Love Center serves 250 Holmes County families amid rising need

250 Holmes County families turned to the Love Center Food Pantry in March, and some came back more than once, pushing the month’s total to 340 visits. In a county where budgets remain tight and grocery bills keep pressure on households, the Millersburg pantry again showed how often short-term help becomes a regular stop.

The March total translated into a heavy flow of food. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank supplied 29,199 pounds, while donations from businesses, churches and individuals added another 12,346 pounds. Together, more than 41,000 pounds moved through the pantry in a single month, a scale that underscores how much of the county’s emergency food response depends on one local operation working with regional and neighborhood support.

The Love Center says it has been helping families with emergency food supplies since 1986 and now serves more than 700 Holmes County families each year. It is a member agency of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank and operates at 1291 Massillon Road, Suite A, in Millersburg. Pantry hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

The numbers also show that today’s demand fits a long pattern. In March 2012, the pantry reported 388 different families and 549 visits, along with 33,673 pounds from the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank and 11,471 pounds donated locally. Even as the mix of donations has shifted over time, the basic formula has stayed the same: regional food bank supply, local giving and volunteer labor keeping the shelves moving.

That volunteer network remains a major part of the operation. The Love Center logged 900 volunteer hours in March, a reminder that every box packed and every bag handed out depends on people who donate time as well as food. The pantry has also benefited from community fundraisers such as the Millersburg Food Run, which began in 2018 and raised $8,000 in 2024 with a record 91 registrants.

Holmes County’s broader need helps explain why the pantry stays busy. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank estimates the county’s food insecurity rate at 11.7 percent, or about 5,190 individuals, including 1,680 children. Across the food bank’s service area, it says one in seven people and one in five children may struggle with hunger.

The Love Center also handles a substantial volume over the course of a year, processing more than 660,000 pounds of food, according to 2024 reporting. Taken together, the March totals show a pantry that is not just filling emergency gaps, but serving as a steady part of Holmes County’s anti-hunger infrastructure.