People leaving the basement of a former high school with bags of groceries might seem out of place. But for the past 16 years, every Wednesday and Saturday, it’s become a normal sight for those who visit the Euclid Hunger Center, located in the basement of the Shore Cultural Centre, 291 E. 222nd St. Starting at 10 in the morning people line up, taking small yellow numbered cards, if the day is especially busy, and make their way around a room with cans of salmon, cereal, bread, seasonal veggies and other items, stacked high on tables by local volunteers. People pack groceries after visiting the Euclid Hunger Center, 291 East 222nd Street in Euclid. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) The manager of the Euclid Hunger Center, Kay O’Donnell, said when she started in the position eight years ago, she found herself questioning the role of the pantry early on, but quickly realized that hunger is a pain that stops people from being able to tackle other tasks in their lives. “I remember after the first couple weeks I was a little disillusioned because I thought, ‘these people are gonna get food, and then the next month they are gonna get food,’ when does it change, how does their life change?” O’Donnell said. “And my mentor at that time said, ‘unless someone has food to eat nothing else matters,’ so it’s great that you can get them a driver’s license and this and that but if they don’t have food to eat today, then nothing else matters. “So, for us, we like to think that we are giving people food for three or four days to maybe get them over a hump until their paycheck comes or their SNAP benefits come.” Volunteers move boxes around inside the Euclid Hunger Center. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) She said those visit the shelter include working families that are on the edge of poverty. “The majority of our people are working families that can’t quite make ends meet,” O’Donnell said. “You know how it goes, you make over a certain amount of money, and you lose your SNAP benefits, and then you use your SNAP benefits because you have to cut back your hours so it’s just this vicious cycle, where you can’t ever quite get ahead. “I have families here, they are working two, sometimes three jobs, dad is working, and mom is working part time. Kids are home, so it’s either child care or you stay at home with them.” She said many who visit are deciding between paying for childcare and groceries, with a number of them not able to afford the $25 for a birth certificate, and additional costs of a license which the center offers vouchers for as part of the Identification Crisis Collaborative program. “People can come here, and we can give them the voucher to help them get the birth certificate, because a lot of our people have lost the paperwork over the years,” O’Donnell said. “And you can’t get a driver’s license without a birth certificate, and you can’t get a job without a driver’s license, so again it’s just that whole cycle.” Euclid Hunger Center Manager, Kay O’Donnell stands in one of their storage rooms. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) The center is for Euclid residents only, although if someone comes, no matter where they are from, or their situation, they are not turned away empty handed. Many people are offered a once around “emergency shop” of food and provided information on where food centers are located near them for the future. The reason for only allowing Euclid residents was because when they tried to expand the program and open it up for Cleveland residents, the demand was too much to handle. “We just can’t handle the volume of people,” O’Donnell said. “We can serve on a really busy day and get through about 90 people, we would be at the 140 to 150 mark. “We would have to be open eight hours a day, and for our volunteers, we can’t ask them to do much more. I already try as much as I can.” Volunteers help hand out food. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) O’Donnell said she often reminds her volunteers that everyone has to be treated with dignity and that many people are just a few paychecks away from poverty. “One of our main things is to treat everybody with dignity and respect because that’s all anybody really wants,” O’Donnell said. “Nobody is dying to get here, it’s already a humbling experience to have to come in and ask for help in any capacity, so, we want to make that as easy as possible.” Last year the center received over 500,000 pounds of donated goods from local stores with the center taking in about 3,000 pounds every week just from the food bank. A volunteer moves ID files around, inside the Euclid Hunger Center. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) With around 600 families served each month, O’Donnell said the need for cheaper access to healthy food is clear, and that she doesn’t anticipate the demand decreasing anytime soon. She said that sometimes her volunteers get frustrated, expressing doubt on if people really do need the food or not, in response, O’Donnell said, it’s not her responsibility to judge people, just to give them help. “It’s not our job to judge why someone is here, if they need it, they need it, and if they don’t do well then they can live with themselves,” O’Donnell said. “Everyone deserves dignity, and everyone deserves to eat food. In the United States where literally hundreds of tons of food gets thrown away, it’s inexcusable that someone should need food to eat.” The Euclid Hunger Center will be offering veggie pop-ups in the summer, with more information on the different services they offer on their website www.euclidhungercenter.com