One accurate barometer of a community’s economic health and vitality can be measured in the scope of assistance sought for essential daily needs among its members. Using that gauge, 2025 clearly remained a year of hardship, poverty and frustration for far too many in the Mahoning Valley as free food distributions by the Second Harvest Food Bank reached a near-record high of nearly 10 million pounds.

That figure, while down slightly from 2024 levels, still paints a very real picture of unacceptably high levels of food insecurity in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

Much of that hardship can be chalked up to skyrocketing inflation for most food items over the past 12 months and its daunting impact on the working poor in our communities. The increased need also results from the local economy’s inability to provide jobs that pay sufficiently to enable tens of thousands to escape the painful grip of poverty, rates of which remain stubbornly high.

Mahoning County, for example, logs the fourth highest poverty rate among the state’s 88 counties, and Trumbull County ranks ninth, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In sheer numbers, about 75,000 in the Valley live in poverty and high rates of food insecurity each and every day of the year.

Clearly the need for food assistance remains stubbornly high, and it would not be the least bit surprising to see that need increase even more amid the many economic uncertainties locally and nationally throughout 2026. As that need intensifies, the Valley is indeed fortunate to have the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley and its compassionate network of pantries and donors available as a critical safety net.

For our part, the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator are proud to be counted among the media sponsors for the 35th annual Harvest for Hunger campaign this year. The campaign, an intensive 21-county food drive among four regional food banks in Northeast Ohio, recently kicked off and runs through May 20.

Harvest for Hunger, one of the largest annual food and fund campaigns in the United States, is designed to raise dollars and collect nonperishable food to stock shelves and feed hungry mouths when demand rises and donations fall in late spring and early summer.

In 2025, the Youngstown-based food bank and its 160 hunger-relief organizations, pantries and programs throughout its tri-county service area, provided 9.7 million pounds of food, including 2.6 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, with a total value of $18.4 million that provided 8 million meals, or about 155,489 meals per week, according to SHFBMV.

Harvest for Hunger played a critical role in those numbers as more than $323,000 was raised providing more than 1.6 million meals to food-insecure Valley residents.

According to campaign organizers, 1 in 7 among us struggle daily to put food on the table. For children, that number is even more dismal, with 1 in 5 children at risk of going hungry during the day. In addition, nearly three-fourths of households served by the food bank include at least one child, one senior or someone struggling with a disability. What’s more, more than one-half of food pantry visitors say they have had to choose between affording food or seeking needed medical care.

That’s why Second Harvest merits a record-setting bounty in this year’s campaign. Each $1 donated translates into at least $10 worth of food that the agency can distribute to needy families and individuals. All food donations stay to help residents of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

To reap maximum yields this year, we urge schools, businesses, community groups and individuals to organize their own food and fund drives to benefit this worthwhile campaign. Those interested in doing so can obtain campaign posters, food drive collection boxes and other materials by contacting the food bank at 330-792-5522 weekdays or by visiting its headquarters and warehouse on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown.

Those wishing to donate to the campaign can do so by logging onto its website at mahoningvalley

secondharvest.org, clicking Upcoming Events and selecting the Harvest for Hunger tab.

Clearly there are myriad ways you can lend your support to cultivate success in this critically important Harvest for Hunger. Do so today.