Angela Crangle knows what it means to be hungry.
And she knows how difficult it can be to ask for assistance when your cupboard is bare.
“When I was growing up, I had to go without; and I know how embarrassing it was to ask for help,” said Crangle, of Cuyahoga Falls. “I don’t ever want anyone to be embarrassed or ashamed because they’re in need and I will do whatever I can to help make that happen.”
Crangle — along with her husband, Daniel, and three of their four children — is among about 1,700 people from various businesses and organizations participating in Operation Orange, a 24–hour volunteer effort at the Akron–Canton Regional Foodbank. The event, which started at noon Friday, coincides with Hunger Action Month and is in its second year.
“By participating in Operation Orange, community members will help raise awareness for the one in seven who experience food insecurity locally,” said Dan Flowers, president and chief executive officer of the local nonprofit. “They are making a tangible difference in the fight to end hunger and their participation shows how important the issue of hunger is to them.”
Volunteers, many wearing orange (the color of hunger relief), are working two- to four-hour shifts at the 85,000-square-foot Akron warehouse through noon today. They are sorting produce and meat, labeling cans, dispensing soap, packaging bulk produce and nonperishable items and performing other tasks to help keep up with the increasing demand for emergency food.
Many of the volunteers, like Kim Deuber, view their participation in Operation Orange as a way to take action against hunger. Deuber, an associate at Kohl’s in Wadsworth, recruited five co-workers to work on her volunteer team. That team — which included Jean Carpenter, Vic Cruder, Kelli Ingersoll, Jill Krug and Kim Perry — spent time Friday morning putting wristbands in aprons for volunteers and cutting netted bags for holding apples and carrots.
“I try to do something every month to give back to the community and I thought this was a good volunteer opportunity to pull some of my co-workers in because they like to give back, too,” Deuber said. “It was a really good fit because we like to give back and Kohl’s likes to give back to the community as a way of thanking people for shopping there.”
In addition to several “Kohl’s Associates in Action” volunteer teams, the store donated $500 to the food bank. Donations were also received from other businesses, including the Dominion Foundation, which chipped in $10,000 as a major sponsor.
To help energize volunteers, Operation Orange organizers created a festive atmosphere in the warehouse with a disc jockey who played upbeat music and by offering refreshments from sponsors like Starbucks, Ivan’s Deli, Siciliano’s Pizza & Chicken, Texas Roadhouse, Pizza Hut, Chipotle, Marco’s Pizza and Aladdin’s Eatery.
Crangle, who currently runs the food pantry and hot meal program at her church (Akron Springfield Assembly of God), said she couldn’t think of a better way to teach her children the value of giving back and to show them a practical way to live out the biblical commandment to love one another.
“Last year, during the first Operation Orange, I spent my birthday opening boxes — presents of food that would bless others,” Crangle said. “I know what it’s like to need food and have no place to turn. To be part of helping the food bank and pantries, like the one at my church, is a way to give back and to help people facing hunger right here in our own community.”
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.