EATON — United Way of the Greater Dayton Area Preble County Office presented Jacob’s Ladder with a check in the amount of $3,000 on Wednesday, July 24.
The money was raised by the United Way through its annual golf outing, held earlier this year.
Jacob’s Ladder is an organization dedicated to feeding the children of Preble County. The organization’s main focus is getting food for the children during weekends — the children fed through the free and reduced programs through the schools. Jacob’s Ladder sends home a backpack with two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, and snacks.
According to Treasurer Tina Ebright, the money from United Way will be used to purchase the food for the backpacks. The group’s budget is $30,000 for a year in food, which comes from community donations.
“It helps a lot in purchasing that food to go in those bags,” Ebright said. “Community support is huge, because we are privately funded and we don’t get grants or anything like that. The organization is ran by a board of five people, outside of that it is all community support. If we don’t get people here to pack the bags, then it is the five of us packing bags.
“It is not just the financial that helps us purchase the food, but it is also the support of the people packing the bags and volunteers taking the bags to the schools and distributing them to the kids. The community support is huge, both financial and physical people.”
According to United Way Preble County Director Alexa Joyce, Jacob’s Ladder has been a long-standing beneficiary from the United Way Preble County’s Annual Golf Outing. This year, the group was able to increase its gift to $3,000.
“United Way’s mission is centered around education, health, and financial stability and I think Jacob’s Ladder hits all three of those places. Kids that are going hungry, they can’t focus in school, it is not healthy to go without food, and we know that financial troubles can come over families and food can be one of the last things on the list to purchase. We know there are a lot of children living in food insecure homes in Preble County,” Joyce said.
Jacob’s Ladder does a monthly pack for which it could use volunteers for. The schedule will be posted to the Jacob’s Ladder Facebook page and website in the fall. The organization can also be contacted through its Facebook page or at jacobsladder-ohio.org.
