North Ridgeville Community Care

Community Care operates with the help of churches, schools, individuals, corporations, grants, outside support and the efforts of over 70 dedicated volunteers. 100% of donations to our Client Fund go directly to meeting the needs of clients within the city of North Ridgeville. Current forms of client assistance provided by North Ridgeville Community Care include the following:

FOOD PANTRY: Part of our facility is our food pantry which provides complete and balanced meals to our clients with sufficient food to accommodate all persons living in the home. It is our philosophy that regardless of parental lifestyle, if there are planned meals in the home the children will not go hungry and may also benefit in other ways from the familial value of an organized mealtime. If someone is in immediate need of food and they are not one of our pre-approved clients, our policy is to give them "emergency food” from the food pantry and have them complete an application form for future needs.

CLOTHING & HOUSEHOLD ITEMS: We provide our clients with gently used clothing, laundered by our volunteers, and made available on a daily basis. The clothing is donated by persons in our community. Household items are also donated, and special needs are met whenever possible such as requests for beds, cribs, household furniture, etc.

UTILITY & HOUSING ASSISTANCE: In order to provide our clients another opportunity to maintain reasonable living accommodations, we assist with utility and rent payments. Clients are allotted $200 per calendar year toward rent/mortgage payments after providing proof that they have received no financial assistance from any church, governmental agency, charitable institution or relative for at least four months. They are also allotted $200 towards utility assistance (i.e. electricity and/or gas) per calendar year. When a client requests assistance, we are able to send the necessary funds directly to utility companies and/or landlords to ease the economic burden that many families have had to shoulder in recent years. We have been proud to pioneer this unique service for clients which, since 1989, has prevented countless utility shut-offs and evictions. New clients are eligible for this program after one month.

DAIRY: We provide milk, eggs and butter to our clients. The essential nutrition of dairy products is especially needed for the development of our young children. This program is currently being funded by the Nord Family Foundation, which has renewed our grant this year.

LAYETTES: When a baby is born to one of our clients, the parent is presented with a layette of personally purchased items including diapers, “onesies”, booties, a sweater set, blankets, bottles, a baby toy, a stuffed animal, and baby hygiene products.

SUMMER LUNCHES: Five lunches per week are offered for school age children who have been on a government funded school program which ends with the school year. Their eligibility is qualified by the North Ridgeville City Schools. Food is purchased in bulk and then packaged and distributed by volunteers.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: Required school supplies are purchased and distributed to school age children. We feel it is important for all children to begin the school year on an equal footing with their classmates, and to better enable them to focus on their studies in the year ahead, dignity intact.

EASTER BASKETS: Easter Baskets full of candy and small toys for children 10 and younger are distributed to our client families along with a box of food for Easter dinner, including a ham, spring vegetables, sweet potatoes, pie, and eggs for coloring.

THANKSGIVING BASKETS: Each Thanksgiving we receive donations of turkeys and other food items for Thanksgiving. The week before the holiday, we offer baskets containing an entire meal complete with a turkey.

CHRISTMAS STORE & ADOPT-A-CHILD PROGRAM: Every Christmas we request donations from the community for new gift items: brand new toys, clothes, games, etc. We place all of these items by category in our specially designated "gift shop" area and, prior to Christmas, invite our clients to shop (with no money) for their family members and loved ones. We also ask our clients to fill out Wish Lists which we pass on to people in our community who would like to "adopt" a child or family for Christmas. Each year we make every effort to ensure that every client with a Wish List receives gifts for Christmas.

EMERGENCY PRESCRIPTION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: With the prescription expertise of a local pharmacist, we can offer immediate and/or temporary medication. Sometimes there is an urgent need that cannot wait on a free clinic and must be addressed immediately.

ESSENTIALS: Twice a month items that are needed on a daily basis, which are taxable but not covered by Food Stamps, are offered to our clients. These essentials include personal and hygiene products such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent and cleaning supplies as well as paper products like towels, Saran wrap, aluminum foil and toilet paper.

COMMUNITY GARDEN: Volunteer men and women from the community, with the help of a local farmer and his wife, have coordinated local plots of land throughout the city in order to grow produce to donate and distribute to our clients. We believe it is a great blessing to be able to offer fresh, in-season vegetables to our clients.