125 turkeys to 16 Dayton non-profits agencies at the Dakota Center Tuesday morning.
These agencies, such as, The Gospel Mission, Catholic Social Services and the Dayton Fatherhood Initiative will be able to distribute the food to the people they help.
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LaVelle Betts, the community relations supervisor for Buckeye, spoke to NewsCenter 7’s Adam Marshall about the initiative.
"My dad always taught me, it's best to give back than to receive. So, for us and our staff, this is a great way to give back to the community."
Several communities and their non-profits statewide will receive assistance over the next two days.
The program is set to distribute a total of 4,587 hams and turkeys across Ohio to more than 120 agencies from Monday to Thursday.
“Today is Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland,” Betts said. “We going to do this another two days and keep it rollin man.”
Over 1.8 million Ohioans are struggling with hunger, and of them just over 575,000 are children, according to Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap 2017 study.
Askana Faulkner, a volunteer with Dayton Urban Young Life, is trying to lower that number and says she enjoys this event every year.
“It’s just nice to help the community,” Faulkner said.
Operation Feed the Hungry began in 2010 and has given 17,687 hams and 9,587 turkeys to 27,274 Ohio families through 493 statewide, community-based organizations, according to a Buckeye release.
Buckeye Health Plan offers managed healthcare for Ohioans on Medicaid, Medicare, integrated MyCare Ohio and the Health Insurance Exchange.
