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Akron (Ohio) Christian Reformed Church, a 58-year-old congregation, has run its food distribution service, “The Landing,” for over 13 years but the church’s pastor, Harry Winters, who has served there since 1992, says “The Landing has transformed our congregation. We are much more aware of the poor among us. They are now our friends. They are now us.”

Winters said, “When we moved into the Highland Square neighborhood of Akron, we spent time asking, ‘Why has God moved us here?’ At first glance it appeared to be a gentrified area populated by young professionals and some very wealthy older people,” he said. “Slowly, we discovered the large very poor population that remained primarily hidden.” Waiting to serve that population, the church approached the Akron Canton Foodbank about becoming a food pantry. Winters said, “They jumped at the suggestion because they didn’t have any agencies working in this neighborhood.”

The church designed as a meeting place as much as a place to share food, and the once-a-week outreach shaped other parts of their ministry. “We’ve been open nearly every single Friday since (we launched)—even during (the) COVID(-19 pandemic),” Winters said. “Many things have changed. We started by serving about 30 people a week; we now average over 150. We purchased an old box truck five years ago, and this has allowed us to increase our volume.”

He said unexpected results from this work include becoming “known among our poorer neighbors. Many of them count our church as their church,” having the majority of volunteers come from the community—“they’re people we’ve come to know through this work”—and fundraising for an elevator to service the needs of elderly and disabled clients “struggling to get their groceries out of the basement for many years.” Winters said the $200,000 project was completed in 18 months even though the “fairly young” congregation didn’t particularly need to use the lift themselves. “On most Sundays it isn’t used. But it has really helped people from the neighborhood,” Winters said.

Winters said the biggest surprise is that “through the years, about 15 neighborhood people have started regularly attending worship” through The Landing ministry, which the congregation funds.

“They have faithfully given between $15,000 to $20,000 every year,” Winters said, noting that the value of what they’re able to share is much higher. “In 2024 we gave away 218,563 pounds of groceries, plus 57,279 pounds of produce,” serving 16,266 people. “The total value of the groceries was $346,037. However, we only paid $10,086,” Winters said.