Formed in 2023, the community partnership known as the Tri-Village Packers exceeded its goals for supporting children who are experiencing food insecurity in both Upper Arlington and Grandview Heights over the 2023 Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks to the combined efforts of several community service groups, in collaboration with Upper Arlington and Grandview city and schools representatives and generous donations from the community, the program was able to provide five days of breakfast and lunch items, healthy snacks and grocery gift cards for 93 children.

Energized by this success, the group is looking ahead to 2024, with plans already underway to provide a similar program for children over Spring Break, in addition to repeating the Thanksgiving program.

The Spring Break program will provide breakfast and lunch items, as well as healthy snacks for children for a total of nine days, almost double the Thanksgiving effort. And, with the program’s planners hoping to support up to 200 children over Spring Break, support from the community will be important for ensuring the program’s success and to sustain the Tri-Village Packers on an ongoing basis.

Ways to Donate:

• Visit the uacommunityfoundation.com/donate/ page on the Foundation’s website, and select the Tri-Village Packers Fund from the drop-down menu.
• Send checks to: Upper Arlington Community Foundation, 3600 Tremont Road, Upper Arlington, OH 43221. Be sure to write “Tri-Village Packers” in the memo line.

Any funds raised beyond the group’s needs for the Spring Break program will be housed in the Tri-Village Packers Fund with the Upper Arlington Community Foundation to support the 2024 Thanksgiving Program and future projects focused on food insecurity in our community.

The Tri-Village Packers partnership is spearheaded by the Tri-Village Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club of Northwest Columbus, the Tri-Village Rotary Club, the Upper Arlington Rotary Club, the Upper Arlington Community Foundation, the City of Upper Arlington, Upper Arlington Schools, the City of Grandview Heights, Grandview Heights Schools the Village of Marble Cliff, and UNITS.

Additional service groups are invited to join our efforts – just send an email to: [email protected].