Mid Ohio Market

Our Mission: Nourish Neighbors to Flourish

Our Vision: Modeling God’s Love, HEART Nourishes hungry neighbors with healthy nutritious food today, connects them to life building resources for tomorrow so they can flourish for a lifetime.

Hunger is a systemic problem that requires a holistic solution. In Franklin County, an estimated 400,000 people struggle with food insecurity. Food insecurity is living without reliable access to sufficient, affordable nutritious food. Hunger and food insecurity are symptoms of poverty.

Working together, as a community, with an abundance mindset, we can make change happen.

What Hunger Looks Like. Before COVID-19, one in four Franklin County individuals lived in a food insecure family. Food insecure neighbors missed an average of 3 meals a week. That equates to not eating 52 days a year. The hunger gap has not been closed, even when a single parent with a job, receives government support and visits a food pantry or soup kitchen. (Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s Missing Meal Index)

What if we changed the model? Our country has an abundance of food for all. The challenge is re-thinking how we get food to people who need food. HEART, Mid-Ohio Food Collective (MOFC), Feeding America and others are working on the local, regional, and national level to address systems that restrict getting more food to the hungry in our community.

Mid-Ohio Market Model: More families receiving more fresh food & connecting with community resources. In 2019, MOFC challenged HEART to transform from a basic food pantry to the Mid-Ohio Market Model; a holistic customer-centered Market offering more fresh food to more people more often. In addition, the Market acts as a hub, connecting families to life-building community resources.