No One Deserves To Go Hungry

No One Deserves To Go Hungry

From its founding, House of Bread in Dayton had a simple mantra: "No one deserves to go hungry."

Over 28 years after its mission began, the Dayton nonprofit now serves about 250 meals a day – 8,000 a month – to underprivileged locals downtown.

Melodie Bennett, executive director of House of Bread, said the need for a group like this one is greater than ever.

Dayton Local: How did House of Bread get started?

Melodie Bennett: "It was started in 1983 by a catholic sister named Dorothy Kemurer, she passed earlier this year. She felt there were people in need of a hot meal in the Salem and Grand neighborhood."

DL: What kind of services do you provide?

MB: "The House of Bread is a community kitchen. We are open every day of the year, 365 days, and we offer a free, hot nutritious lunch in our dining room. We've been in our current location on Fourth Avenue for 10 years now."

"It's certainly an underserved area of Dayton, there's a lot of generational poverty here. Because we're located in a close proximity to downtown, individuals do have housing can still reach us. Those who still have limited employment can reach us for a lunchtime meal."

DL: How has the need changed in the past 28 years?

MB: "What we have found is that we used to be open Monday through Friday, and we're now open seven days a week because of the need that we see. What we have found is for worse or better, our numbers have steadily increased."

DL: How can people help?

MB: They're welcome to call us because we're a small agency. The best thing to do is visit our website at houseofbread.org. There's a button to click to donate and a button to click to get involved to volunteer with us. We have a calendar on our website where people can sign up automatically to come down and volunteer when we need them."

Links & Tags