Food desert of Windham
The closest grocery store is 7 miles away. It’s about a ten-minute drive, but not everyone has a vehicle. Instead, the gas station is where one would go for a shopping trip.
They have the needed products anyway, right? A cereal aisle, even some apples by the register. There’s even ice-cold beer.
Scenes like this aren’t common in western Portage County, but in a town like Windham, this is a common view.
They’re known as “food deserts”
Food Desert’s and Portage County
“Food deserts” are classified by the USDA as a community lacking stores that sell healthy and affordable food. They consider this lack contributes to poor diets and obesity.
According to the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), Portage County, in 2014, had 17 grocery stores. Only four exist in a 10-mile radius of Windham with one being in Mahoning County to the east.
In 2006, 80% of the 13.5 million estimated to live in a community were in urban areas. Of the 162,000 residents in the county, nearly 3 out of 10 people have low access to diverse food options.
Such lack increased by 9,000 people between 2010 and 2015.
Windham
“We don’t have a grocery store,” Windham resident Tracie Hunter said, “the closest one is in either Newton Falls. There’s also one in Garrettsville.”
Until 2009, the only places to quickly purchase necessary food items in the town was Dollar General or Circle K or the Gas and Food Mini Mart.
Typical of food desert’s is the mass amount of fast food in the area, however Windham doesn’t have one.
These places, while offering convenience in snacks and some necessary food items, don’t offer balanced nutrition common in grocery establishments.
Windham Renaissance Family Center, opened in 2010, houses the Portage County Red Shield Food Pantry. It provides the community with however much food they need. It is donated by the main location in Akron Ohio.
“It runs out quick because it’s convenient,” Hunter said.
Of the 2,000 residents of the town, it is estimated around 97% visit per month.
The building 47,000 square feet, about the size of an elementary school. It sits in the heart of a residential neighborhood, in walking distance for most of the town’s residents.
Since it’s inception, it has offered the town a newer sense of community.
“Before this was here, I feel the neighborhood was less together,” said Windham mayor Deborah Blewitt. “When this center was decided on, we really wanted to have one thing to hold us together. The facility isn’t just about the pantry, but the pantry really helps it.”
Future of Grocery Stores
Funding across the county has decreased over the past 10 years, with Windham receiving 1.61 percent of the total 1.4 million allotted to the county. Blewitt feels the village could at one-point dissolve due to lack.
Windham’s current budget to establish a closer grocery store prevents one from existing. In early November, the distribution of county funds to local governments was discussed – allowing more funds.
“I don’t mind travelling ten minutes, we’ve all done it for years.” Windham resident John Woods said.
“The thing that is a little nervous is the idea the village could dissolve.”
Currently the funding goes to the police, fire department and schools. The Renaissance Center is maintained through taxes and donations, but Blewitt fears the lack of maintained funding could prevent the current situation to continue.
Comparably, the town has four supermarkets — Marc’s, ACME, Walmart and Save-a-lot — in a five-mile radius.
Kent, the largest and most profitable town in the county, receives 19.9 percent of the 39.8 percent of the municipal funding. In the past 10 years, the town has experienced a renaissance of wealth due to the university and downtown area.
“The community is benefitted by a central location,” Blewitt said. “Without it, the community won’t be the same.”
Food desert in portage county looked at #JMCRPP
— Troy Lee (@leetroy_2017) December 5, 2017
