My name is Sean Henderson, and I am a cheerleader at Ohio State University. I am a sophomore majoring in data analytics, and I am from Houston, Texas. Growing up, I was always taught to give back to the less fortunate and I spent many Saturdays donating my time at a local food bank. One of the things that drew me to the Cohesion Foundation was their mission to use purpose-driven NIL commitments to help the community. I knew that as a student-athlete, I wanted to maximize my platform and reach more people to raise awareness about the national food insecurity issues. As a Cohesion athlete, I am honored to partner with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and the Family Mentor Foundation to help end food insecurity in Columbus and surrounding areas.
Founded in 1980, the Mid-Ohio Food Collective is a non-profit organization serving 20 counties and over 10,000 square miles in Central Ohio. In that 10,000 square mile area, aid-eligible people go hungry an average of 52 days each year, totaling around 144 million meals. The MOFC is tirelessly working to end the 144 million meal gap by offering 5 solutions: a central Foodbank to collect and package millions of pounds of food for various communities, smart farms on vacated land to help educate consumers on the nutritional impacts of food, a pharmacy to link healthy foods to patients, a kitchen to prepare nutritious and ready-to-eat meals for seniors and children alike, and a free market to shop for fresh and healthy food. From these solutions, the MOFC ends up donating over 170,000 meals every day to people in need. I have had the opportunity see the entire food redistribution process from volunteering in the central food bank to giving out boxes of ready meals to people in need. Inside the 5th largest distributing food bank in the United States, I was able to assist with collecting, sorting, and packaging thousands of pounds of food for delivery to communities. At each food drive I have volunteered at so far, every meal box has been taken by someone in need. I would say the food drives are the most heartwarming because I get to see the smiles on each person’s face as I hand the box to them, as worries about where their next meal is coming from vanish right in front of me.
I was very blessed growing up to have meals provided by my parents every day, and I couldn’t imagine how I would feel in school if I wasn’t properly nourished. At-risk children can be a part of federal nutrition programs that will provide free breakfast and lunch during school days, but they possibly may not have a meal all weekend. Every Friday, the Family Mentor Foundation, founded in 2013, donates Buddy Boxes to kids in need, containing kid-friendly, nutritious, and nonperishable items to provide meals throughout the weekend. In 2021, the Family Mentor Foundation provided over 60,000 buddy boxes to help feed over 1,500 students every week. I have had the opportunity to donate my time to help pack Buddy Boxes for kids in need. While smaller than the MOFC, the Family Mentor Foundation warehouse had a very easy and efficient process to assemble the Buddy Boxes from scratch. It was very fulfilling to pack over 120 Buddy Boxes in just over an hour, knowing that I provided a weekend’s worth of meals for a kid in need for every box I packed.
For more information about how to volunteer at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, click here:
For more information about how to volunteer at the Family Mentor Foundation, click here:
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