Grassroots People Feeding People helps Akron neighbors struggling with grocery access

A local nonprofit is trying to radically change how food assistance is distributed in Akron.

Every other Wednesday, People Feeding People (PFP) arrives somewhere, sets up and distributes free food out of the back of a box truck. The group has been operating citywide for over a year with help from the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank.

Caleb Mays, a founding member of PFP with Kenneth Brooks and Imokhai Okolo, said the group has a good relationship with the food bank.

Katie Carver Reed, the vice president of the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank, agrees. Many of the food bank's partners — PFP included —focus on areas without ready access to food, she said.

"And so for us, any opportunity to partner with an organization that can reach different neighborhoods and different communities is a value add for everyone in the community," Carver Reed said.

PFP receives food from the food bank, but is taking steps to create its own supply. The group has a lot in South Akron that it's developing into a garden, Okolo said.

Brooks said PFP was formed from the protests organized after Jayland Walker was shot to death by Akron police in 2022. Organizers, he said, were looking for a way to transform the protests into "something a little more effective toward the community, and just another form of resistance."So, he said, they had the idea to bring groceries to places where they knew people need help.

"It kind of grew from there," Brooks said.

Feeding people isn't the only mission. Community building is a major focus, too, Mays said. That means following up with the folks PFP serves to see if they want to get involved.

Okolo says it is misleading to attach the label "food desert" to areas where residents lack access to fresh, nutritious sustenance because deserts occur naturally. Decisions to either avoid opening groceries in underserved communities or close existing operations in these low-income neighborhoods are "something that's intentional," he said. PFP calls such neglect "food apartheid."

For example, he said, bustling commercial areas such as Wallhaven and Fairlawn make Whole Foods, Acme and Giant Eagle easily accessible to those communities and Northwest Akron.

But he sees a dearth of options for much of West Akron and other parts of the city where residents struggle the most to pay for food, transportation and living space.

It's flawed thinking, he said, to assume that existing forms of assistance are sufficient when the locations that serve such programs are still out of reach.

"We are not real about the economic crisis we are facing in our communities," Okolo said. "But we don't want to talk about that. We want to make it seem like 'oh, there's only a few number of people in poverty and they have food stamps.' It's not cutting it."

How People Feeding People reaches into Akron's neighborhoods

Mia Maria, one of PFP's organizers, said the distributions often yield new volunteers from the area surrounding the distribution site.

When arriving in a neighborhood, Okolo said, the group goes door knocking in the area to inform people about what's happening. It results in an immediate boost in its volunteer pool, he said, because people want to help.

The personal connections Maria makes with people is why she keeps volunteering, she said.

"They tell us half of their life stories," Maria said. "I personally love it. I like talking to the people, I like getting involved, knowing what is going on with them."

Maria's son Royce Mayle, 12, also volunteers with PFP. Royce said PFP reduced his mother's grocery bill from nearly $200 a week to roughly $60 to $100 a week.

Okolo said that if people want to get involved, they're welcome to join PFP, which is active on Instagram as @PFPAkron and has a Linktree account here: https://linktr.ee/pfpakron.

"We're providing a concrete example of how a group of people who saw a problem in our community who wanted to dedicate some time and some resources came together to start a food program that allows us to feed people in our neighborhood," he said.

Recipients praise 'awesome' work during Juneteenth food distribution

On June 19, PFP set up in the parking lot of the closed IGA on Hammel Street, across from the Park Lane Manor Apartments in East Akron, to commemorate Juneteenth.

Ten minutes into the distribution, people were lined up in the sweltering heat. Fruit, vegetables, meat, hair care items, frozen food and more were available for people to take.

Monique Knox, a volunteer with PFP, said people from the apartment complex helped with the distribution. Meanwhile, volunteers canvassed the neighborhood.

Michelle Kiltau heard about the distribution from her sister. She's on a fixed income and it's hard sometimes to afford groceries, she said, adding that it's "awesome" and that she expects to attend another distribution.

Teara Edwards and her 3-year-old son, Osiris, live in the apartments across they street. They were in line, sheltering in the shade of the truck. PFP dropped off a flier to her significant other, she said, so Edwards came out.

Though she doesn't have trouble paying for food, she said, it's still expensive. Having a community resource like PFP working out of the parking lot across from her home makes her feel nurtured.

"I think it's awesome because it gives me the notion that there's actually people that care about us living in this type of community, so to speak," Edwards said.

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: People Feeding People tackles grocery inequities in Akron communities